Four ways people arrive here. All of them have a way forward.
A Letter From Council
Someone complained, or an inspection found work that doesn't match the approved plans. There is usually a timeframe attached.
It Surfaced at Sale
A purchaser's solicitor or building inspector has found work with no approval, and settlement now depends on resolving it.
You Bought It Like This
The previous owner built without approval and it has become your problem. More common than most people expect.
You Did the Work
Perhaps years ago, perhaps on advice that turned out to be wrong. You want it resolved before it becomes leverage for someone else.
The most expensive misunderstanding in this area.
A Building Information Certificate is a council document stating that, for a period of seven years, council will not order you to demolish, alter or rebuild the work described in it. It is not retrospective approval, and it does not make unapproved work approved.
Some work can be resolved with a BIC. Some needs a development application — sometimes both. Which one applies depends on what was built, where, when, and what your council's controls say about it.
Before any documentation, we establish what is actually there.
What Exists
What was built, when, and whether any approval ever existed for it.
Planning Position
Whether the work complies with current planning controls, or can reasonably be argued to.
Building Code
Whether it meets the Code structurally, and for fire and access where the building class requires it.
Council's Track Record
What position your council has taken on comparable work nearby.
Demolition Risk
Whether removal is a genuine risk in your situation, or unlikely.
The Honest Answer
You get a clear view of your position. Where the answer is uncomfortable, you get that too.
Regularising work means proving it is safe and compliant.
That usually means several consultants, coordinated so their reports agree with each other. We manage that so you deal with one person, and so the package arrives complete rather than in pieces over several months.
Survey
An accurate record of what exists and where it sits on the site.
Structural Engineering
Certification that what was built is structurally sound.
As-Built Documentation
A full drawing set of the work as it actually stands, not as it was once intended.
Statement of Environmental Effects
The planning case for why the work should remain.
Fire and Access
Where the class of building requires it — routinely for Class 2 and 3.
One Point of Contact
We coordinate the specialists and the certifier so the evidence arrives as one coherent case.
Class 2 and 3 work cannot be documented by just anyone.
Unauthorised work in a Class 2 or Class 3 building — apartments, boarding houses, residential care — sits under the Design and Building Practitioners Act. The documentation has to be prepared and declared by a registered practitioner.
Farshid Hosseini is a registered NSW Design Practitioner for Building Design, Class 2 and 3 (DEP0000825), and a Chartered Member of the Building Designers Association of Australia (Registration 3169), with 25 years in building design.
Six steps, in this order, for a reason.
01 Understand
You send the notice, the address and a description of what was built.
02 Assess
We establish the likely pathway and what stands in its way.
03 Advise
You get a written position — including what we cannot promise.
04 Coordinate
Survey, engineering and specialist reports, managed as one package.
05 Document
The as-built set and the supporting planning case.
06 Lodge and Manage
Through to determination, including council's questions along the way.
Nobody can promise you an outcome.
Council and certifiers make that decision. Any consultant who guarantees a result is either guessing or selling. What we will tell you is which pathway gives you the best chance, what will be argued against you, and where the real risk sits — before you spend money.
Questions owners ask when work has no approval.
Will council make me demolish it?
Is a Building Information Certificate the same as approval?
How long does it take?
I bought the property like this. Is it still my problem?
Can I just leave it?
What do you need from me to start?
Send Us the Notice and What Was Built.
You'll get a straight answer on the likely pathway and what it will take — no guaranteed outcomes, no guesswork.