@scotlandx said:
Any DA needs the approval of the owners in a general meeting, by ordinary resolution.
As an aside, we have had 2 x DAs (Planning Applications in VIC) passed by our council without even a “hello” from the council to the OC. As the OC chair, I found out only by other means – eg by looking at the council website from time to time. Smaller works don’t even need street advertising or neighbour letter box drops (at least in my council they don’t).
Both DA/PAs altered common property on the outside of our apartment building. In both cases the lot owner declared themselves to be the owner of the property to be altered. The council approved both applications and issued permits.
You’d think that councils should know better! (and a bit about common property in apartment buildings) When I pointed out to our council that the applying owners were actually altering common property that they did not own, the council agreed that their applications were invalid. But the council also informed me that regardless of that, the council approval of the works was still valid. And that there were several court cases that had established that validity.
So there it is. Anyone can submit a DA/Planning Permit and if the council approves it, there can be a valid permit even on property you don’t actually own!
Unbelievable but true.
It’s all probably fixable, but not without a fair bit of hassle for the actual owner (the OC in our cases).