Occupational Health and Safety Compliance, Assurance & Governance
Getting Planning Permission for a Home Renovation
Back in the days before planning permission was required to make adjustments to a home, people were modifying their homes all the time, sometimes with disastrous consequences. The whole reason that you need to get planning permission isn’t to make your renovation process any harder; it’s simply a case of health and safety and ensuring heavy equipment users have the right construction licenses. If you modify your home in a certain way, it may lead to damage being caused if too much pressure is placed on certain foundations, or in other cases it could result in a neighbour suffering. In addition it is also necessary to ensure that any contractors carry full civil construction course verification in the form of correct builders licenses etc.
That’s what makes planning permission such a priority for even the smallest of renovations. So how can you go about getting planning permission for your home renovation and what can you expect the process to consist of? Let’s take a look at the details involved in obtaining permission and how to go about being approved.
The first thing that you’ll need to do is decide on the type of renovation that you’re intending to undertake. If it’s a small renovation (knocking through a wall, adding a doorway, installing a wall for windows), then you’ll need to detail the size, estimated duration and other finer details to your local government authority or establishment to gain approval. This won’t always result in a home visit, but these may sometimes be necessary to fully understand the renovation.
If you are intending a larger scale renovation (construction a new room, a conservatory or an extension), then you’ll need to book an evaluation with your local authority in charge of planning permission. They will attend and evaluate your property, or more specifically the location that you are planning the renovation. Once the renovation is fully understood, your case will be considered and you will be accepted or rejected.
So how long can you expect to wait for your renovation to be approved or rejected? Well this will vary depending on your location and the amount of work needed to evaluate your renovation, but the time is typically between a week and a month. If you find that your planning permission hasn’t been rejected, then you are entitled to query the reason for the rejection and then if possible. If the reason is something that you can alter (perhaps the time is a factor, or maybe the size of your renovation will impact your neighbours), then you are permitted to change your plans to suit and then resubmit for consideration.
If you find that your request for permission is continually denied, then it may be a case that the renovation cannot proceed as you originally intended. There are certain ways around this, but most of the time a home owner may have to submit and accept that they cannot legally go ahead with their intended renovation. It is always a good idea to find out the guidelines and policies as laid out by your local authority and stick to them as much as possible.
More details on government regulations regarding planning can be found at http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/
New homeowners are often greeted with two possibilities. The first is whether or not to purchase a home that has already been lived in by someone else and the second option is to construct their own home from the ground up. If you have decided that a bit of home construction is on your agenda, then there are a few things that you will need to take in to account.The first is that you will want to employ an honest and reliable home construction company. You will want to be sure that the company has plenty of experience when it comes to building a new home and make sure that you have gone through all of the plans and details beforehand to ensure that the home you get is what you expected.