NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler and Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson on Monday.

NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler and Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson on Monday.Credit:Nick Moir

"We're out to shake the game for those people who aren't operating good businesses and who aren't delivering good projects,"Mr Chandler said."Whether you are a builder cutting corners,or a certifier passing work that isn't good enough,expect action from our team of new inspectors."

From Tuesday Mr Chandler will have the power to inspect building sites,prevent the issuing of occupation certificates,call for documents,and order rectification of serious defects and recovery of associated costs.

The commissioner's team will begin the first audits of occupation certificates for building projects over the next month,and he aims to complete 250 of them over the next two years.

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Mr Chandler said he would be confident to exercise his powers to stop an occupation certificate when needed and expose bad building projects."The game is changing. If I was a customer thinking about buying an apartment in NSW right now,I'd be confident to do so,"he said.

With a deep recession biting the economy,the government hopes that the tougher regulations and oversight will help reverse slowing construction activity.

Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson said the new laws would stop the sale of buildings with serious defects and ensure builders and developers had a duty of care for apartment owners.

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"Instead of having people finger pointing at each other like they were 12 months ago ... saying it's your fault ... the game has changed,"he said."These new powers provide a massive increase in the level of assurance and protection for consumers."

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Asked how confident he was of avoiding a repeat of the Mascot or Opal towers debacles,Mr Chandler said it would be silly to assume"all of the fish are going to be caught by the net".

But he added:"Increasingly we will catch more and more. Increasingly the culture is going to change. If people want to start to push back on that,those particular encounters will become increasingly public because the public need to see the people who want to play those sort of games."

Mr Chandler said there were 10 or 12 developers in NSW who"have form",and he warned that they would see his team of inspectors on a regular basis.

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