Legal

Approval vs Fines and Demolition Orders, your choice!

Mortgage One - Monday, August 08, 2011

When you begin to plan any renovations or extensions to your property, you need to ask yourself the question, “Do I need approval?”

It happens far too often that home owners complete alterations or renovations to their property and face all sorts of problems once it goes onto the selling market.

Under the Home Building Act individuals are restricted from conducting RESIDENTIAL BUILDING WORK, ELECTRICAL WIRING WORK, or refrigeration or air-conditioning work unless they are a member or employee of a company that holds a contractor licence, or the individual holds an OWNER-BUILDER PERMIT for the work involved.

Penalties for individuals can be as high as $20,000.00.

Obtaining a Home Building Warranty certificate will also assist in selling your property. Purchasers will be wary where there is unauthorised work on the property. As well as confirming that approval was granted for the work, the certificate provides a number of WARRANTIES that ease the purchaser’s mind.

In addition to the penalty above, if you have conducted work without council approval, the council may require you to rectify or demolish the work performed. Is this something you are prepared to risk?

So save yourself the headache, not to mention the possibility of hefty fines, and does some research before you commence any work and confirm whether a development application and approval is required by your council. If in doubt, contact us.

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