Selling a Queensland home with unapproved building work: the options

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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Plenty of Queensland homes carry a structure that nobody ever had signed off. A deck added over a long weekend, a carport that was enclosed a decade ago, a garage that became a bedroom, a shed that grew. Often the present owner did not build it and has never thought about it. The question arrives when the home goes on the market, because that is the moment a buyer's lawyer asks the council what it holds on file.

A home with unapproved work can be sold. Neither the seller disclosure statement nor the standard contract asks a seller to hold an approval for every structure. What they regulate is narrower: what must be put in front of the buyer before they sign, and what the seller promises about official notices. This guide sets out what "approved" means, which work never needed approval, what the searches reveal, what the seller disclosure statement and the contract say, and the three routes open to a seller before listing. It describes general rules. How they apply to one house depends on the structure, the council and the contract.

Queensland Building and Construction Commission for the owner-builder figures; Ipswich and Logan city councils for the show cause period.

What approval means in Queensland

Two different things are often called "council approval", and it helps to separate them.

The first is a building approval, formally a development permit for building work. It is granted under the Building Act 1975 and confirms that the design meets the building rules. It is often granted by a private certifier, not by the council. Fraser Coast Regional Council, for one, tells residents that it no longer certifies building work and that approval must come from a private building certifier. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC), which licenses certifiers, says they assess applications, decide whether to grant a building approval, then inspect and certify the work, for a local government or in private practice.

The second is the paper that closes the job. For a house and for the smaller structures around it, which the building code groups as class 1 and class 10, that is the final inspection certificate, known in the trade as a Form 21. The QBCC describes it as showing satisfactory completion of the work and compliance with the approval, and says it is typically given to the owner and lodged with the local government. Other classes of building receive a certificate of occupancy instead.

That gives three ways for work to be "unapproved". There may never have been an approval. There may be an approval that was never finalised, because nobody called the certifier back for the last inspection. Fraser Coast's guidance notes that an approval lapses on its nominated date if the work has not been completed and inspected. Or the work may differ from what was approved. Ipswich City Council's list of common reasons for compliance action covers all three: assessable work without approval, work without a final inspection certificate, and work not built in accordance with its approval.

A planning approval is a separate question again. A certifier cannot approve work that conflicts with the local planning scheme, as Fraser Coast puts it, so a structure that is too close to a boundary or sits in a character area may need the council's planning decision before the building side can be settled.

Work that never needed approval

Not everything in a backyard is assessable. The Building Regulation 2021 lists minor work as accepted development, which needs no building approval. Business Queensland, the State Government's business information service, summarises the main cases, and council fact sheets add the finer limits.

The list is short. Fraser Coast's guidance names carports, sheds above the small-shed limits, roofed patios, gazebos, pergolas, shade sails, swimming pools and spas among the work that needs a building approval, along with any alteration or addition to a dwelling. Enclosing a patio or turning a garage into a room is an alteration. Whether a particular low deck needs approval is a question for a certifier, since it turns on its height, size and attachment to the house.

Nor does "no approval" mean "no rules". Business Queensland notes that the owner remains responsible for making sure accepted work meets the applicable standards, including structural sufficiency, size limits and boundary setbacks, and that minor work may still need approval under a council's planning scheme.

What the council's records show

A buyer's lawyer does not inspect the yard. They order a search of the council's building records for the lot and compare the list of approvals with the listing photos and the building inspector's notes. The general run of searches in a purchase is covered in a separate guide; what follows is the one that exposes unapproved work.

Brisbane City Council's building search is a fair example. The council describes it as a data extract of building approval records and any certificates of occupancy, with a further search listing building inspection and final inspection dates for each approval on a detached house and its associated structures. It lists a fee of $106.55 for a standard response in 10 business days, or $218.80 for a fast-track response in 3 business days. Copies of plans and certificates are a separate request, listed at $191.05 per digital copy.

Three points are worth knowing before reading anything into a result.

• Records have a starting date. Brisbane City Council says it holds no plans or documents for residential buildings built, altered or renovated before 1987. An old extension with no paper is not the same as an unapproved one.
• The search is only as complete as what was lodged. A file can hold an approval and no final certificate, which tells the reader the job was never closed.
• The owner can ask too. Brisbane accepts a request for documents from the owner with proof of ownership, or from a non-owner holding the owner's letter of authority or a signed contract to purchase. A seller can read the file before a buyer does.

What the disclosure statement asks about

Since 1 August 2025, a Queensland seller has had to give the buyer a seller disclosure statement, the approved Form 2, with its prescribed certificates before the buyer signs. The duty sits in section 99 of the Property Law Act 2023 and, as the Queensland Law Society's journal Proctor noted when the scheme began, applies to contracts entered into from that date. How the form is assembled and what follows when it is wrong are the subjects of other guides. The narrower question here is what the form says about building work.

It says less than many sellers expect. The form opens with a warning that the statement does not include information about a list of matters, among them the structural soundness of buildings and current or past building or development approvals. Its part on buildings and structures repeats the point: the seller does not warrant that buildings are structurally sound or that they have the required approvals, and the buyer is told to engage an inspector and to search for approvals. A buyer is also warned that they may not be able to terminate if such matters come to light after signing.

So the scheme draws its line at official action. A seller is not asked to audit every structure. A seller is asked, in plain yes-or-no terms, whether a show cause notice or enforcement notice under the Building Act 1975 or the Planning Act 2016 is unsatisfied, and whether any notice or order requiring work or spending remains in effect, and must hand over a copy of each.

The absence of a question is not a licence to say anything at all. The form leaves approvals to the buyer; it does not cover a seller or an agent who goes further and describes a room as approved when it is not.

What the standard contract promises

The contract adds its own layer. The REIQ standard terms, written with the Queensland Law Society, have long made the seller give warranties about official notices, and they are worth reading before listing.

The Society's summary of the edition released in January 2022 sets out the structure. The seller warrants, as at the contract date, that no outstanding notice under the specified sections of the Building Act 1975 or the Planning Act 2016 affects the property. A warranty added in that edition goes one step earlier: the seller has not received any communication from a competent authority that may lead to such a notice. The Society explained why. Councils often correspond with an owner for a long time before issuing anything formal, and a notice that lands after the contract date would otherwise fall to the buyer. If either warranty is breached, the summary says, the buyer may terminate by notice given before settlement.

A separate clause deals with notices requiring work. In the same summary, a notice issued before the contract date is the seller's to comply with before settlement, and a buyer who settles regardless may claim the reasonable cost from the seller as a debt. A notice issued on or after the contract date is generally the buyer's.

The current contract is the Contract for Residential Real Estate, first edition, in use since 1 August 2025. Proctor's note on its release records that its warranties do not apply to facts disclosed before the buyer signed, whether in the contract, in the seller disclosure statement or otherwise in writing, and that where the disclosure scheme applies, the buyer's right to terminate for breach of certain warranties is governed by the Property Law Act. Clause numbers have moved between editions, so the wording to rely on is the wording of the contract actually signed.

Show cause and enforcement notices

A council that learns of unapproved work has discretion over what to do. Brisbane City Council says it relies on the public to identify unauthorised work, and that its officers weigh the evidence, the circumstances, any precedents and the cost to the community of acting.

The usual first step is a show cause notice. Ipswich City Council describes it as a formal document setting out the council's understanding of the alleged offence and inviting a response, with at least 20 business days to reply. Logan City Council gives the same period. A reply is optional, though it is the owner's chance to explain how the matter will be resolved.

An enforcement notice is the order that follows if the matter is not resolved, or that comes first where there is danger. Logan cites section 248 of the Building Act 1975 and section 168 of the Planning Act 2016 as its sources of power. Such a notice may require the owner to stop, to demolish or remove work, to apply for a development permit or to repair, each with its own deadline; Logan's example allows 3 months to obtain a building approval. Both councils give an appeal period of 20 business days, or 5 business days where the notice concerns a dangerous building or structure. If a notice is ignored, the councils list an infringement notice, court proceedings, or the council doing the work and recovering the cost.

For a seller, a notice changes the file in two ways. It must be disclosed on the Form 2 with a copy attached. And it engages the contract's warranties unless it was disclosed before the buyer signed.

Owner-builder work and the title

Work done under an owner-builder permit is a category of its own, with its own disclosure rule. The QBCC says a permit is needed for a residential project valued above $11,000 on the owner's land, and that owner-builders cannot use the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme. That second point is what the selling rules are built around: the next owner has no statutory insurance behind the work.

Two things follow from a permit, on two different clocks.

• The notice to the buyer. If the property is sold within 6 years of the work being completed, the QBCC requires the seller to give the prospective buyer a written notice before they sign the contract. It sets out the work, names the permit holder, states that the work was done under an owner-builder permit and carries a prescribed warning that the work is not covered by insurance under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991. Two copies are given, and the buyer signs one and returns it on or before signing the contract. The Form 2 asks the same question and points to the same notice, under section 47 of that Act.
• The note on the title. An administrative advice recording the permit is placed on the title for 7 years, the QBCC says. Titles Queensland removes it after that when another dealing is registered, or earlier on the owner's request, for a fee. Any title search in that period shows it.

The cost of missing the notice is a warranty the seller never meant to give. The QBCC puts it this way: without the notice, the law treats the seller as having warranted that the building work was properly carried out, and the seller may be liable for later faults.

A permit is not an approval. Owner-builder work still needed its building approval and its final inspection, and a search will show whether it has them. Work above the threshold done with no permit at all is a matter to raise with the QBCC, which says it may approve such work after completion but that a fine and a fee can apply.

Three routes before listing

A seller who knows, or suspects, that something lacks approval has three broad choices. None is the right answer for every house.

Approval after the fact runs through a building certifier, as it would have at the start. Toowoomba Regional Council, which publishes a page on unapproved work, calls the process more complicated than an upfront approval and is frank about why. Wall sheeting, cladding, ceiling linings or roof cladding may have to be removed so the work can be seen. The work may never be finalised if a certifier or engineer cannot effectively inspect footings, slabs, retaining walls and other hidden parts. If it cannot be approved, it may have to be demolished or removed. Ipswich makes the same point from the other side: where approval is unlikely because of site constraints, zoning or the condition of the building, removing the work may be the more appropriate course.

Removal is the cleanest for small structures of little value. Ipswich notes that removing unapproved work does not itself need a development approval to begin, but that the land must be reinstated as far as practical.

Selling as it stands is lawful and common. It works best when the seller sets the terms rather than waiting to be asked. Because the standard warranties do not apply to facts disclosed in writing before the buyer signs, a clear written statement of what lacks approval, or a special condition under which the buyer accepts the structures as they are, moves the matter from a surprise found in a search to a known feature of the deal. What "as is" does and does not achieve in a Queensland contract has its own guide.

How buyers, insurers and lenders respond

Buyers usually find out when their lawyer's search comes back shorter than the list of structures. A building inspector may also remark that a deck or enclosure looks newer than the house, though an inspector reports on condition and does not check council files. If the contract carries a building and pest or due diligence condition that is still running, the buyer can negotiate.

What buyers weigh is what they would inherit. Compliance attaches to the property and its owner of the day, which is why Toowoomba's page and Logan's advice to buyers are both written for whoever owns the home when the question is raised, whoever built the structure. Logan tells buyers that obtaining approval or bringing a building up to standard can be costly, and that approval requirements may affect a property's value or resale potential.

Insurance is the second concern. Toowoomba Regional Council warns that home owner insurance may not protect the owner if there is an incident involving unapproved work, and that the State's home warranty scheme will not cover faulty construction of it. Logan notes that building work needs may affect home and contents insurance. How a given insurer treats a given structure depends on its policy wording, and a buyer will often ask their insurer before going unconditional.

Lenders set their own policies, and no Queensland Government source lays down a rule for them. A loan is secured against what a valuer reports, so the open question for a seller is whether the space that lacks approval is counted the way the listing counts it. A room marketed as a bedroom and valued as a garage produces a gap the buyer has to fund or renegotiate.

Where it depends on the case

Most of the hard questions in this area have no general answer. Whether a low deck was ever assessable work depends on its dimensions. Whether an old enclosure can be approved now depends on what a certifier can see and on the planning scheme of that council. Whether a letter from the council years ago counts as a communication that may lead to a notice depends on what it said. Whether a statement in a listing went too far depends on its words.

A missing approval rarely ends a sale. What unsettles one is the buyer learning of it from a council search the seller could have read first.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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