By Mark Bonanno and Liam Mountford -
Snapshot
- Building information certificates are widely mistaken as retroactive approvals for unauthorised construction but they offer only temporary protection and no guarantee of structural integrity.
- Decades of case law reveal that planning legislation is designed to allow for the regularisation of unlawful developments, prioritising merit-based assessment over punishment.
- This article unpacks this case law, critiques the misuse of building information certificates and discusses how forgiveness is an underlying tenet of planning law.
An article appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald on 10 June 2025 gives a typical example of a proponent applying for a building information certificate (‘BIC’): an applicant seeks approval for an enormous development which the council and the neighbours think is an overdevelopment; approval is given for a more modest application; the applicant goes ahead and builds a royal palace; council issues various orders to stop; applicant seeks de facto backdated approval via a BIC.
Neighbours often cite the conditions and limitations they were exposed to when they went through their own applications and ask: ‘why should we follow the law when they don’t have to?’ Inconsistent standards undermine confidence in the planning process.
This article outlines why a BIC for this purpose is not only misguided, but also dangerous, and why ‘forgiveness’ is baked into planning law.
