I got told today that now to put an application into councils for a carport or any sort of renovations a statuary declaration has to be supplied signed by a justice of the peace stating you don't know anybody working on the council & you are not in collusion with anybody from the council through a third party
WTF.
The bloke who wants a caport instead of a rotten timber pergola is going to make millions & cut the councilors in on it .?
Surely there must come a time when there is a level of reality in bureaucratic bull**** .

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actiomax said..
I got told today that now to put an application into councils for a carport or any sort of renovations a statuary declaration has to be supplied signed by a justice of the peace stating you don't know anybody working on the council & you are not in collusion with anybody from the council through a third party
WTF.
The bloke who wants a caport instead of a rotten timber pergola is going to make millions & cut the councilors in on it .?
Surely there must come a time when there is a level of reality in bureaucratic bull**** .

Putting aside your absurdity of your situation, i have always found the requirement of obtaining the signature of someone who doesnt know you for a bar of soap in these situations to be both strange and amusing.

The monkeys are now running the show, doesn't matter who you vote for at any level of government, it is the bureaucrats that run the show.

Until there is some kind of revolt or class/ combined action by the people that pay the bureaucrats mortgages thing can't change.

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Subsonic said..

actiomax said..
I got told today that now to put an application into councils for a carport or any sort of renovations a statuary declaration has to be supplied signed by a justice of the peace stating you don't know anybody working on the council & you are not in collusion with anybody from the council through a third party
WTF.
The bloke who wants a caport instead of a rotten timber pergola is going to make millions & cut the councilors in on it .?
Surely there must come a time when there is a level of reality in bureaucratic bull**** .

Putting aside your absurdity of your situation, i have always found the requirement of obtaining the signature of someone who doesnt know you for a bar of soap in these situations to be both strange and amusing.

Yes, its strange isn't it? You can write that you think the earth is flat, turn up to a notary and have them confirm that you signed it. So it doesn't make it any more truthful, although it might have a better legal standing.

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Mr Milk said..
I think someone was pulling your leg
Minor works don't generally need approval

https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/understanding-planning/assessment-systems/exempt-development

Yeah, but the minute it falls outside of exempt or complying then it needs approval.

In the case of a carport, at least where I live, it is almost always closer than 900mm from the fenceline, so it falls outside of exempt development. I envy those that can build one beside their house and not be that close to the fence.

You should write to them and tell them that the only corruption worth dealing with is above a certain economic value threshold and that they could save a certain number of full time equivalents looking at question that is largely irrelevant below said threshold.
It is not really that hard to change the law, it is just that the people who design it are largely unfamiliar with how the world actually works and are so busy dealing with politicians and special interest groups that they tend to look past the little guy.
Of course one could argue that the problem isn't the stat dec. itself but the fact that you need to apply to build something on your land that might infringe on your neighbours amenity while the big end of town just pay off the right people and do whatever they like.
My advice would be to build whatever you like and then deal with any fallout afterwards, the bureaucracy is so busy they are unlikely to take the time to bother, just look at how many small crimes the police no longer bother investigating.

Its easier to asks forgiveness than permission

My friend did this and built a carport two courses of bricks higher than regulation. He got in the poo after the roof was already on and it became quite costly...

There are councils in Sydney that require 5 inspections for just a carport .
The cost of these inspections are more than the actual jobs and it stops a lot of jobs being built.
And it goes in opposition to the state government policy so these jobs can be fast tracked for approval .
A few years ago State government made a policy anything under 25mtrs2 didn't need approval if it sat within certain boundries .
Some councils who already had that policy changed it to 15mtr2 & introduced the 5 inspections.
Its total insanity.

On another forum ive read two separate stories of house owners having demolition crews arriving at their doorstep to knock down unapproved constructions, after theyve ignored letters from the council about it, hoping the problem would go away. So i wouldnt take that path.

Maybe after the Royal Commission finishes up with the banks it can start digging into the Local Councils. I'd love to see that.

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Subsonic said..
On another forum ive read two separate stories of house owners having demolition crews arriving at their doorstep to knock down unapproved constructions, after theyve ignored letters from the council about it, hoping the problem would go away. So i wouldnt take that path.

I have a neighbour that lives to the north of me, i.e. their house overshadows my yard significantly, and there is no sun in their yard because the house is so big.

Strangely enough, they have put their clothes line on the south side fence, as there is no physical space left to install it anywhere else.

I mentioned that I was going to install a carport on my side, and the neighbour started talking about calling the council about it as it would 'block the sun to her clothes line'. I don't know how it is in other parts of Australia, but where I live, generally the sun only shines from the North and the only way my carport could block sun is if the earth flips around. In other words, there is no chance that my carport would ever block the sun.

Will I build one without approval? No chance. This sort of neighbour is the sort that thinks their house is not a problem and its others that are the problem. The funny thing is that I can almost guarantee the council will approve it, but is the cost of a DA worth it?

To build with a 900mm setback from the side is impractical because of the narrow blocks, but its still not going to happen without a DA.

Use offset posts if you want the opening bigger than the roof

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FormulaNova said..

Subsonic said..
On another forum ive read two separate stories of house owners having demolition crews arriving at their doorstep to knock down unapproved constructions, after theyve ignored letters from the council about it, hoping the problem would go away. So i wouldnt take that path.

I have a neighbour that lives to the north of me, i.e. their house overshadows my yard significantly, and there is no sun in their yard because the house is so big.

Strangely enough, they have put their clothes line on the south side fence, as there is no physical space left to install it anywhere else.

I mentioned that I was going to install a carport on my side, and the neighbour started talking about calling the council about it as it would 'block the sun to her clothes line'. I don't know how it is in other parts of Australia, but where I live, generally the sun only shines from the North and the only way my carport could block sun is if the earth flips around. In other words, there is no chance that my carport would ever block the sun.

Will I build one without approval? No chance. This sort of neighbour is the sort that thinks their house is not a problem and its others that are the problem. The funny thing is that I can almost guarantee the council will approve it, but is the cost of a DA worth it?

To build with a 900mm setback from the side is impractical because of the narrow blocks, but its still not going to happen without a DA.

You can build closer than 900
but need neighbour approval
which sounds a no no

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cauncy said..

FormulaNova said..

Subsonic said..
On another forum ive read two separate stories of house owners having demolition crews arriving at their doorstep to knock down unapproved constructions, after theyve ignored letters from the council about it, hoping the problem would go away. So i wouldnt take that path.

I have a neighbour that lives to the north of me, i.e. their house overshadows my yard significantly, and there is no sun in their yard because the house is so big.

Strangely enough, they have put their clothes line on the south side fence, as there is no physical space left to install it anywhere else.

I mentioned that I was going to install a carport on my side, and the neighbour started talking about calling the council about it as it would 'block the sun to her clothes line'. I don't know how it is in other parts of Australia, but where I live, generally the sun only shines from the North and the only way my carport could block sun is if the earth flips around. In other words, there is no chance that my carport would ever block the sun.

Will I build one without approval? No chance. This sort of neighbour is the sort that thinks their house is not a problem and its others that are the problem. The funny thing is that I can almost guarantee the council will approve it, but is the cost of a DA worth it?

To build with a 900mm setback from the side is impractical because of the narrow blocks, but its still not going to happen without a DA.

You can build closer than 900
but need neighbour approval
which sounds a no no

Here, in NSW, I don't need neighbour approval, and it wouldn't help, but I do need a DA. If the council decides its not a problem, the neighbour is not going to be able to do much about it unless there is some obvious fault with it. In this case its really annoying as the neighbour somehow thinks that its going to block the sunlight even though a sensible person can see it does not.