How we handle your personal information when you apply for a home building licence.
On this page
Who we are
Your information is being collected by the Department of Customer Service (the Department) on behalf of the Commissioner for NSW Fair Trading for use by the Building Commission NSW. NSW Fair Trading gives priority to protecting the privacy of your personal information, in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act).
If you have any questions about this document, or how we handle your personal information, you can contact our Privacy team using the contact details at the end of this notice.
Why we collect your personal information
NSW Fair Trading is collecting your personal information for the purposes of assessing your application for registration, amendment, or renewal of a licence or certificate under the Home Building Act 1989.
The kinds of information we collect
We may collect the following information:
- Your full name, date of birth, and contact details (address, email, and phone number), USI number, student ID and any previous names or aliases
- Proof of identity information, which may include your photo identity documents, like a passport or driver licence, your Medicare card details and/or other proof of identity, such as photo and signature capture
- Qualification details (some of which will be verified with TAFE NSW), employment history and referee contact details
- National police checks
- Criminal offences and/or pending charges recorded in the last ten years
- Some financial information, including information about bankruptcy or external administration
- Details of mental incapacity, where applicable*
- Additional personal information if it is required to satisfy the eligibility requirements for the licence.
* This information is ‘health information’ and attracts a higher level of protection under the HRIP Act. We note as part of the application process, if you select yes to being a “mentally incapacitated person”, you may be asked to provide medical evidence from a medical practitioner. This will assist NSW Fair Trading in determining whether you are able to be issued with a licence or certificate under the Home Building Act 1989.
Failure to provide information
Your information is provided voluntarily however if you choose not to provide your information, we may be unable to process your application.
How we may use this information
We may use the information we collect in the following ways:
- To assess your application for a licence or certificate in accordance with Part 3, Division 1 and 2 of the Home Building Act 1989 and Section 12 of the Licensing and Registration (Uniform Procedures) Act 2002.
- Internal administrative purposes, including liaising with you in relation to your application, and in relation to compliance, investigations, and enforcement of the Home Building Act 1989 or Fair Trading Act 1987.
- To administer and update your licence, including to send you information that we consider important such as reminders to renew licences and to confirm your details if you make any subsequent applications in relation to any licence or authority issued by the Department on behalf of the Commissioner for Fair Trading.
- To support more informed policy making, program management, evaluation, research, and service planning as it can facilitate more efficient service delivery for residents and business in NSW.
- To verify your proof of identity documents with the Document Verification Service.
- To record information on a public register which is published online (as required by section 120 of the Home Building Act 1989 and clause 69 of the Home Building Regulation 2014). This will include your name, suburb, year of birth, licence type and validity, details of any other home building licences you hold and associated compliance history.
- Other directly related purposes.
Who we may share your information with
If required, we may make enquiries and exchange information with other NSW Government agencies, or other States, Territories and/or the Commonwealth for the purposes of assessing your application and for compliance purposes. We may disclose your information to such bodies for these purposes.
Your student ID, USI number, date of birth and first and last name will be disclosed to TAFE NSW to verify your qualifications.
Placard, a third-party card manufacturer, will have controlled access to some of your information for the purpose of printing and mailing your licence card to you.
We will not disclose your information to anybody else unless we are authorised or permitted to do so by law or where you have given consent. Our Privacy Statement describes when this may occur.
Service NSW
Service NSW provides a digital front door, and your MyServiceNSW Account will be used to initiate this application and verify your identity. Service NSW collects and uses your personal information to:
- Initiate the application using your MyServiceNSW Account details.
- Verify your identity with the Document Verification Service.
- Share details from your MyServiceNSW Account with NSW Fair Trading.
Service NSW also maintains and uses your personal information for internal administrative purposes, including for the purposes of our interactions with you.
Other information you provide through the application to demonstrate your eligibility for a licence or certificate will be collected and stored by NSW Fair Trading only.
For more information about how Service NSW handles personal information, please visit the Service NSW Privacy Statement.
Digital NSW
We are partnered with Digital NSW (part of the Department of Customer Service) who assist us with our business operations by providing software and storing data on our behalf. Digital.NSW have a Privacy Statement which outlines how they look after this data.
Protecting your information
We will store and manage your information in accordance with the provisions of the PPIP and HRIP Acts. We have measures in place to help protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.
We will only keep information for as long as we need it to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. After which, the information will be disposed of securely in accordance with the State Records Act 1998 and any other applicable legislation.
See our Privacy Management Plan for more information about how we handle your personal information.
Your rights
Subject to certain conditions, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:
- The right to request access to your personal information
- The right to request correction of your personal information
If you wish to invoke any of the above rights, please contact us using the details below.
Contact us
If you would like to make a privacy enquiry or complaint, you can contact us on (02) 9219 3999 or at BRDPrivacy@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.