propertyexplainedPE / VICTORIA

Buying & property restrictions / VICTORIA

Buying a house: check the works and restrictions

Match visible works to permits and plans, understand the seven- and ten-year record windows, and give your adviser specific questions before signing.

Reviewed 2 November 2026 · General information

START WITH THIS

Match each questioned structure to a record

List the works, documents found and remaining gaps. Give your adviser the list and your purchase deadline before ordering more reports.

Prepare buyer questions →

A deck or converted garage with no permit in the sale documents needs investigation. Missing paperwork does not prove the work is unlawful, and a clean-looking house does not prove its approvals are complete. Compare what you can see with the records before you make an unconditional commitment.

Start with a short list: “rear deck”, “garage used as a bedroom”, “new retaining wall”. Ask the selling agent for the relevant permit numbers, approved plans and completion documents. Give the list and the replies to your own conveyancer or solicitor.

Seven years of disclosure is not a full history

Where the land has a residence, section 32E of the Sale of Land Act requires particulars of building permits issued in the preceding seven years for a building on the land. That is a permit-disclosure window, not a rule that older work becomes approved. It also cannot reveal a permit that was never obtained. Sale of Land Act, section 32E; LPLC guidance on permit disclosure.

The Section 32 statement is not a building-condition or compliance inspection. Consumer Affairs Victoria explains its limits. Ask about the particular structure and its age even if no recent permit appears in the statement.

Ask for the record that answers the question

RecordWhat it helps establishWhat it does not establish
Building Information — regulation 51(1)Details of permits or final-inspection certificates issued in the preceding ten years, plus current specified determinations, exemptions, notices and orders.A complete lifetime history, or that every visible structure matches an approval.
Copies of House Plans / Building Permit Documentation — regulation 50The available plans and documents lodged with the building-permit application. A buyer generally needs the owner’s written authority to obtain them.That every old drawing survives or shows the work as built.
Property Information — regulation 51(2)Specified land designations relevant to building, such as flood-prone or designated land/works information.An engineering assessment or permission for future building work.
Building Inspection Information — regulation 51(3)Approved dates of mandatory-stage inspections, for eligible requesters.A new inspection of current condition or a substitute for the final completion document.

Use the named Mornington Peninsula Building Information 51(1) service and house-plan search. The complete legal scope and requester rules are in regulations 50–51; Council’s buyer guide links the other searches.

Compare a structure with its paperwork

Example: the agent says a rear deck was built nine years ago. It may sit outside section 32E’s seven-year permit window but within regulation 51(1)’s ten-year search. Request the permit details, approved deck plan and the relevant final certificate. If the plan shows an open deck but the property has an enclosed room, record that mismatch for review.

Keep each item separate: approximate construction date and its source, permit reference, plan revision, completion record, and unresolved difference. If the search finds nothing, ask what period and records were searched before concluding that no approval exists.

Avoid paying for the wrong check

QuestionWho to brief
Do the contract, disclosures or title restrictions create a problem for this purchase?Your conveyancer or solicitor. Send the sale documents and unresolved-work list.
What defects or repair needs are visible?A building inspector, with an agreed inspection scope. Identify the deck, conversion or wall you are concerned about.
Do the available building records cover this structure or use?A building surveyor. Provide both the approved documents and the observed difference.

An inspection does not replace approval checks. If unapproved work is established, do not rely on a promise to “get a retrospective building permit”: BPC guidance says a building permit cannot be issued for work already carried out. Obtain advice about the actual resolution and contractual implications. BPC practice note BP 11.

Check the plan you are buying the house for

If an extension, tree removal or second home is essential to the purchase, include that intention in the brief now. Get the planning property report and full title instruments; a lawful existing house does not establish permission for your future project. See easements, covenants and Section 173 agreements.

Ask your legal adviser which outstanding matters should be resolved before signing or an unconditional deadline, and how to handle records that will arrive later. Council warns that archived plans may be unavailable and can take weeks to retrieve; request them early. AI can organise a dated question list and document references, but should not declare a building lawful or advise that a contract is safe to sign.

Match each questioned structure to a record

List the works, documents found and remaining gaps. Give your adviser the list and your purchase deadline before ordering more reports.

Prepare buyer questions →

Check the official sources

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Easements, covenants & Section 173 agreements →