Development application and approval appeals
You can appeal to the Development Tribunals under the Planning Act 2016 about a development application or material change of use application—but only for certain buildings.
These buildings are defined under the National Construction Code as:
- classified building: generally a house, though the code states that a classified building is a Class 1 or Class 10 building
- Class 1: a single detached house; groups of 2 or more attached houses separated by fire-resistant walls; or boarding houses, guest houses or hostels with floor areas of less than 300 square metres where no more than 12 people would usually live
- Class 10: a non-habitable building, such as shed, garage, carport, fence, retaining wall or swimming pool
- limited Class 2 building: a building with 2 or more sole-occupancy units that are separate dwellings, not exceeding 3 storeys and 60 sole-occupancy units.
What you can appeal
The following list is not exhaustive. If you’re unsure whether you have the right to appeal, contact the Registrar on 1800 804 833 or read schedule 1 of the Planning Act.
Appeals about development applications
You can appeal a:
- development application decision, including
- the refusal, or deemed refusal (if you don’t receive a decision in the required time frames), of all or part of the application
- a provision of the development approval
- the decision to give a preliminary approval (if a development permit was applied for)
- operational work associated with building work, a retaining wall or a tennis court
- deemed refusal if an assessment manager fails to decide an application in the required time frame
- decision for, or a deemed refusal of, an extension application or a change application for a development approval that is for only a material change of use of a classified building.
Appeals about material change of use applications
You can appeal a material change of use application for a classified building for:
- the refusal, or deemed refusal (if you don’t receive a decision in the required time frames), of all or part of the application
- a provision of the development approval
- the decision to give a preliminary approval (if a development permit was applied for)
- operational work associated with building work, a retaining wall or a tennis court.
However, you can appeal a condition in a material change of use approval for a class 2 building only if the building doesn’t exceed certain size requirements.
What you can’t appeal
You can’t appeal to the tribunals if any part of a development application required impact assessment and the assessment manager for the application received any properly made submissions.
Time frames
In most cases you must lodge your appeal within 20 business days.