A Certificate of Acceptance provides some verification for a building owner or future building owners that part or all of specified building work carried out, complies with the Building Code.
You will need to contact us for an appointment with a PlanSmart officer before a Certificate of Acceptance application can be lodged.
A Certificate of Acceptance can be issued where:
A Certificate of Acceptance (COA) can only be issued if the work complies with the Building Code at the time the COA application was made. (This differs from a Code Compliance Certificate which is issued if the work complies with the Building Code at the time the building consent was issued).
When a Certificate of Acceptance is issued, it will list the work Council inspected and may also list items that Council could not verify as complying with the Building Code. These are called exclusions.
Your application will need to provide evidence of how the work complies with the Building Code, including those parts of the work that Council cannot inspect.
Council cannot issue retrospective building consents for work that has already been completed.
A Certificate of Acceptance may be issued for building work that has been done without a building consent or in special circumstances, when a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) cannot be issued.
Once Council has received an application and all of the information including plans, specifications and appropriate reports, the project is reviewed by Building and Planning staff. At this point, further information may be required to ensure processing is completed.
If the plans are accepted for the structure thus meeting all the requirements for building and planning, a Certificate of Acceptance may be issued.
Council may choose to certify an entire structure or only a portion of the structure that meets the Building Code.
All applications need to include the following:
Submit the completed application forms by one of the following methods:
Refer to the COA Fact Sheet for further information.
Guidelines
A Certificate of Acceptance can not be issued for building work identified as having been completed prior to 1 July 1992. There is no process available through Council for acceptance or qualification of this work.
Where such building work is the subject of a condition for a building report in a sale and purchase agreement, you will need to obtain the services of a qualified person from the private sector to confirm the building work is safe and sound.