Private building surveyors

Role of private building surveyors

Registered private building surveyor in Victoria can carry out the following functions under the Building Act 1993:

assessing Building Permit applications including assessing siting matters for the building, like height, setbacks, overlooking, overshadowing, site coverage and permeability
issuing Building Permits
carrying out mandatory inspections of buildings and building work
issuing a Certificate of Final Inspection and Occupancy Permits at the satisfactory completion of the building project
approving temporary occupation of buildings
enforcing safety and building standards.

Private building surveyors can enforce safety and building standards for building work associated with their building permits through:

giving and enforcing directions to fix non-compliant building work
causing a building notice to be served
making building orders
making emergency orders (municipal building surveyors only).

Before a private building surveyor issues a Building Permit, they need to check that the Building Permit application complies with:

the Building Act 1993
the Building Regulations 2018
the Building Code of Australia
relevant Australian Standards.

You may need a Planning Permit for your proposed works before a Building Permit can be issued. You can check if you need a Planning Permit by calling our Statutory Planning Team on (03) 9278 4888 or email us at [email protected]. Once you have your Planning Permit a Building Permit can be issued by a Private Building Surveyor or Municipal Building Surveyor.

Breaches of Building Permits issued by private building surveyors

Private building surveyors have the same powers as our municipal building surveyor. They are responsible for taking enforcement action when there are breaches of Building Permits.

Council do not get involved in the enforcement action taken by private building surveyors, unless there is a risk to life or safety requiring the issue of an emergency order by our municipal building surveyor.

Life safety matters include some of the following:

dangerous excavations adjacent to property boundaries which have the potential to undermine land or existing buildings
potentially dangerous buildings and structures posing an imminent risk to life or property
swimming pools and spas accessible by the public or occupants by doors or gates that are open, or where the opening mechanism is at a non-compliant height, or the height of the barrier is a danger

Failure to comply with Building Orders issued by a Private Building Surveyor can result in prosecution by the Victorian Building Authority in the Magistrates Court.

Section 30 lodgements

Please note: only registered building surveyors can submit a Section 30 lodgement.

Section 30 of the Building Act requires the Relevant Building Surveyor (RBS) to lodge with Council a copy of the building permit, plans and other documents submitted with the application within 7 days of the issuing of the building permit.

Cost

The Section 30 lodgement fee is $134.90.

This payment needs to be made using a credit card or PayPal when a Private Building Surveyor submits the Section 30 lodgement form. There is no fee for Visa or MasterCard debit cards or for PayPal transactions. Credit card surcharges apply, find out more on our Pay page.

Before lodgement

The Private Building Surveyor will need to prepare the information and documents for lodgement before completing the new Section 30 lodgement form.

Documents required for lodgement are:

a building permit (Form 2), uploaded as a single file up to 500 MB.
approved building permit documents, including:
- Victorian Building Authority approved checklist under Section 30A
- the application for a building permit
- soil report
- architectural and engineering plans
- Certificate of Title and plan of subdivision.
  You can upload unlimited files (up to 500 MB each) for these documents.

If you have multiple files to upload that exceed these amounts, please combine them. We accept jpg, jpeg, png and pdf file types.

Information about swimming pools and spas

In the form we also collect information about pools and spas. It is important for us to know whether the building permit relates to:

the completion of construction of a new swimming pool or spa
alterations to existing safety barriers
the demolition or decommissioning of a pool or spa.

How to submit a New Section 30 Lodgement

Submit a New Section 30 lodgement

If you have already submitted a Section 30 lodgement to us and need to provide additional documentation, email these to [email protected] for consideration.

More information

For more information, contact our Building Services team at [email protected] or call us on (03) 9278 4999.