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| Planning permission; Building a pergola | |
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| Topic Started: 29 Dec 2009, 05:42 PM (455 Views) | |
| gary 'n' wendy | 29 Dec 2009, 05:42 PM Post #1 |
AUSSIE INTERNET IS FUBAR
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Were currently at the early stages of planning a deck and pergola . Its my understanding that like the UK, if its secured to the house you need planning permission. I reckon I could do the pergola two ways - One end bolted onto the house, or one end bolted to uprights cemented into the ground, therefore not secured to the house. What it will boil down to is this. If gaining planning permission means having to submit architects drawings then stuff that, I will have it all free standing ( like one inch off the house ). Anyone had experience with this sort of thing ? :tartan: Gary :tartan: |
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| koalakim | 29 Dec 2009, 06:20 PM Post #2 |
Legend
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Hi Gary Not yet but I do know you need planning permission for a deck if it's over 10sqm.....as it changes the footprint of the house or something and you have to pay the nice council people about $800! You could build a few 10sqm sections...... Don't know about a pergola but knowing this place probably yes! I think it's to do with things with footings...so it doesn't topple over and bash someone. I don't think you need to go as far as architect drawings etc. However, it should say on your local council website about what you can and can't build with or without permission and the sizes. Have fun.... |
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| nee | 29 Dec 2009, 06:36 PM Post #3 |
..like a Britvic'er....but weirder...
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Yep...not secured to the house = no planning required. Never heard about the "over 10msq" thing though, admittedly... |
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| Amanda & Simon | 29 Dec 2009, 06:51 PM Post #4 |
Braiiiiiinnnss
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And to confuse things further a neighbour had to submit an application and plans for something that is not only not connected to his house but has a public alleyway going in between it and the house. That does involve change of use to an existing structure and making it higher though, so could be that was why in that case.
Edited by Amanda & Simon, 29 Dec 2009, 06:52 PM.
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| gary 'n' wendy | 30 Dec 2009, 08:09 AM Post #5 |
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AUSSIE INTERNET IS FUBAR
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Thanks guys, and no suprises at all with your info. Councils around the world will try and bleed you dry at every oppurtunity. The 10sq m thing is worrying, ours will defo be bigger than that. Gonna head down to Mitre 10 today with my measurements and see what they reckon. Blokes at our local one are pretty clued up and will probably know what needs permission and what doesnt . Maybe if I leave an inch gap between the deck / pergola and the wall that would suffice. I would normally say to hell with permission, but I suppose where the problems might arise is if you try to sell the house. :tartan: Gary :tartan: |
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| BoekieOH | 30 Dec 2009, 08:37 AM Post #6 |
Elite Member
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Building permits vary from shire to shire. In general though, providing the structure is not bolted to the house in any way then it is classed as a garden structure. You could butt the Pergola you intend to build right up to the house but ensure it is not connected in any way (i.e. raw bolted to the wall). As for size, again shire dependent on what that size will be, the other thing to consider, is height from the ground level, especisally if there is a deck involved, over 1mtr above ground and you will need a building permit and engineering report, as the structure now has to be able to withstand weight etc applied upon it. As for your pergola, think you'll find you'll be fine to build that as it, as you intend. Gary |
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| dracomjb | 30 Dec 2009, 09:25 AM Post #7 |
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Melton Building Permit Info Describes when you need a building permit, for Pergolas, not more than 3.6m high and 20sqm in area and located at the rear of the building doesn't need a permit. Construction of a pergola located further forward than 2.5m forward of the front wall of the single dwelling - yes. Not always easy to find information, but the local council website is always the first place to check. Second place to check would be to just give them a call. |
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| gary 'n' wendy | 30 Dec 2009, 09:56 AM Post #8 |
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AUSSIE INTERNET IS FUBAR
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Thanks for the link, I would have been forever finding that in council websites :Grin: I think a phone call or email might be required for specifics. Thanks again :tartan: Gary :tartan: |
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| Amanda & Simon | 30 Dec 2009, 10:54 AM Post #9 |
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Braiiiiiinnnss
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go for e-mail, then you've got it in writing....that is if they don't follow the usual Oz standard of just ignoring them :dur: A |
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| gary 'n' wendy | 30 Dec 2009, 04:35 PM Post #10 |
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AUSSIE INTERNET IS FUBAR
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Spoke to some dude in the building dept of the council , who says pergolas without permit can cover up to 20 m sq , can be attached to the building, but cannot have a permenant roof. Anyway, it all seems very distant just now, after todays heat ( and tomorrow to be worse ) I wont need a pergola as I am moving into the freezer til about march . :tartan: Gary :tartan: |
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| Petals | 30 Dec 2009, 04:40 PM Post #11 |
A phenomenon
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We have it attached to the house and a roof if we sell and they act up we will remove the roof :Grin: A good while ago they changed things so that if the project was less than $5 grand then you did not need a permit, not sure if it still applies, they did this to free up the council building departments as they were clogged with little projects. As you say the timber people know all the regulations. |
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| Malecc | 31 Dec 2009, 09:52 AM Post #12 |
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Addicted Member
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We had a huge deck extension built and a pergola built over the spa. The builders took care of everything, just a pity the handiwork wasn't as good!!! |
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| gary 'n' wendy | 31 Dec 2009, 10:54 AM Post #13 |
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AUSSIE INTERNET IS FUBAR
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As has been mentioned on this thread things may differ from council to council. Were just about to head out to look at timber, and am sure we will get more info on whats permissable. I phoned our house builder this morning, who is very clued up on whats what. He says you can build a deck whatever size you want, a pergola any size you want, attach it to the house, without planning permission. Considering he does this on some houses he builds I will take his advice. The only thing that seems to be consistant with everyone I talk to is a permenant roof requires planning /building permission. :tartan: Gary :tartan: |
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| pleasedeletemyaccount | 8 Feb 2010, 09:16 PM Post #14 |
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Hey, we had the exact same issue last year. I spoke to the local council, they were very, very vague I must say! Depends on your home zone banding apparently and apparently the council may have it listed incorrectly too but you can pay them to check it for you! Hmmm ... so I did some checking myself (all free) because I was not going to pay them to do something so simple! Check your section 32 details (paperwork you would have had when you bought the house) this will confirm your zone. Then check the council rules via the councils website. There is a mention of the 10sqm. thing there. I asked the Planning Officer what were the implications should I accidently mismeasure and have a bigger than 10sqm deck and failed to get a permit - he vaguely said we did not have this conversation and that unless I was planning on selling within 5 (or was it 8) years then how would they know when it was built, after a period of time they cannot kake you remove it (so I was vaguely informed). So, the happy ending is we have a HUGE deck and do not plan to sell the house for a long time! Naughty I know, but speaking to the Aussie neighbours, seems that everyone is at it and the great part of being amongst Aussies is that they don't care what you do in your yard and like to bend the rules too! Hooray for BIG decks! |
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| benle | 9 Feb 2010, 08:18 PM Post #15 |
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hi we had a nightmare withours , :waving: |
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| Pomster | 9 Feb 2010, 09:12 PM Post #16 |
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Addicted Member
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I made enquiries with the Planning Dept of the local council and was advised that as long as the height of the deck was below ? cms from ground up-no planning permission reqd. Each Council is different. I built a deck 32sqm (no planning required) and later had a pergola built with a permanent roof(by 2 qualified chippies) which was attached to the eaves of the side of the house. I had plans drawn up by draftperson and went to a private surveyor for checks and sign off once all had been finished. Before I sold the property, I had to obtain a defect report ($500) to confirm that the deck and pergola were sound and would not buckle or fall apart. Failure to have this report could give the buyers a way out of the contract of sale. My conveyancer brought this report to our attention as one of their clients lost a sale ($600,000) without this report-expensive mistake. |
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| koalakim | 10 Feb 2010, 07:28 AM Post #17 |
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Legend
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It's all just a way of people making money out of you as usual. It's usually around $800 to obtain a deck permit.....fleecy fleece again.... Granted some decks are very high, we looked at one house that had decking out the back and it was about 4 ft down to the ground but I can't see why you need a permit to build a ground deck that's over 10sqm - hardly going to fall of it or it's unlikely to collapse is it? I looked on the Mornington website the other day and it just said Decks - permit no details as to how big etc. We were going to get the builder to do the deck as then the permit would have gone in with the house plans but they wanted about 3 times as much to do it. So if it is the 10msq rule we are going to do that and just put a row of pebbles in between each one! |
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| Petals | 10 Feb 2010, 07:42 AM Post #18 |
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A phenomenon
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Its amazing that people pull out for an pergola or something like that might have just been looking for an excuse after all if its been there for years and years and has not fallen down its unlikely it will :Grin: I personally would be making sure no termites, rising damp, footings, etc were ok. Swimming pools are a very very big problem. If there is no fence then it becomes your problem if you buy without one and this is costly, also the equipment that goes with them make sure its working and have a good look. My friends put in this pool a couple of years ago now and its a very very expensive pool and has everything that opens and shuts and the heater natural gas rusted out completely in year, they got on to the manufacturer etc etc and it turned out the person or firm who installed it had not installed it correctly and now they are going to embroiled in a fight to get refunded for the new one they had installed. Also they have pool fencing and the shire came around and said oh its not quite high enough here and there, they had people do everything so back to the fencer, back to the council and in the end had to put these silly perspex v's on the corner of some of the fence posts, so silly at least they are sort of invisible which my friends had insisted on. The moral of this story is that even though people do the work for you they try to run for cover when things go wrong and the council says you own the house so its your problem. Think this stinks when you have spent a couple of hundred grand like my friends have. |
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