Compliance declaration (NSW DBP Act)

A compliance declaration is the formal statutory statement, made by a registered design or building practitioner under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW), that a piece of regulated design work or completed building work complies with the Building Code of Australia and the relevant standards (verified 2026-05-15). The practitioner signs and lodges the declaration via the NSW Planning Portal at two points in a regulated project:

Design stage compliance declaration, made by the registered design practitioner (or the Principal Design Practitioner coordinating multiple designers) before regulated design work is used for construction. Each declared design (structural, fire safety, waterproofing, building enclosure, mechanical, hydraulic, others) has its own declaration.
Construction stage compliance declaration, made by the registered building practitioner on completion of the construction work for the building, confirming the work was carried out in accordance with the declared designs and the BCA.

The declaration is the legal instrument that gives the statutory duty of care under section 37 of the Act its evidentiary anchor: the named practitioner is personally on record as the responsible party, and the declaration is admissible in proceedings under the duty. Owners corporations pursuing latent-defect claims commonly start by retrieving the declarations on the NSW Planning Portal and identifying which practitioner signed which document.

Scope. Compliance declarations apply to regulated buildings under the DBP Act: Class 2 (apartments) currently, with Class 3 (boarding houses and similar) and Class 9c (residential aged care) coming into scope from 1 July 2026. Class 1a freestanding houses are not regulated under the DBP Act and do not require compliance declarations.

Practical consequence. A regulated building cannot lawfully proceed to construction without the design-stage declarations on file. The certifier will not issue a Construction Certificate (or in CDC pathways will not certify) if any declared design lacks a current registered-practitioner declaration. At the end of the project, the OC will not issue without the construction-stage declaration.

Also known as: practitioner declaration; design declaration (design-stage); building work compliance declaration (construction-stage); DBP declaration.

Category: Compliance.

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