Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) A permit authority
to which an application is made must decide whether or not to grant or modify
the occupancy permit or grant the building approval certificate —
(a) if
there is no requirement under section 55(1), before the expiration of the
period —
(i)
that is prescribed for the purposes of this subsection
for that kind of application; and
(ii)
starting on the day after the application is made;
or
(b) if
there is a requirement under section 55(1) that is complied with within the
specified time, before the expiration of the period mentioned in paragraph
(a)(i) starting on the day after the compliance.
(2) If the permit
authority has not made a decision in the time mentioned in subsection (1) the
permit authority is to be taken to have refused to grant or modify the
occupancy permit or grant the building approval certificate.
(3) If the permit
authority has not made a decision in the time mentioned in subsection (1)
—
(a) the
permit authority must refund to the applicant the fee mentioned in
section 54(4)(d) that accompanied the application; and
(b) the
amount of the fee paid is recoverable in any court of competent jurisdiction
as a debt due to the applicant.
(4) Subsection (3)
does not apply if the permit authority refuses to consider the application
because the applicant has not complied with a requirement under section 55(1)
within the specified time.
(5) Despite subsection
(2) and section 55(2), the permit authority may decide whether or not to grant
or modify the occupancy permit or grant the building approval certificate, and
may give the applicant written notice of its decision, after the period
applicable under subsection (1), or the time specified under section 55(1),
has expired, and the validity of the decision is not affected by the expiry.