Building permits, the City of Whittlesea and the dispute path in Wollert
Wollert sits in the City of Whittlesea. In Victoria a building permit is issued by a registered building surveyor, not by the council itself, though the council handles planning permits and any report and consent matters such as building over an easement or close to a boundary. At the end of the job an occupancy permit is what says the home is lawfully able to be lived in. Knowing which document does what saves a lot of grief, both when you are buying a house with an addition and when a build goes wrong and you need to work out who to go to first.
Building permit or planning permit
They are different documents from different people. A planning permit comes from the City of Whittlesea and deals with land use and siting. A building permit comes from a registered building surveyor and deals with whether the work meets the Building Act 1993, the regulations and the NCC. A house can have one and not the other, and that is usually where trouble starts.
Checking that an addition was approved
If you are buying a house with a pergola, a shed, a decked alfresco or a converted garage, ask for the permit and the final inspection or occupancy documentation. The council can tell you what permits exist for the address. An inspection tells you how the work was built. It does not tell you whether it was approved, and unapproved work can become your problem the day you own it.
The occupancy permit
An occupancy permit is issued when the building surveyor is satisfied the home is suitable to occupy. It is not a statement that the house is free of defects, and owners are sometimes surprised by that. Plenty of homes receive an occupancy permit with a handover list still outstanding, which is exactly why the pre-handover inspection exists.
The dispute path in Victoria, in order
Start by putting the defects to the builder in writing with the report attached and a reasonable time to respond. If that fails, the next step is the Building and Plumbing Commission's dispute resolution service, formerly DBDRV. If it is still unresolved, VCAT's Building and Property List hears domestic building disputes. Skipping steps rarely helps and usually costs time.
When you need an expert witness report
A defect investigation report is addressed to the owner and the builder. It is not a tribunal document. If your matter is heading to VCAT you need an expert witness report prepared to the tribunal's expert evidence requirements, which is a different document with different obligations. We tell you plainly when you have crossed that line, rather than letting you take the wrong report to a hearing.
More about Wollert
- Building a new home in Wollert: stages, ground and what goes wrong
- Buying a house in Wollert: prices, stock and what to check
- Wollert growth: the precinct structure plan, dwellings and infrastructure
- Wollert soil: reactive basalt clay, AS 2870 and why slabs crack
- Termite risk in Wollert: timber frames, management systems and what to check
- The defects we record most often on Wollert inspections
- Wollert site conditions: wind classification, climate zone and planning overlays
Written by the Owner Inspections team from inspections carried out in Wollert. Licensed building practitioners, Building & Plumbing Commission registration CDB-U 53425.
