Certificates of Occupancy and Class 1a Buildings: The Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) (Certificates of Occupancy) Amendment Regulations 2023 (SA)

The Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) (Certificates of Occupancy) Amendment Regulations 2023 (SA) (Amendment Regulations) were gazetted (at page 4004), and came into force, on 30 November 2023. The variations are applicable to Class 1a buildings, being single detached dwellings or single dwellings in a group of attached dwellings pursuant to the Building Code.

Amendments

The Amendment Regulations chiefly provide that a Certificate of Occupancy (pursuant to Section 152 of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016) will be required for Class 1a buildings after 30 September 2024. This is an extension from the previously prescribed date of 31 December 2023.

To accompany this variation, regulations 103A(2) and 103B have been amended to become operative on 1 October 2024 (formerly 1 January 2024). From 1 October 2024, an application for a Certificate of Occupancy for a Class 1a building must be accompanied by a duly completed Statement of Compliance and, if applicable, evidence to demonstrate that any conditions placed on the development have been complied with. Additionally, from 1 October 2024 onwards, there must also be satisfaction of the prescribed requirements in accordance with regulation 103B. The prescribed requirements can be found here.

A further amendment to subregulation 103G(2) clarifies that, if an appropriate notice in respect of an application for building consent for a Class 1a building is provided before 1 October 2024, a Certificate of Occupancy will not be required.

Decision Notification Form

A new version of the Decision Notification Form, gazetted on 7 December 2023 (pages 4070 to 4074), came into force on 8 December 2023. It reflects the variations made by the Amendment Regulations, changing the supplementary text under the ‘Building Occupation/Completion’ heading to accommodate these extensions.

The new version of the Decision Notification Form, being Version 5, can be viewed here.

Take Home Message

A Certificate of Occupancy for Class 1a buildings will be required where an application for building consent is lodged on, or after, 1 October 2024.

For more specific information on any of the material contained in this article please contact Gavin Leydon on +61 8 8210 1225 or gleydon@normans.com.au, or Nicholas Munday on +61 8 8217 1381 or nmunday@normans.com.au