Mascot Towers certified for occupation by local council

The local council have revealed its was responsible for certifying Sydney's defective residential building Mascot Towers for occupation.

It came ahead of the push by the NSW government for private certifiers to sign off new apartment high-rise construction.

The planning documents, which were held in storage at Newcastle, show the then Botany Bay council issued a final occupation certificate to the developer J & B Elias in July 2008.

The council, now known as Bayside, was the principal certifying authority appointed under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.

The former state minister for Better Regulation, Matt Kean, had suggested some of the state's troubled apartment complexes arose following "dodgy" private certifiers having conflicts of interests with developers.

The council development approvals at Mascot Towers came when the local member Ron Hoenig was the mayor.

Now the local MP for Heffron which includes Mascot, Hoenig says the council thoroughly considered all planning requirements for Mascot Towers.

The current mayor Bill Saravinovski says council only became aware of the cracks last month, although the building defects emerged in 2011 just three years after completion.