No Occupational Certificate until all landscaping is done

jpalmer · Aug 10, 2024 10:18 pm

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice as we have come to the end of our build and the certifier has advised us that we cannot get any type of Occupational Certificate until all landscaping is done.

We are in Wollondilly council and I have attached a copy of part of DA approval. This whole time our builder said we would be able to get an interim but turns out they were wrong and now here we are.

Mind you this land spacing plan was submitted in our DA without us evening seeing it until it was uploaded to the council portal. This includes a retaining wall that we just found out needs DA approval, grass, driveway, fencing, specific plants, clothes line etc. We are in an old street and not in a new estate.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as money is tight and landscaping is expensive.

Thank you in advance!
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building-expert · Aug 11, 2024 10:45 am

This should have been no surprise if you had read development approval condition 28.
Why isn't your builder completing all the work, including landscaping?
There would be appeal provisions for the council decisions however I don't like your chances as it was clearly spelt out.
I come across many developments where OP is issued even though landscaping is missing and the finished dwelling does not meet planning permit conditions.
Developers simply omit , landscaping, sheds, paving, etc and keep savings as extra profit.
I came across 40 unit development and developers saved around 40K per unit through omissions and substitutions. That is 1.6M bonus, a beach house in Tasmania plus a Bentley. Nice hustle if you can get away with it, many do.
Stupid purchasers get short changed for tens of thousands because they won't spend few hundred on expert advice.

jpalmer · Aug 11, 2024 12:34 pm

building-expert

This should have been no surprise if you had read development approval condition 28.
Why isn't your builder completing all the work, including landscaping?
There would be appeal provisions for the council decisions however I don't like your chances as it was clearly spelt out.
I come across many developments where OP is issued even though landscaping is missing and the finished dwelling does not meet planning permit conditions.
Developers simply omit , landscaping, sheds, paving, etc and keep savings as extra profit.
I came across 40 unit development and developers saved around 40K per unit through omissions and substitutions. That is 1.6M bonus, a beach house in Tasmania plus a Bentley. Nice hustle if you can get away with it, many do.
Stupid purchasers get short changed for tens of thousands because they won't spend few hundred on expert advice.

I did try to appeal it with council as I had previously appealed many other things that was on our DA approval that other blocks didn’t have. I had many back and forth emails but they refused to change it. With my builder saying we would get an interim I thought it was something we would be able to get and work on the landscaping after.

Our builder isn’t completing the landscaping because we were advised that we needed to complete it and we haven’t paid for it in our contract and it states that we need to do it in the HIA.

building-expert · Aug 11, 2024 1:11 pm

Unfortunately you were badly advised.
If I did your pre contract review I would have flagged potential issue.
Looks like landscaping has to go in asap, all you can do is try with the council again for some leniency
Good luck

Denali · Aug 19, 2024 3:54 pm

Different council but a NSW knock down and we were told many times by our builder that we will be issued a temporary OC but can only get full OC once landscaping, inc driveway, is finished.

Ashington Homes · Aug 21, 2024 6:29 am

Here is a hot tip for everyone in NSW.

You can move into your house without an OC and literally, I mean literally nobody will care.

There are no interim occupation certificates in NSW unless your DA was issued before 1 December 2019. So yes you need to finalise landscaping before getting OC.

andrello · Aug 21, 2024 8:46 am

So does this mean our builder is talking smack?

Ashington Homes · Aug 21, 2024 8:54 am

If you are in NSW and your approval was granted after the 1 December 2019 then yes, your builder is talking smack. Interim Occupation certificates simply don't exist like they used too.

You can call your certifier and check, but I know the legislation was changed in 2017 and there was a 2 year grace period

andrello · Aug 21, 2024 9:08 am

Our build has not started yet, but will definitely question them when time comes.

As long as we are able to live in the house post handover then apply for the OC.

Thank you