Ending the appointment of a private building surveyor

If your building surveyor can no longer perform their duties because they have died or their registration has been cancelled or suspended before your building project is finished, you will need to appoint another building surveyor to complete the project.

You must notify us of your intention to appoint a new building surveyor. You can do this by completing the online form.

The conditions for use of the Notice of intention to appoint a new building surveyor form are:

1. The form must be completed by the property owner and the new registered building surveyor must provide a letter stating that they are willing to accept the appointment.
2. The form can only be used if your building surveyor is unable to practice because they have died or their registration has been suspended or cancelled.

If these reasons do not apply to you and you would like to change your private building surveyor, please read 'You want to change your building surveyor' below.

Please note:

• A builder cannot complete the form.
• Work cannot progress beyond the next mandatory notification stage of the building permit until a new building surveyor has been appointed and conducted an inspection.
• Once you have appointed a new building surveyor, you must notify your local council of their appointment. The new building surveyor also needs to familiarise themselves with the building work and associated documentation, which the council may be able to help with.
• You will receive confirmation from us within 30 days of receiving your notification.

We will only accept an application to terminate the appointment of a private building surveyor in limited circumstances. This is because when implementing building standards, a building surveyor may need to make difficult decisions that conflict with the wishes of a builder or owner. The Act ensures that an owner who is dissatisfied with their building surveyor’s decision can’t easily end their building surveyor’s appointment to avoid legal requirements.

We will only consent to the termination when the reasons are in accordance with the Act and our guidelines. Disagreeing with the decision of their building surveyor is not sufficient grounds for termination.

If you disagree with a decision your building surveyor has made, you can appeal to the Building Appeals Board.

A request to terminate will not be granted if there is a dispute about enforcement action or the correct progress of the project.

Likely grounds for consent to termination

Some reasons that we may give consent to terminate a private building surveyor’s appointment include:

• the building surveyor has retired, no longer able to carry out their function or is insolvent
• the building surveyor is the subject of a BPC disciplinary decision to immediately suspend his/her registration in the interests of the public, or cancel and disqualify the registration (including while the decision is under review at VCAT).
• the building surveyor has left the employment of the company that is providing the building surveying service
• the owner intends to complete the building work through the municipal building surveyor
• the original owner sold the property to a new owner before the commencement of building work at the property.

Process for terminating a building surveyor’s appointment

We do not terminate the appointment of private building surveyors, but we may provide written consent to the property owner or building surveyor to end an appointment.

To seek consent to terminate your building surveyor’s appointment, you need to complete the relevant application and submitting it to us. Any supporting documentation should be attached to the request.

We recommend that you discuss the matter with your current building surveyor so they are aware of the situation. You will need to provide confirmation that your preferred building surveyor is willing to accept the appointment before we can grant consent.

Once we have received your application, we will make our own enquiries into the circumstances of the termination. Once we have made a decision, we will let you know and inform the other involved parties.

If we grant consent, you must then appoint your preferred building surveyor. The newly appointed building surveyor needs to notify the local council in which the building is located within seven days.

Apply for consent

Multiple Sites

Applying to terminate a building surveyor for multiple sites? Please email us at terminations@bpc.vic.gov.au instead.

Single Site

Applying to terminate a building surveyor for a single site, please complete the online form.

Important:

• If your building surveyor unable to practice because of death, or if their registration has been suspended or cancelled, please read 'The building surveyor can no longer perform their duties' above.
• If your building work/building permit has been cancelled, you must notify us and your council. Please read 'You intend to cancel your building work' below.

Please note:

• To allow for the application to be processed within a reasonable time, please provide as much information at the time of submitting the application.
• The processing time for an application is 30 working days if all the relevant information is provided with the application.
• The owner or owner's agent or relevant building surveyor may complete the form.
• A builder cannot complete this form as the owner's agent.
• Inform both the outgoing and incoming building surveyor/s affected so they are aware of the situation.
• Where possible, provide written confirmation from your appointed relevant building surveyor stating they are willing to terminate their appointment as the building surveyor of the project.
• Provide written confirmation from the incoming building surveyor stating they are willing to accept the appointment of relevant building surveyor for the project.

Private building surveyor wanting to terminate their appointment

A Private Building Surveyor may make an application requesting our consent to the termination of their appointment if they cannot complete a transfer of functions under section 80C of the Building Act 1993, and there are exceptional circumstances.

To make an application, please complete the online form.

If you are planning to cancel your building work and have no intention of proceeding with the building work, you are required to notify us and the relevant council.

To notify us, please complete the online form.

If you intend to complete the project at a later date, the appointment of the relevant building surveyor remains in place.

Please note: If there is current enforcement action in place or the building work has already progressed, we may not accept the application.

When an application for a building permit is submitted, the building surveyor has commenced carrying out their functions under the Act.

It is not our role to appoint a private building surveyor. Only an owner or agent of the owner may appoint a private building surveyor.

We can only give written directions to transfer the functions to a new building surveyor in very specific circumstances. This will generally apply if the initial building surveyor has numerous open permits and is no longer registered. 

If a second building surveyor claims to be appointed for building work that is covered by an earlier appointment, the second appointment is a breach of the Act. The termination process is required to resolve a multiple appointment issue.

Multiple appointments of building surveyors for same building work may also result in disciplinary action again the property owner and the second building surveyor in certain circumstances. 

The provisions of the Act that allow a person to request consent to terminate the appointment of a private building surveyor do not apply to the relevant council's municipal building surveyor.

Once the municipal building surveyor has started building surveying functions for a project, that person (or that person's replacement as municipal building surveyor) must remain with the project. 

If a request is sought because of a dispute, we are unlikely to provide consent for the termination. Some disputes can be resolved through the Building Appeals Board or by other means.

If you have concerns about a building surveyor's professional conduct, you should lodge a complaint with us regarding your concerns.

We are more likely to consent to the termination at an early stage of a project when there has been no building work carried out. However, this alone may not be a sufficient reason for consent to be granted.

If we refuse consent for the termination, you can appeal to the Building Appeals Board.

A private building surveyor is able to transfer their functions to another private building surveyor if the property owner agrees. In this circumstance, our consent is not required.

No, the initial building surveyor can transfer their function to a second building surveyor and consent is not required from us. However, in exceptional circumstances the parties will need to apply for our consent to terminate (for example, multiple appointments of building surveyors or the first building surveyor is no longer registered).