The Building Information Certificate NSW: The Seven-Year Shield Before You Subdivide

UNAPPROVED BUILDING WORK? CHECK YOUR OPTIONS FIRST.NSW: understand building information certificates before buying.

On a subdivision or a knock-down rebuild, the building you are about to deal with matters less than the building that is already there and what was done to it. If a previous owner built a carport, converted a garage or shifted a wall without approval, that problem can surface later as a council order on a property you now own. A building information certificate is the tool for buying certainty before that happens.

The deal question: what did the previous owner build, and was it approved?

Ask that question before you exchange, not after. Service NSW's building information certificate page puts the protection in plain terms: the certificate ensures the whole or part of the building covered by it will not be subject to regulatory action by the local council for seven years, including action to demolish, alter, add to or rebuild it, or to resolve an encroachment onto land under council control.

Seven years is a long window on a project you may hold for two. On a subdivision where an existing dwelling is retained, or on a renovation you intend to certify, that certainty is often the difference between a straightforward sale and a buyer's solicitor demanding a price reduction.

What the certificate is, and what it is not

The Department's guide to submitting a building information certificate application explains that a building information certificate relates to existing works and is usually requested by buyers or sellers before settlement, to make sure what is being bought or sold will not be the subject of council action. It states that council will not take action for seven years to order the building be demolished, altered, added to or rebuilt, or to resolve an encroachment onto council land.

It is not a development consent and it is not a construction certificate. It deals with the council's ability to take regulatory action on the existing building. If the unapproved work itself needed planning or construction approval, that is a separate question. This is precisely why the certificate and a planning review are done together, not one instead of the other.

The survey requirement is the step people underestimate

For residential zoned land, the application must include an original or certified copy of a survey report and plan, and that survey must show the property and buildings as they exist at the time of application. It is not a copy of an old plan from the contract; it is current evidence. That means the process depends on a registered surveyor, and on a timeframe you have to plan for.

It also means an encroachment question, if there is one, is answered with evidence rather than assumption. A fence or wall that sits over a boundary shows up on a survey, and the certificate either covers it or it does not.

The due diligence test a capable student would run

• Identify the existing works. Walk the improvements against any approved plans and note anything that looks added, altered or converted.
• Ask the council what it has on record. A quick records search can reveal whether approvals exist for the work you can see.
• Get a current identification survey. A registered surveyor's report shows boundaries, levels and structures, which is what the certificate assessment relies on.
• Decide whether the certificate is a condition of the deal. On a property with real unapproved work, make the certificate, or an acceptable outcome from the council's assessment, a condition rather than a post-settlement task.
• Price the risk. If there is unapproved work, cost the regularisation pathway before you finalise your offer, so the number in your head is the number on paper.

The trap: discovering unapproved work after you own it

Unapproved work is one of the quiet killers of a small project. It does not announce itself at inspection, both parties may genuinely not know about it, and it has no effect on the purchase until you try to sell, subdivide or certify something else. Then it becomes an order you have to satisfy on your own land with your own money. The certificate exists to move that discovery to a point where you can still walk away or renegotiate.

What you do not have to work out alone

You are not expected to read the legislation or manage the council's assessment yourself. A property lawyer advises whether a building information certificate is needed for your contract and settlement, a registered surveyor produces the identification survey the application requires, and the council's building surveyor makes the determination, with a town planner confirming whether separate planning approval is needed for the work. Your job is to put the certificate in the right place in the deal, so it strengthens your position rather than arriving too late to help.

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Photo: Semi-detached house in Crampton Street, Wagga Wagga, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 au.