Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Aug 27, 2014 9:01 pm Hi there, We're on the final stretch to get our building permit to renovate our weatherboard home in SE Melbourne. We recently had to serve our neighbour a Protection Work Notice as a garage is being built on the boundary. He saw it as an opportunity to ark up about the size of the garage overlooking his yard, even though it will only be 700mm higher then the fence due to the cut of our property. The grumpy old neighbour has decided not to sign the form and ring up the private surveyor and request more information (as per Building Act 1993 84-87). The surveyor has consequently provided the neighbour with our renovation house plans without our consent. There is no planning permit required for the work, therefore no public advertisement of the plans is required. It's just for a garage and some internal work. My question is whether the surveyor has authority to do this without asking ask us first. Our concern is that the neighbour now has an opportunity to nit-pick other aspects of our renovation. I would of thought this was private information and required our consent. Can I just go down to council and ask for anyone's house plans?? Thanks in advance. Gary Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 2Aug 27, 2014 10:26 pm I think that you can go to the council and ask for plans that have been submitted if you are a neighbour adjacent to the property. I do not think the neighbour would have any ground other than the height of the boundary wall and that would also be governed by planning rules which you can check against. Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 4Aug 29, 2014 9:26 am Im not au-fait with Vic law, but in Qld if no planning permission is required, you just go ahead and do it, and you are personally not beholden to anyone for providing information. Generally state law decrees that in the interest of transparency, any building applications are to be made available for inspection by councils to any enquirer for free. Perhaps Vic law allows the surveyor to act in a de facto capacity this way? But why dont you ask him? Your neighbour might obviously wish to check the shed plans, but to see your house plans sounds pedantic, because unless you are raising or relocating it, he has no input whatsoever. Apart from that, Im curious as to why it takes a year to get a simple building permit to do a reno on an existing dwelling? Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 5Aug 29, 2014 12:10 pm qebtel Im not au-fait with Vic law, but in Qld if no planning permission is required, you just go ahead and do it, and you are personally not beholden to anyone for providing information. Generally state law decrees that in the interest of transparency, any building applications are to be made available for inspection by councils to any enquirer for free. Perhaps Vic law allows the surveyor to act in a de facto capacity this way? But why dont you ask him? Your neighbour might obviously wish to check the shed plans, but to see your house plans sounds pedantic, because unless you are raising or relocating it, he has no input whatsoever. Apart from that, Im curious as to why it takes a year to get a simple building permit to do a reno on an existing dwelling? Some years ago my client has been involved in overlooking dispute. I approached council about his neighbour's plans and was able to view them in council offices but not take photos or copies. I don't believe you have right to request your neighbour's plans. I think that was correct procedure from the council. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 6Sep 01, 2014 8:38 pm Thanks for the replies. When I say the whole process, drafting started 12mths ago, and the building permit application started 4 months ago! Our neighbour contacted us today to tell us he wasn't going to sign the form, and that we should seek legal representation as he was going to object to the height of the garage wall. He's getting some kind of report to give to the surveyor. What the?!? It sounds like he is doing everything to delay this process even further. No idea what report he is talking about (wouldn't tell us), and there's no need for us to get legal advise or representation as it is all within regulation. It's .7m above his fence and his unit is set back 5meters. I hope the surveyor has some common sense when dealing with this matter... Gary Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 7Sep 03, 2014 12:21 pm building-expert qebtel Im not au-fait with Vic law, but in Qld if no planning permission is required, you just go ahead and do it, and you are personally not beholden to anyone for providing information. Generally state law decrees that in the interest of transparency, any building applications are to be made available for inspection by councils to any enquirer for free. Perhaps Vic law allows the surveyor to act in a de facto capacity this way? But why dont you ask him? Your neighbour might obviously wish to check the shed plans, but to see your house plans sounds pedantic, because unless you are raising or relocating it, he has no input whatsoever. Apart from that, Im curious as to why it takes a year to get a simple building permit to do a reno on an existing dwelling? Some years ago my client has been involved in overlooking dispute. I approached council about his neighbour's plans and was able to view them in council offices but not take photos or copies. I don't believe you have right to request your neighbour's plans. I think that was correct procedure from the council. Just so you know, In Qld state law gives anyone the right to purchase any documents filed in connection with a building/planning application. If you just want to view them for free, likewise they must be provided to you to peruse in council offices, but you cant copy them. Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 8Sep 03, 2014 12:25 pm SEReno Our neighbour contacted us today to tell us he wasn't going to sign the form, and that we should seek legal representation as he was going to object to the height of the garage wall. He's getting some kind of report to give to the surveyor. What the?!? It sounds like he is doing everything to delay this process even further. No idea what report he is talking about (wouldn't tell us), and there's no need for us to get legal advise or representation as it is all within regulation. It's .7m above his fence and his unit is set back 5meters. Gary So your building permit is contingent on the neighbour signing the protection order? why is that? Your neighbour sounds like a complete donkey-hole. The fact that they wont openly discuss it with you shows he/she is a brick. (replace the B with a P if you like) . Watch out. Plan on putting up a 6ft to block him/her out after all is done. Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 9Sep 03, 2014 2:11 pm Agree. He's just a grumpy old man with nothing better to do, however the building and regulation process allows people like this to have a negative impact on someone's project. This is the same guy that hosed our smalls dogs over the fence for barking and drenching them a week after we moved in, so it shows you the character of person we're dealing with here. We've been nothing but accommodating and up front about the situation but now he has earnt the right to us having a parties thrown every weekend and be his neighbour from hell... Thanks, Gary Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 11Oct 07, 2014 1:51 pm There is a body called Australian Institute of Building Surveyors - Vic Chapter who might be able to help and also the Victorian Building Authority if you're desperate to find out, but is it worth it? I suggest you ring your building surveyor direct and ask. He might have been trying not to slow down the permit. Nothing like nosy neighbours is there? Leonardo_23 Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 12Oct 07, 2014 2:08 pm I'd say no he should have run it past you first but I'm referencing NSW laws and in particular our local councils. Floorplans aren't required to be put up on the councils website for any DA's - naturally for privacy concerns , just all the other documents - site plan, elevation etc. However if I have concerns over a particular DA I can go down to the council offices and view a hard copy of the combined documents including the floorplans. I also can't be just some guy off the street , I have to be one of the near or adjoining neighbours or have their permission as their representative. Stewie Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 13Oct 09, 2014 10:47 am There were two threads on this topic started by the OP. I've combined the two threads to avoid further confusion. Cheers. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Plans provided to neighbour without consent 14Oct 09, 2014 6:25 pm Bluesuede There were two threads on this topic started by the OP. I've combined the two threads to avoid further confusion. Where is the Like button ? Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . This certainly doesn't look good. I would be engaging with an independent inspector to have a look at this. As for the unscheduled site visits, most builders are quite… 1 28319 Elvis has left the building... The site supervisor quit after 2 month on the project. I guess he was just instructed to bark at people, but didn't like when he was… 26 20901 Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5015 |