The dark art of plan submissions

Demystifying the building plan submission process step for step

This article aims to demystify the building plan approval process. It is a complicated regulatory process that deals not only with the health and safety of the occupants but also the neighborhood. It deals with town planning, development, and environmental and historic preservation. It must also slot into city-wide systems like sewage and drainage, water supply, power supply, roads, and stormwater management. Thus, a single building application has several regulatory documents that apply to it and need to be evaluated by many departments. Nevertheless, it is a regulated process with a set number of steps that often get a bad reputation due to a lack of understanding.

Here is a high-level overview of the entire approval process to reduce the frustration of discovering each next step one at a time.

*Caveat: The law is complex and continues to be updated. Thus, every project must be assessed individually to determine the exact process.

01 Understand restrictions on your site:

You need to start by comparing all the applicable regulatory frameworks to your design or existing property to determine if you need to do a Land Use Application (step 2) or can proceed directly to Building plan submission (step 3).

To determine this, there are four questions you need to ask:

*this is not an exhaustive list, but it will cover most properties.

1. Is my existing building older than 60 years, or has it been classified as a protected heritage resource?

2. Will the proposed work trigger any environmental issues? This is mainly for buildings near rivers, the seashore, or any declared nature reserve areas.

3. Does my proposed work exceed any of the restrictions in my municipality's zoning scheme?

4. Does my Title Deed have any restrictions that my proposed building work exceeds?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you will first need to do a town planning application. Project dependent, this may also need to be preceded by heritage or environmental applications.

Question 3 explained: 

To determine the answer to question 3, you must first assess your property's zoning. Each property is assigned to a specific category. The category you are given will determine what rules apply to your property. Most municipalities have a "zoning viewer" on their websites where you can type in your property details and find the zoning for your property. You will then look up your municipal zoning scheme. This document should also be available on your municipality's website. It will give you restrictions on your property such as height restriction, how close to your boundary line you are allowed to build, the number of square meters you can build, what functions your building is permitted to house, etc. You may also find our resource on planning jargon explained useful.

02 Land Use Application

A Land Use Application is submitted to the Town Planning department. You can think of this application as "asking for permission" to exceed certain restrictions on your property or to build in a sensitive context like natural or historic contexts. You will need to provide good motivation for doing so. The Town planning department will evaluate this based on whether your motivation fulfills a set criteria for being allowed to grant departures. They may also require public participation. This is project-dependent and can take the form of neighbours' signatures, public advertising, and/or comments from affected groups.

Specialized reports

For some applications, specialist reports like environmental impact assessments, heritage impact assessments, geotechnical assessments, etc., may be required. It is vital to know this up front as some of these reports can include very expensive studies that may render your project completely unfeasible.

03 Building Plan Submission

A stack of documents are prepared and submitted according to the strict specifications from the planning department. Depending on the nature of your application, you will need to include the following forms or documents:

• fully completed SANS 10400 forms (forms 1 and 2, if applicable)

• Power of attorney agreement form (if the application is not submitted by the owner, i.e. by the architect or draughtsperson)

• the application fee/receipt

• site plan

• layout plan

• drainage installation drawings (if applicable)

• fire protection plans (if applicable)

• structural engineer’s drawings (if applicable)

• party wall consent (if applicable)

• copy of the Surveyor-General’s diagram / general plan

• copy of the title deed

• letter of approval for any departure from the zoning scheme (if applicable)

• architectural compliance certificate

• consent form from your neighbour / sectional title / homeowner’s association / body corporate (if applicable)

This set of documents need to communicate how the proposed work conforms to the national building regulations and the municipal zoning scheme and by-laws.

If your application is deemed complete, you will be charged an application fee. The municipality calculates this fee on a per-square-meter rate. However, they do have a basic fee for small work.

Once the fee is paid, the application will be checked for completeness. Thereafter the submission will be circulated to all affected departments. These could, for example, include roads & traffic, stormwater, etc.

The municipality has 30 days to respond to your application (this can take longer in some instances, especially when there is a backlog at the municipality). If they feel there is information missing or that some of your proposal does not meet the regulatory requirements, they will issue a rejection letter with a list of amendments.

You have one year to address these amendments and re-submit. The document will then be circulated to all the departments that requested amendments. You then get an opportunity to attend to these amendments. Once attended too, it will be re-circulated to the affected departments. If all of them are happy, it will go back to your plans examiner. If they are happy, they will send it for a final assessment by a senior plans examiner/building control officer. If all is in order, you will receive an approval letter.

The approval letter has a list of conditions on it. One of these is that the building work needs to start within 12 months. Make sure you take careful note of all the conditions.

04 Time to build

When you start construction, you or your contractor need to notify the building inspector that you are about to start. The building inspector will do inspections at the beginning and throughout your building process. This is to ensure that the hidden parts of the building, like foundations, are also safe and up to code.

05 Occupation Certificate

When your building work is complete, you can request an occupation inspection so that you can get an occupation certificate. This is granted by a building inspector who needs to inspect the building on site and sign off that it complies with all regulations and that it matches your drawings.

There is also a list of information they will request:

• electrical compliance

• mechanical ventilation system compliance

• roof construction compliance

• structural system compliance

• fire protection system compliance

• fire installation compliance

• energy efficiency compliance

• any other certificate for which a rational design was required for the approval of the building plan

The occupation certificate is an important part of the regulatory process that you will not want to omit. To read more about its' importance, read our blog post on Why Approved Plans that Match Your Building Are Important and the Risks of Not Having Them.

In writing this article, we knew we risked oversimplifying a complex regulatory process. We do however want to try make it more transparent to empower you to understand enough of the process to pick up when someone is pulling wool over your eyes. This should be used as a resource to help you determine where to start, manage your expectations of the process, and follow along with the application process. We do however strongly advise seeking professional help to assist you in dealing with this complex process. 

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