Cladding Regulation will affect all of the 48,000 schemes in Queensland.
Body Corporate Managers are urged to familiarise themselves with new cladding regulation that requires compliance within strict time-frames, as the failure to do so will result in hefty fines for the bodies corporate.
After several months of consultation with the Commissioner’s Office and SCA (Qld) as the major stakeholders, the Government has finally moved forward on the issue of flammable cladding, with the Building and Other Legislation (Cladding) Amendment Regulation 2018, which amends the Building Regulation 2006 and State Penalties Enforcement Regulation 2014, set to commence on 1 October 2018.
The implications of these new regulations are wide-ranging and it is clear that there will be a significant impact on body corporate managers and bodies corporate.
All bodies corporate (=owners) of buildings built or refurbished after 1 January 1994 have to do the online assessment for tracking of Aluminium Composite Panelling (ACP) by 29 March 2019, and return the relevant form to QBCC. If the owner suspects or has identified that the building may be affected by ACP, they must engage a building industry professional to prepare a statement on whether or not there is ACP on the building by 29 May 2019. In step 3 of the process, the owner finally has until 27 August 2019 to engage a fire engineer to assess the cladding and by 3 May 2021 this step (with a report/statement) must be completed. There are options to apply for extension with the QBCC.
Members should be aware that there are significant penalty units enforced for non-compliance and that it is recommended you liaise with your bodies corporate immediately to comply with the timelines. Members are encouraged to check their own professional indemnity insurance and their buildings’ insurance policies to ascertain the effects of this regulation (if any) on such insurance.
SCA (Qld) has been consulted on the draft legislation and is meeting with Minister de Brenni to clarify certain aspects of the regulation. We will keep you informed on this issue as we continue to liaise with the Department of Housing. We strongly recommend that all members attend our complimentary briefings on Thursday 30 August and Friday 31 August where the Non-Conforming Building Products Audit Taskforce and the Office of the Commissioner will explain the regulations.
The Department of Housing will update their website shortly and you will then be able to view the online tool.
This article provided by SCA (Qld)