Pulling down a house, garage or old shopfront, or removing part of a building to make way for something new? In most cases you’ll need a demolition permit in Melbourne before work starts, and often council consent as well. Demolition also brings its own risks: asbestos, live services, neighbouring walls and the footpath out front.
Our building surveyors help homeowners, builders and developers with knock-down rebuilds, partial demolitions and commercial strip-outs. We check what applies, coordinate council consent and issue your building permit.
Usually, yes. In Victoria, demolishing or removing a building is building work, so it needs a building permit unless an exemption applies. That covers knocking down a house, removing the back of one for an extension and commercial strip-outs that affect the structure.
The main exemption, in Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018, is for demolishing a freestanding Class 10 building, such as a shed or detached garage, that:
A brick garage or an attached carport won’t qualify, and exempt work may still need a planning permit.
Under section 29A of the Building Act 1993, your building surveyor must refer a demolition application to council for report and consent if:
Council checks whether the demolition needs a planning permit and, if so, whether it’s been obtained. It has 15 business days to respond. After that, consent is deemed given, unless a required planning permit is missing, in which case it’s taken as refused.
A building permit can’t be issued until any planning permit the project needs has been obtained. For demolition, the key trigger to check is a Heritage Overlay, which generally requires a planning permit to demolish. Some Neighbourhood Character Overlays do too, where the overlay’s schedule specifies it. Check your property’s planning controls before booking a demolisher.
Demolishing or altering a building on the Victorian Heritage Register also needs the report and consent of the Executive Director under the Heritage Act 2017. Our guide to building permits vs planning permits explains how the two approvals fit together.
Most demolition delays come from doing things in the wrong order. We map out the approvals first, so council consent, neighbour notices, asbestos removal and disconnections are lined up before the machinery arrives.
Share the address, title, photos and a site plan showing what’s being removed, plus any demolition on the site in the last 3 years and what you’ll build next. We’ll quote and flag early risks.
We check whether an exemption applies and whether a planning permit is needed, then refer the application to council for section 29A report and consent, plus consent for any hoarding over the street alignment.
We decide whether adjoining property needs protection work and what precautions must protect the public. You or your builder serve any protection work notices and arrange asbestos removal, disconnections and council permits.
Once the consents and documents are in place, we issue your building permit and lodge it with council, then inspect at the mandatory notification stages, including once the public safety precautions are complete.
A knock-down rebuild needs building approval for two things: demolishing the existing building and constructing the new home. A planning permit may be needed for either or both, and it must be in place before the relevant building permit is issued.
A practical order is:
Councils can add steps: Moonee Valley asks owners to surrender household bins once demolition consent is approved. We also handle permits for new dwellings and dual occupancies, so both stages are planned together.
The Victorian Government’s asbestos guidance says homes built before the mid-1980s are highly likely to contain asbestos products, and those built from then until 1990 are likely to. Only testing a sample can confirm it.
Under WorkSafe Victoria’s rules, demolition must not start until it’s been determined whether asbestos is present, and asbestos must be removed, so far as reasonably practicable, before demolition begins. A Class A licence covers friable and non-friable asbestos; Class B covers non-friable only. At a workplace, unlicensed removal is limited to 10 m² of non-friable asbestos in total, taking no more than one hour in any seven-day period.
If demolition could affect adjoining property, your building surveyor decides whether protection work, such as underpinning or shoring, is required. You then serve a notice on the neighbour, who has 14 days to respond; no response counts as agreement. Disputes go to the building surveyor to decide, with a right of appeal to the Building Appeals Board within 14 days.
Where a hoarding will project over the street alignment, council’s report and consent is generally required under regulation 116 of the Building Regulations 2018 before the permit is issued. Many councils also require an asset protection permit; Moonee Valley’s covers demolition and needs time-stamped photos of council assets before work starts.
JLN Building Consultants is a building surveying consultancy based in Niddrie, in Melbourne’s north-west. Our directors bring over 20 years of combined experience across construction and building surveying, so we understand how demolition fits into a real building program.
We work across Melbourne and regional Victoria, on everything from a single garage to a whole house, an extension or a commercial building.
Common questions about demolition permits and knock-down rebuilds.
Not always. Demolishing a freestanding shed or garage (a Class 10 building) is exempt if it isn’t masonry, is no more than 40 m² in floor area, won’t adversely affect the safety of the public or occupiers and isn’t connected with a building on the Victorian Heritage Register. Otherwise you’ll need a building permit.
Council has 15 business days to respond to a section 29A request, not counting the day it’s lodged, weekends or Victorian public holidays. If it doesn’t respond, consent is deemed given, unless the demolition needs a planning permit that hasn’t been obtained. Any required planning permit must come first, so allow time for it.
It can. Consent is needed if the demolition, plus any other demolition completed or permitted in the past 3 years, adds up to more than half the building’s volume, or if it removes any part of a street-facing facade visible from the street. That can catch extensions and second storeys that remove much of a house or change its front facade.
Possibly, but a Heritage Overlay generally requires a planning permit to demolish, and council must refuse demolition consent while a required planning permit hasn’t been obtained. If council has asked the Minister for a planning scheme amendment that would require a permit for the demolition, such as new heritage controls, your application can be suspended.
Yes, they can be applied for together or in stages, and we’ll recommend what suits your program. The key is confirming the new home’s planning path before demolition, so you’re not left with a vacant block waiting on approvals. Tell us your builder’s start date and we’ll plan around it.
Send us the address, a few photos and your plans for the site, and we’ll map out the approvals before you book the machinery. Request a free quote, call 0422 234 951 or email info@jlnconsultants.com.au.
