# Forum Home Renovation Demolition  removing load bearing wall - council

## zongatron

hi 
i want to partially remove a load bearing wall.
Concrete block house, interior wall, very straight forward as i have exposed beams. Basically I want to leave a foot of wall on each end and open <4m worth to create open plan living.
IN NSW do i need som kind of approval for this?
What type of approval is this? do they have to inspect the property because my house has several unapproved additions and that would be bad if mister council came to inspect.
Or is it simple paperwork + a fee? 
I was going to get a builder to do the work, just dont want to pay extra to the council or risk them inspecting the work. Or is it easy and cheap?
thanks for anything....

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## m6sports

Just dont tell them  
They are on a Need to know basis  :2thumbsup:  
And they dont need to know  :Biggrin:

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## Andy T

Not sure what the requirements are in NSW. I had a similar situation and sought advice from a registered building surveyor mate. For my council a DA or permit was not required to commence the work as it came under the category of minor building works (it was removal of a load bearing wall), but council required a description of the planned works. Council also required an inspection after completion to ensure it met the framing regs etc. As most of the smaller councils either inspect the work themselves or require an inspection from a building surveyor the choice for me was simple. There was a small cost to lodge the paperwork with the council and (not that there was) if there was any other work that had been done without approval this would not have been picked up anyway. The only thing you need to consider is your duty of disclosure if you sell the house and any potential liability if the lot caves in some years after you sell. I would suggest contacting council to see what would be acceptable to them first and then go from there. :Blush7:  Cheers Andy

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## barney118

I would also check with your house insurer, I am not sure where you stand if your place burns down/floods or something and you have made the changes and what you are insured for.

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## jago

As Barney said about insurnace; I can tell you,  you dont have any Insurance if its not certified as up to code, thats the same for nearly all alterations decks included. Liability even when sold is yours due to non certified work... 
A lot of builders here do the work and the owner gets it certified when they go to sell so no come back once sold...local certified inspectors are not keen to certify if there is no prior DA because of the idemnity insurance.  Council up here are also really craking down on this and issuing re-do work notices and fines. 
Andy is right check with somebody  in the know it might be quiet painless.  :2thumbsup:

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## zongatron

thanks guys, 
for this place, its just that the other alterations i speak of are not structural but do violate one or two points under exempt and qualifying etc... And they stick out like dogs balls. So the council inspector could not miss them.
---> i am broke and cannot in any way afford to risk 
a) having to lodge a full d/a and 
b) maybe puling down and replacing to original.
i am selling sometime in the future ----> but the house is a besserbrick @@@@@@@@@ and with a steel beam put in  by a builder.... extremely small risk of caving in. that does not concern me. 
The possibility that a buyer may want it approved befopre purchase does though.
I will reconsider my options i think. 
About that insurance, are you saying it nullifies your "whole house" being insured if you have any unnapproved alterations? or does it just nullify the value of the deck or the addition that is unapproved etc? 
thanks

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## jago

My father-in-laws balcony caused structual damage to his property, it pulled a large section of masonry off when part of the balcony collapsed, it  was larger than council allowed for so he didn't get an approval.  
Anyway  when the insurance assesor came out to asses the damage he had already  checked with council and said to my FIL ...no  dice mate an illegal  addition to the property theres no payout due! 
Now I'm not sure about your Insurance, but mine; I called them before I started work they wrote back stating  that all alterations  that were licensed alterations carried out in accordance with the relevant building codes would be covered. 
I took it to mean, licensed = council approved. 
So in answer the addition is not insured plus any damage the unlicensed addition may cause. 
Selling that really depends on if the buyer demands consents and how aggresive your local council are. 
The local inspectors are up here are only allowed to inspect the works in hand on a DA, everything pre-existing is not up  for inspection unless it looks brand new or dangerous... 
I asked an inspector, his answer which is logical; 
If they go looking for items not up to code on the whole house they will find them, but these things would/could have been done to a previous code, its too time consuming for them to check every detail.
If things are not obviously dangerous or brand new, they will ingonore it on renovations. New builds they check everything! :2thumbsup:

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