Conditions of approval

Most development approvals have conditions. The conditions form part of the development approval package and set out the circumstances in which the approved development may proceed.

Conditions usually have two parts: (1) condition; (2) timeframe for the condition to be met.

The conditions of approval are publicly available and set community expectations on the delivery of the development.

Legal effect of conditions

The development approval conditions binds each and every individual and company who undertake any work or carry out any use under the development approval.

It is an offence under the Planning Act 2016 to:

  • fail to comply with a development condition, and
  • breach a development condition.

The development approval and conditions stay with the land, regardless of a change in ownership.

Consequences of breaching conditions

All conditions of development must be met by the applicant. Failure to meet the required conditions may have significant impacts on the surrounding area and may result in an unlawful development.

Council has a team of enforcement officers who investigate possible breaches of development approvals. The consequences of unlawful development may include:

  • fines
  • court actions
  • the requirement to lodge a further development application to obtain approval, and/or
  • ceasing use of the premises.

This can be a costly and time-consuming process.

Negotiating amendments to conditions

The Planning Act 2016 allows an applicant to negotiate conditions of development approval, within 20-business days following receipt of the decision notice.

Council may agree to change the conditions of approval through a negotiated decision notice where an amended conditions package is issued to the applicant and publicly displayed on Development.i.

Information is provided to the applicant as part of their decision package with instructions on how to request a negotiated decision.

Fulfilment of conditions

Many development approval conditions require a further approval, certification and/or a letter from Council. To obtain this documentation, select the following links:

For more information about using Council's services to obtain relevant information for condition compliance fulfillment, please call Council's contact centre on 3403 8888.

Providing evidence of condition compliance

It is required that evidence/proof of fulfillment that demonstrates compliance with all conditions of approval is submitted to Council's Development Services branch.

This evidence / proof of fulfilment will be uploaded onto Council's system and associated to the condition for recording purposes. An email confirming receipt of your documentation will be provided to you once loaded onto Council's system.

How to submit

To submit evidence of condition compliance, use the Condition Compliance online form.

You are only able to submit conditions for one development approval at a time.

As part of this lodgement, you will be required to outline / submit:

  • the development approval number the condition relates to
  • the relevant condition number/s the documentation is providing evidence for, and
  • overall condition compliance matrix

For further help with submitting condition compliance or to find out more information, contact conditioncompliance@brisbane.qld.gov.au.

Overall condition compliance matrix

A useful tool in monitoring / reporting on condition compliance for a development is an overall condition compliance matrix. 

It is encouraged that the matrix outline all conditions relating to the development approval with:

  • condition timing
  • the proof of fulfilment (e.g. photos of completed works / certification)
  • the current status of the condition (e.g. not yet commenced, works in progress, evidence submitted to Council for review, compliant).

This allows both you and Council to actively track the condition status for the approval.

Pro-active investigations

Council regularly undertakes proactive investigations to ensure condition compliance is being achieved on a range of development sites. In the instance where an officer engages with you, Council's records will be reviewed, or you will be required to provide evidence of condition compliance.

Find more about our proactive investigations.

Please note: For reconfiguration of a lot development approvals, the documentation submitted will be reviewed once the plan sealing request is received.

More information

For any enquiries about providing evidence of condition compliance to Council, you can email conditioncompliance@brisbane.qld.gov.au and an officer will be in contact with you.

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Topics: development assessment

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