Approvals and documentation
Building information certificates
For work that was built without approval, or built differently to the approval, or built so long ago nobody can find the paperwork.
A building information certificate is issued under Division 6.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Once issued, it restricts council from making an order or taking proceedings to have the building demolished, altered or rebuilt — to the extent of the certificate — for seven years.
The distinction that matters, and the one most people get wrong: a BIC regularises the building's status. It does not retrospectively grant development consent. Where the work needed consent and never had it, a retrospective development application may be required as well.
This usually surfaces at the worst moment — a sale falls through, a purchaser's solicitor finds an extension on the survey that isn't on any approval, or a neighbour complains and council writes a letter.
Four routes, and they aren't mutually exclusive
| Route | What it does | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Building information certificate | Regularises the building’s status. Council is restricted from ordering demolition, alteration or rebuilding, to the extent of the certificate, for seven years. | The work is capable of approval and you want certainty — most often before a sale. |
| Retrospective DA | Grants development consent for the work after the fact. | The work needed consent, and permissibility and merit have to be resolved. |
| Both | Consent for the development, and a certificate for the building’s status. | Common. Work that both needed consent and needs status certainty. |
| Rectify first | Fix the non-compliance, then certify. | Where structural or BCA compliance can’t be certified as built. |
Council has its own set of options and may use more than one: take no action, invite a development application, issue a penalty notice, issue an order, or accept a BIC application. Which of those is realistic depends on what the council has already done, so the first thing we establish is whether anything is on foot.
The two gates
Before any of this is worth pursuing, the works have to pass two tests.
Is it permissible?
Development that is prohibited in the zone cannot be regularised by a certificate. If what was built could never have been approved, no amount of documentation fixes that, and the honest answer is removal or partial demolition. We check permissibility against the as-built form first, because everything else is wasted effort if this fails.
Can it be certified?
A BIC application generally needs certification of structural adequacy and an assessment against the Building Code of Australia. Work built without approval was often built without engineering, and footings, framing, waterproofing and drainage are where it fails. Where it can't be certified as built, the sequence becomes rectify, then certify — and knowing that early is the difference between a plan and a surprise.
Heritage, flood and bushfire constraints apply to the as-built works as they would to anything else.
What the application needs
- The council's BIC application form and fee
- As-built (works-as-executed) plans of the building — measured on site and drawn to the standard council will accept. This is the part we do.
- A structural engineer's certification of structural adequacy
- A BCA compliance assessment
- A survey where boundaries or setbacks are in question, which on unauthorised work they usually are
- Fire safety documentation where the building type requires it
- An as-built statement of environmental effects, where the works also need planning context or a retrospective DA
We measure and document what is actually there, assess the route, and coordinate the certification. Where a retrospective development application is needed as well, we prepare that too.
If council has already written to you
A notice of intention to issue an order, an order, or a penalty notice changes the sequence and usually the timeframe. Don't ignore it and don't answer it off the cuff — what you write back becomes part of the record. Send us the notice with the address and we'll tell you what it actually requires and which route is still open.
This page is general information about the regularisation pathway, not legal advice. Where an order or proceedings are on foot, get legal advice as well as planning advice.
Have works with no paperwork?
Send us the address and what's there. We'll tell you which route applies before you talk to council.