Council notifications and inspections during an SA build

Section 146: who has to notify

Section 146(1) applies where building work is being carried out within the area of a council. The duty falls on "a licensed building work contractor who is carrying out the work or who is in charge of carrying out the work" or, if there is no such licensed building work contractor, on the building owner. That person must, in accordance with a scheme prescribed by the regulations, notify the council within the prescribed period "of the commencement or completion of a prescribed stage of work". The Act calls each of these a mandatory notification stage.

Section 146(2) adds that the notification must, if the regulations so require, be accompanied or supported by a statement of compliance from a person who holds prescribed qualifications that the building work has been carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Act. That statement is the subject of a separate note.

Section 145 defines "council", for development that is not within the area of a council, as a person or body prescribed by the regulations, and regulation 92 prescribes the Commission. Regulation 93(1)(c)(i), below, sets a separate notice period for development in an area not within the area of a council.

• The Statement of Compliance at the end of an SA build

The notification points in regulation 93(1)

Regulation 93(1) prescribes the periods and stages for section 146(1). Closely paraphrased, with the notice period for each:

(a) 1 business day’s notice of the intended commencement of building work on the site.

(b) The intended commencement of any stage of the work specified by the council, by notice to the building owner and to the licensed building work contractor responsible for the work (if any), when development approval is granted — 1 business day’s notice within Metropolitan Adelaide, 2 business days’ notice outside it.

(c) The intended completion of any stage specified by the council by notice in writing to the building owner on the granting of development approval — 5 business days’ notice where the development is not within the area of a council, 1 business day’s notice in any other case.

(d) 1 business day’s notice of any stage specified by a relevant authority when giving a building consent under regulation 57. The matching power is regulation 57(7): where a decision is or includes a consent for proposed building work, the relevant authority issuing the notice "may specify any additional stage of building work for which notice must be given to the council under regulation 93".

(e) Where the work involves the use of a designated building product on a designated building, 1 business day’s notice of the intended commencement of installing that product. Both terms are defined in regulation 3 by reference to a notice by the Minister under Schedule 8 clause 4(1)(j); the contents of that notice are not reproduced here.

(f) 1 business day’s notice of the intended completion of the building work.

Paragraphs (d) and (e) each open with "without limiting a preceding paragraph". Metropolitan Adelaide is defined in regulation 3 as Metropolitan Adelaide "as defined by GRO Plan 639/93"; whether a particular address falls inside it is not answered on this page.

What the commencement notice contains, and how notice is given

Under regulation 93(2), the notice of commencement under paragraph (a) must include the name, business address, email address, telephone number and builder’s licence number of the licensed building work contractor responsible for the work (if any), and the name, residential or business address, email address and telephone number of "the persons who are proposed to sign the Statement of Compliance in accordance with regulation 104 (if relevant)". Where that second item applies, the people expected to sign at the end of the job are named at its start.

Regulation 93(3) allows three ways of giving notice: via the SA planning portal; by telephone or email, using the council’s main telephone number or email address; or by leaving a written notice with a duly authorised officer of the council.

Where notice is given under paragraph (e), regulation 93(4) requires the person who gave it to provide the council, within 1 business day, with a duly completed prescribed supervisor’s checklist for the installation, signed by a registered building work supervisor. The checklist is one published by the Chief Executive on the SA planning portal (regulation 93(6)).

Regulation 93(4a) limits the regulation to building work that constitutes development for the purposes of the Act. Under regulation 93(5), breaching a requirement of subregulation (1) or (4) is an offence, with a maximum penalty and an expiation fee set in the regulation.

Stopping work for an inspection

Section 146(3) provides that, subject to subsection (4), a person carrying out building work must, "if directed to do so by the council, stop building work when a mandatory notification stage has been reached pending an inspection by an authorised officer who holds prescribed qualifications".

Section 146(4) puts a time limit on that: the authorised officer must carry out the inspection within 24 hours after the direction is given and, if it is not carried out within that time, the person may proceed with the building work.

Which stages a council inspects: section 144

Section 144(1) requires the Commission to issue a practice direction "that will require councils to carry out inspections of development undertaken in their respective areas". Under section 144(2) it may make different provision for different councils or groups of councils.

Section 144(3) lists matters the Commission must take into account in preparing or varying it, including the financial and other resources of councils, "the impact that a failure to inspect a certain number of developments over a period of time may have on local communities", and, for building work, building conditions in the various areas of the State. Section 144(4) requires each council to comply with the practice direction as it relates to that council.

The practice direction is a separate instrument and is not reproduced here. Whether a particular stage of a particular project is inspected is a matter for the council under it, not something a notice or this page settles.

Where a project’s own stages are written down

Paragraphs (a) and (f) apply by force of the regulation, and paragraph (e) wherever a designated building product is used on a designated building. Paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) depend on stages the council or relevant authority specifies when the approval or building consent is given, so those stages are found in that project’s decision notice and accompanying documents.

• What a building documentation set contains
• Certificate of occupancy for a new house in SA
• New builds