Multi-⁠Unit Development Building Permits — Melbourne & Victoria

Two units on a wide block, a row of five townhouses, a small apartment building over a car park. The permit package is the same shape every time, and so are the places it stalls. One registered building surveyor from first drawings to the last occupancy permit, and a fixed fee quoted before you commit.

Cornerstone is a building surveying practice issuing permits across Melbourne and all of Victoria. Multi-unit work is one part of it. We take on every class of building work, residential, commercial and industrial, from new homes and extensions to warehouses, offices and fit-outs.

When you need a permit

Every new dwelling needs a building permit before work starts. Under the Building Act 1993 and the Building Regulations 2018 the owner appoints a registered building surveyor, who issues the permit, inspects the build and signs off the occupancy permit. Put two dwellings on one lot and it stops being a house job. Four things change.

Planning first

Two or more dwellings on one lot almost always need a planning permit from council first, and the building permit must match the endorsed plans: footprint, setbacks, heights, car spaces. Setbacks and boundary walls are settled by the planning permit, not the single-house siting rules in Part 5 of the Regulations. Council’s report and consent can still be needed for matters like building over an easement.

Class 1a or Class 2

Attached townhouses and dual occupancies, with no dwelling above or below another, are Class 1a, assessed under NCC Volume Two and the Housing Provisions. Apartments stacked above each other are Class 2, assessed under Volume One with its own fire, access and services provisions. Settle the class before the drafter starts.

Separating walls and protection work

Walls between dwellings, and floors between them in a Class 2 building, must be fire-resisting construction under the NCC, with sound insulation to match. Building on or near a boundary can also mean protection work under Part 7 of the Building Act. The owner serves a notice on the adjoining owner before work starts.

Inspections and occupancy permits

Mandatory inspections happen at set stages, and the builder must notify us before each one. An occupancy permit can cover the whole building or part of it, so units can be signed off as they finish, or together, and settlements staged to match. No dwelling can be occupied until an occupancy permit covers it. In a Class 2 building that means the shared parts serving it — stair, services, fire equipment — finished and working.

An old house coming down first needs its own demolition permit and council’s Section 29A consent — see the demolition permit process. Splitting an existing house into two dwellings is covered on the residential page.

What we need from you

Architectural drawings, the planning permit and endorsed plans, and the title. The soil report, the engineering and the 7-star energy rating. The builder’s registration and domestic building insurance details, and council’s legal point of discharge for stormwater. For Class 2, add the services drawings. The soil report sets the site class. For a registered builder or drafting firm the package is routine: one point of contact, missing items asked for once.

What it costs

Fixed fee, quoted up front. It covers assessment, the building permit, the mandatory inspections and the occupancy permits, together or staged. The inspections depend on the job and are confirmed when we quote. Builders get the same fee job after job, so it goes straight into the contract. No hourly rates, no surprises at final.

Things that catch people out

• Insurance before the permit. For houses, townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings, the builder must hold domestic building insurance before the building permit issues. Send the certificate with the drawings, not after.
• Appointing the surveyor late. The owner appoints the building surveyor. Get it signed before the builder orders the slab, not the week the pour is booked.
• Drawings that drift from the endorsed plans. A window moved after endorsement means the building permit no longer matches. Fix it at council first.
• The neighbour. If a boundary wall is on the plans, the protection work notice goes out at the start of the program, not when the builder wants to pour.
• Settling before sign-off. No buyer can move in until an occupancy permit covers their unit. If settlements are staged, say so at quote stage so the inspections are booked in that order.