Illegal Building Works Reports & Retrospective Approvals — Melbourne

Most unapproved building work isn’t anyone trying to get away with something. A previous owner put up a carport. A builder said the deck didn’t need a permit. Then a building notice arrives from council, or a conveyancer asks for a permit that doesn’t exist, and you need a straight answer.

Cornerstone is a building surveying practice working across Melbourne and all of Victoria. We assess works built without a permit and lay out a realistic path to retrospective approval where one exists. No lecture. The facts, the options and a fixed fee.

What counts as unapproved building work

The Building Act 1993 requires a building permit for most building work in Victoria; the Building Regulations 2018 set out the exemptions. Anything built, altered or extended without a permit when one was required is unapproved work, often called illegal building works. The jobs we see most:

• Decks, verandahs, pergolas and carports over the exempt size or too close to a boundary
• Garages and sheds converted into bedrooms, studios or granny flats
• Removed load-bearing walls, extensions, second storeys, enclosed balconies
• Permitted work that was never inspected or signed off, so no certificate of final inspection or occupancy permit was issued

That last one is still unfinished work in the eyes of the law.

What a building notice (and building order) means

A building notice is issued under section 106 of the Building Act 1993, usually by the council’s municipal building surveyor. It says the surveyor believes work was carried out without a permit and asks you to show cause, by the date on the notice and in the way it sets out (normally in writing), why you shouldn’t be required to carry out building work (or, for some notices, why use of the building shouldn’t be stopped).

If the response doesn’t satisfy the council, a building order can follow under section 111: carry out the work needed to bring the building into compliance, stop using part of it or, in the worst case, demolish it. Work done under an order only needs a building permit where the surveyor directs one (section 119). When that work is finished the surveyor is notified in writing, inspects it and reports to council that the order has been complied with (section 120). Ignoring an order is an offence under section 118.

A notice is the start of a process, not the end of one. A considered response backed by a registered building surveyor’s report is the standard way to deal with it; council compliance staff see it every week.

What we need from you

Paperwork first: the notice if there is one, the title, any drawings and a few photos. Send them with your quote request. Then we inspect the work on site. For structure we can’t see — footings, framing, connections — we tell you what needs opening up or an engineer’s certificate rather than guess.

You get a written compliance report setting out which parts of the work meet the NCC and the Building Regulations 2018, which don’t, and what each shortfall would take to fix. Where the work can be kept, the report goes to council with your response and is what the municipal building surveyor relies on to close the matter out.

Realistic outcomes

There are three, and we tell you which before you spend money on anything else.

Retain as-is. The work is sound, it sits within the siting rules or can get report and consent from council, and the missing piece is evidence. Our report, with an engineer’s certificate for anything structural we can’t see, goes to the municipal building surveyor. The surveyor inspects, the order is recorded as complied with and the council confirms that in writing: the work stays, on file as built without a permit and allowed to remain.

Upgrade to comply. Mostly fine, but something falls short: a deck balustrade, a converted garage short on ceiling height or natural light, footings that need an engineer’s certificate. We list the upgrades, the building order covers them, the upgrade work gets its own building permit and inspections where the surveyor directs one, and the job closes out the same way.

Cannot be approved. Occasionally a structure can’t get there: council won’t consent to where it sits, the structure can’t be certified, or the use isn’t allowed in that class of building. Then the honest advice is removal, and we say so early, before you’ve paid for drawings and engineering.

Strictly, there is no such thing as a retrospective building permit. The Building Act 1993 requires the permit before the work starts, so none can be issued for work already built, and a certificate of final inspection only comes at the end of permitted work. “Retrospective approval” describes the outcome of the notice-and-order process. The paperwork and the wording of the close-out letter vary between councils, and we handle that part.

What it costs

The assessment and compliance report are quoted as a fixed fee once we know what the work is and whether a notice has been issued. If the job goes on to a building permit, that stage is quoted separately and up front. No hourly rates.

If you’ve received a building notice, the date on it matters. Send it through the day it arrives. We work to fast turnaround times, and if the job needs engineering, report and consent or upgrade works we tell you that at the start.

Buying or selling with unapproved works

Selling. Where there is a house on the land, the section 32 vendor statement must disclose every building permit issued in the preceding seven years (Sale of Land Act 1962, section 32E), along with any notice or order affecting the land, and buyers’ solicitors ask about anything not covered by a permit. An assessment before listing lets you choose: have the work dealt with first, price it in, or disclose and sell as-is.

If you were the owner-builder. Selling within the statutory period after owner-builder work has its own requirements under section 137B of the Building Act 1993 — a defects inspection report from a prescribed building practitioner, obtained within the six months before the contract, plus whatever the statutory domestic building insurance scheme requires. Cornerstone does not prepare section 137B defects reports. Whether the work was permitted is a separate question, and that is the part we handle.

Buying. If the contract shows a deck or extension with no permit behind it, have it assessed before you sign or make the contract conditional on it. A building notice goes to whoever owns the property at the time, so the problem comes with the keys.