01 Feb Getting building approvals
RECEIVING the official approvals: If a Building Licence is required by your local council then work can not commence until a licence has been issued. You should contact your local shire to find out if the particular work that you are about to commence needs a licence. If you need one then you and the person performing your work should do everything possible to obtain one. If conditions are placed on the works by the council then work can not commence until theses conditions have been accepted by them in writing and your acceptance must be received within 45 working days of the contract being signed.
WATER AUTHORITY APPROVAL:- Check with the water Authority to see if you need their approval for the work you intend to carry out, if approval is required then work can not commence until theses conditions have been accepted by them in writing and your acceptance must be received within 45 working days of the contract being signed. Work cannot start until you have accepted all conditions on the other hand you may if you have time, appeal to the Minister to overturn a particular ruling.
The Home Building Contracts Act specifies what should happen if 45 working days have passed since you and the person doing the work signed the contract and :
1) The building licence from the shire has not been issued.
2) The water authority approval has not been issued.
3) You or the trades person doing the work have not acknowledged in writing your acceptance of conditions placed on the plans.
4)You and the person doing the works have not acknowledged in writing your acceptance of the water authority approval.
The consequences of theses conditions not being met depends on who has not fulfilled their obligations regarding obtaining and accepting the building licence and water authority approval.
If its the Trades person doing your works or your Builders fault meaning that they have not fulfilled their obligation then the contract must stand as signed unless you both agree to change it. If you both agree to change it then you have to meet the requirements as discussed in our previous column under the heading “Varying the Contract”.
Our next article is on Terminating a building contract. If you find this article useful, you may share through the following social site links or send us your comments from the box at the bottom.