Compliance certificate expiry date extensions

Compliance certificate expiry dates

Compliance certificates bought before 13 August 2025 do not have an expiry date. They will never expire.

Compliance certificates bought on or after 13 August 2025 will expire if they remain unused 12 months after purchase. Unused compliance certificates have a ‘Purchased’ status in VBA360.

After a compliance certificate expires, you cannot use it. You will need to buy another certificate.

If you have compliance certificates that expire soon, VBA360 will send you an email to remind you to use them.

You can ask the BPC to extend the expiry date of a certificate before it expires.

When you start to record your work in a certificate (e.g. you add a job site address and details of your work), the expiry date is automatically removed. This allows you to use a compliance certificate for plumbing work and to lodge and issue it to your customer within 5 days of completion of the work.

The BPC regularly monitors its data, including compliance certificate purchase and allocation dates.

Compliance certificates that contain a record (or partial record) of plumbing work done have an ‘Allocated’ status in VBA360. If these certificates are not lodged for a significant amount of time, the BPC may investigate them to ensure that licenced lumbers are meeting their compliance obligations.

Asking for an expiry date extension

You can ask the BPC for an extension to a compliance certificate’s expiry date in VBA360 (see How to ask for an expiry date extension below).

You must ask to extend a certificate’s expiry date two weeks before it expires

You will get monthly reminders from VBA360 if you have compliance certificates that expire soon.

In most cases, we will only consider a request to extend a certificate’s expiry date if you submit the VBA360 Help Request form least 2 weeks before the certificate expires.

If there is a reason that you could not ask us before the certificate expired, we will consider your request. We may ask you for evidence to support your request.

Length of expiry extension

The BPC can extend an expiry date for up to one year.

Under the Building Act (1993), we cannot offer an extension that is longer than one year. If you need an extension for longer than one year, you will need to ask for a one year extension and then ask for another extension a year later.

When you can ask for an expiry date extension

We will approve a request for an expiry date extension if there are reasonable grounds to do so. For example, if a licensed plumber:

• has a lower demand for work than predicted (e.g. cancelled work, change of employer, economic pressures, unemployment or financial hardship)
• has been, or will be, unable to work for a long time because of:
  • a serious or life-threatening illness
  • injury, or
  • disability
• has caring responsibilities for someone who requires ongoing significant care
• has left Victoria, but cannot return for an unforeseen reason
• has changed their BPC plumbing accreditation by completing a plumbing change of accreditation form, and will not hold a licence either:
  • permanently (e.g. retirement or changing careers)
    or
  • temporarily (e.g. responding to changes in work demands by holding a registration only).

When you should not ask for an expiry date extension

We will not approve a request for an expiry date extension if there are no reasonable grounds to do so.

For example, if a licensed plumber:

• did not actively manage their compliance certificates, and
  • did not check the expiry date
  • forgot to use the certificate, etc
• chose to leave Victoria for a reasonably foreseeable reason, such as
  • taking a holiday
  • moving house, etc
• had their plumbing licence cancelled or suspended by the BPC.

We may ask you for evidence

Before we agree to extend an expiry date, we may ask you for evidence of your reason for asking for an extension.

If we ask you for evidence and you do not give it to us, we will not extend the certificate’s expiry date.

How to find a compliance certificate expiry date

When you are logged into VBA360, you will see a list of your compliance certificates. If a certificate has an expiry date, you will see it listed in the Expiry column.

How to ask for an expiry date extension

You can ask for a compliance certificate expiry date extension by submitting a Help Request form in VBA360.

If you cannot sign in to VBA360, please read the Creating a VBA360 account or Signing into a VBA360 account guides on the using VBA for compliance certificates web page.

After you log into VBA360, click the Help Request button to launch the form.

Who can contact the BPC about compliance certificates

A licensed plumber can either submit the Help Request form themselves, or they can authorise someone else submit it for them.

A person can only represent a licensed plumber if the plumber has registered the person’s details with the BPC as an authorised representative.

An authorised representative can contact the BPC on behalf of the plumber and can also use VBA360 to manage their compliance certificates.

An authorised representative does not need to be a licensed plumber.

To authorise a representative, a licensed plumber must complete the Back office worker - third party authorisation form.