Development Compliance Matters
Development Compliance Matters
Development Compliance Matters
Reporting properties where there is a possible deviation from a development approval or breach under the Planning and Development Act 2005.
Last updated on: 07 October 2024
Information
If a breach of legislation has occurred, the City will administer it's compliance and enforcement obligations appropriate to the seriousness of the alleged offence.
If you have evidence that a development is not being constructed in accordance with a development approval, please lodge a request below for the City to investigate. The City will not investigate verbal complaints, all complaints must be made in writing.
The identity of the complainant will remain confidential in the process and the City will advise you if it becomes necessary for your details to be provided to any other party.
Investigation
The City will investigate development compliance matters as follows:
- Once the City has received a written compliant, it will be lodged as a development compliance matter. An acknowledgement letter will be issued to the complainant with a reference number
- The City will prioritise the compliance matter based on the risk level. If the matter is deemed to be high risk, dangerous or unsafe, the City may prioritise the matter and act accordingly
- The investigation may include a site inspection, online searches and archive retrievals
- Once the investigation is complete, it may be appropriate to take administrative action. There is a range of administrative actions including formal warnings, issuing an infringement notice or a direction notice. In some cases, it may simply be resolved with an informal telephone call or email
- If the City is unable to resolve the non-compliance via formal warnings, the City may instigate legal action pursuant to the Planning and Development Act 2005, with a view to resolving the matter.
It should be noted that Infringements, enforcements orders and court action is only used once voluntary compliance is unlikely to occur.
Can development approval be granted for unauthorised development?
Yes. A land owner identified with unauthorised development on their property may elect to lodge a development application to seek approval for an existing unauthorised development.
Though approval should be obtained prior to any building works commencing, the City can approve a development that has been constructed without prior approval. The planning fees will include an additional charge to reflect a financial penalty for commencing the development without approval.
Lodgement of a development application for unauthorised works does not guarantee that an approval will be granted, the City is required to assess the development application against the planning framework in the same manner as any other development application.
Civil disputes
Civil Issues are matters the City have no jurisdiction or power to investigate. The City may not be in a position to investigate such matters including dividing fences, damages made to private property and building disputes.
Anonymous requests
Your contact details are required when lodging this request.
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