Project Intervene - NSW Govt

Project Intervene – Resolving serious defects in NSW residential apartment buildings less than six years old.

Project Intervene went live in November 2022.  It is an initiative led by the NSW Building Commissioner and the NSW Property Services Commissioner and announced in August 2022.  

Established by NSW Fair Trading to respond to serious defects recently completed and occupied apartment buildings. NSW Fair Trading has compliance and enforcement powers under the Residential Apartment Building Act.   

The aim is to report and find resolutions to remediate serious defects without the need to undertake litigation which takes time and money.  

Eligibility  

• Occupation certificate within last 10 years.
• Developer or builder are still solvent.
• Three storeys or more  in a Class 2 residential apartment building.
• Serious common property defects exists in one of the five building elements: fire safety, waterproofing, structure, building enclosure, building services. 

Application process 

Applications must be authorised via a formal resolution at a strata committee meeting.  

The Project Intervene checklist is to be completed and supported with as much expert findings as is possible. 

Fair Trading’s building complaint form is to be completed online which includes attaching the checklist.  

A team member will be in touch within 10 days of lodgment.  

How to register for Project Intervene

Only an authorised representative of an owners corporation may apply to be part of Project Intervene. This includes a strata committee member or your strata manager.  An individual apartment owner applying independently from the strata committee cannot register a building.

To register:

Download the Owners Corporation Lodgement Template – Serious Defects Complaints to use when noting serious defects in their building.

Use the checklist in the template to ensure you provide as much information about your building as possible, including any expert findings about the serious defects (if reports are available).  

Go to the Fair Trading building complaint online form and complete the online form. You will need to attach your completed template as evidence of serious defects in your building.

Documentation  

Visit the NSW Government Project Intervene online information to find links to the checklist and the online complaints form, and also to view the explanation videos.  

Click here for the Project Intervene Toolkit that was provided to SCA NSW.