New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT ACT 1979 - SECT 149D

149D Obligations of council to issue building certificate

(1) The council must issue a building certificate if it appears that:

(a) there is no matter discernible by the exercise of reasonable care and skill that would entitle the council, under this Act or the Local Government Act 1993 :

(i) to order the building to be demolished, altered, added to or rebuilt, or

(ii) to take proceedings for an order or injunction requiring the building to be demolished, altered, added to or rebuilt, or

(iii) to take proceedings in relation to any encroachment by the building onto land vested in or under the control of the council, or

(b) there is such a matter but, in the circumstances, the council does not propose to make any such order or take any such proceedings.

(2) If the council refuses to issue a building certificate, it must inform the applicant, by notice, of its decision and of the reasons for it.

(3) The reasons must be sufficiently detailed to inform the applicant of the work that needs to be done to enable the council to issue a building certificate.

(4) The council must not refuse to issue or delay the issue of a building certificate by virtue of the existence of a matter that would not entitle the council to make any order or take any proceedings of the kind referred to in subsection (1) (a).

(5) Nothing in this section prevents the council from informing the applicant of the work that would need to be done before the council could issue a building certificate or from deferring its determination of the application until the applicant has had an opportunity to do that work.