Municipal plans

 If you are planning a new house, it is obvious that your architect will need to submit plans to your local authority, but what about alterations and additions to an existing building? It is always worth dropping in to your local council and speaking to the plans control department if you are not sure. This is especially important if you live in a heritage building and are planning a facelift or any other work that will alter the external appearance of the building. In this case, also have a discussion with the heritage authority before doing any work. While you are doing your investigations, check the zoning and any other planning restrictions on your site with the planning department. They can advise you on whether your proposals can be carried out within the existing zoning restrictions, or whether you will need to go through the costly and time-consuming process of rezoning. This will usually be required only if you are changing the use of the building, eg if you want to convert a portion of your house for use as a business.

It can be very costly and frustrating if you start work and then have to demolish it because it is not compliant with some regulation. In general, if you add one or more rooms, change the window size, move a wall (inside or exterior), change the configuration of the plumbing fittings, change the roof configuration or material, or add a garden or boundary wall higher than 1.8m, you will need to submit plans. Check with your local authority on who can submit the plans: you may need your plans to be drawn up and submitted by a "competent person", who is registered with their professional body, such as the South African Council for the Architectural Profession. This body may also have regulations on what category of registration can carry out what type and size of project, so it is a good idea to check this with your professional architect or architectural technologist before they start any work for you.

Plans need to comply with the building regulations for your area - in South Africa these are the National Building Regulations and any local by-laws. They also need to be consistent with your title deeds - if the property was first proclaimed a long time ago, the title deeds may have some curious requirements or prohibitions. I lived on a property where one was not allowed to have a slaughter post on the premises!

Council submission plans from the 1990s showing existing and new work

If you are buying a property, it is important to have copies of the approved plans as one of the conditions of sale - often a previous owner may have done some alterations without going through the required process and there may be things that are not permitted. I heard of a case where a window had been built into a wall that was too close to the neighbouring boundary, which was only discovered after the transfer was completed. The new owners were required to brick up this window, leaving them with an uninhabitable room.

For alterations and additions, you will need to access the existing drawings from your local authority building control department (sometimes called "plans control"). You can get them yourself or this can be done by your architect, but you will need a copy of your rates or municipal services invoice and a copy of your ID. Your architect will need a letter of authorization from you, as the owner of the property. Some local authorities have an excellent filing system and can show you drawings for the building from its original design through its various alterations up to the present. Other municipalities are not so reliable, so you may find some gaps in the history or even a completely empty file. Even since moving to an electronic filing system, some local authorities still have very incomplete records. If there is nothing on file, or the records are incomplete, the first step you may be required to comply with are "as-built drawings", showing all the existing features before your own proposed additions.

If your proposals are for building work close to your property boundary, it is worth employing a land surveyor to verify the position of the corner pegs of the site. The fence or wall may not be accurately positioned, and if you simply assume that this line is correct, it could be a costly problem to remedy.

Engaging with your local authority could be a time-consuming and frustrating experience, but it is worth being sure that your building work is entirely compliant, to save you problems in the future, such as when an inspector visits, or you want to sell your property.