Australian Capital Territory Current Regulations

BUILDING (GENERAL) REGULATION 2008 - REG 49

    (1)     A certifier who is a person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the certifier issues a building approval, or approves amended plans, for the building of a single dwelling on a block; and

        (b)     the dwelling will be the first dwelling built on the block; and

        (c)     there is no development approval for the site work proposed in the approved plans; and

Note     Approved plans includes amended plans (see title="A2004-11">Act

, dict).

        (d)     the dwelling would not, if built in accordance with the approved plans, comply with—

              (i)     a relevant provision in any relevant district policy; and

              (ii)     if it is not displaced by a relevant provision in a relevant district policy—a relevant residential zones—single dwelling housing development control.

Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units.

    (2)     A certifier who is a person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the certifier issues a building approval, or approves amended plans, for the building of a single dwelling on a block; and

        (b)     the dwelling will be the first dwelling built on the block; and

        (c)     there is no development approval for the site work proposed in the approved plans; and

Note     Approved plans includes amended plans (see title="A2004-11">Act

, dict).

        (d)     the approved plans are defective because they contain information that is false or inaccurate; and

        (e)     if the plans were not defective, the certifier would have contravened subsection (1).

Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units.

    (3)     It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) or (2) if the defendant proves that the defendant—

        (a)     took all reasonable steps to find out whether the site work, if carried out in accordance with the approved plans, required development approval; and

        (b)     was satisfied on reasonable grounds that the development did not require development approval.

    (4)     It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (2) if the defendant proves that the defendant—

        (a)     took all reasonable steps to find out if the approved plans contained false or inaccurate information; and

        (b)     was satisfied on reasonable grounds that the plans did not contain false or inaccurate information.

    (5)     To remove any doubt, if a building approval indicates that something is not to have work done in relation to it, or is not part of the building approval, the certifier does not commit an offence under this section in relation to the thing.

    (6)     An offence against this section is a strict liability offence.

    (7)     In this section:

"district policy"—see the href="https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/2023-18/" title="A2023-18">Planning Act 2023

, dictionary.

"dwelling"—see the href="https://legislation.act.gov.au/sl/2023-21/" title="SL2023-21">Planning (Exempt Development) Regulation 2023

, section 6 (1).

residential zones—single dwelling housing development control —see the href="https://legislation.act.gov.au/sl/2023-21/" title="SL2023-21">Planning (Exempt Development) Regulation 2023

, section 14 (1) (a).