Building notices and orders

An Emergency Order is a type of building order that is used when an urgent safety matter requires rectification in a timely and efficient manner to ensure unsafe buildings and/or building work is fixed.  

The recipient of an Emergency Order is required to comply with the requirements of the Order in a specified timeframe (which is usually 48 hours of receiving the emergency order).

A Building Notice is issued when building works have not complied with the appropriate standards.  

The recipient of a building notice is required to provide us with reasons why he or she should not comply with the requirements to fix the issues detailed in the notice. This is often called 'show cause'.

A Building Order is an order requiring a person to carry out building works or undertake other actions which are considered necessary to bring about compliance with the Building Act and Regulations.

These are issued because the Municipal Building Surveyor has recently inspected the property and identified general health, safety or amenity deficiencies.

A Building Order to Stop Building Work is an order requiring a person to stop all forms of building work (and/or demolition work) immediately.  

These are issued when the Municipal Building Surveyor has recently inspected the property and identified that building work has been undertaken that is unsafe or has been started without a building permit being issued. 

A Building Order for Minor Works is an order requiring a person to carry out building works which are considered to be of a ‘minor’ nature.  The recipient of this order is required to carry out the directions detailed in the order. 

They are issued when the Municipal Building Surveyor has recently inspected the property and identified general safety deficiencies.