The offer was in, the buyer was happy, and settlement was ten days out. Then the buyer's solicitor came back with a question about a deck that didn't show up on the property file. Nobody had raised it before. Not at listing, not at the first walkthrough, not in the agreement. It surfaced during due diligence, at the exact point in the deal with the least room to move.
The agent hadn't missed anything obvious. The deck looked finished and permanent, like it had always been there. But council had no record of it being consented, and once the solicitor flagged it, the timeline that had been running smoothly for weeks suddenly had a hold on it.
This happens across almost every sale at some point. The issue isn't that compliance gaps exist. Most properties have one somewhere. The issue is when they get found.
Why Does Unconsented Work Get Found During Due Diligence and Not Earlier?
Due diligence is the first time in the sale process where someone is actively checking the built structure against council records, line by line. Before that point, nobody's necessarily looking. The agent's working off what's visible and what the vendor's told them. The buyer's working off the listing. Due diligence is where a solicitor or LIM report cross-references what's actually there against what's on file, and that's where a mismatch stops being invisible.
Can a Property Sale Fall Through Because of Unconsented Building Work?
It can, and timing decides whether it does. The same compliance gap found at listing and found ten days before settlement leads to two completely different outcomes. Found early, there's time to assess it, get a read on whether it needs a formal process, and resolve it or disclose it properly before an offer's even on the table. Found late, every day it takes to sort out is a day the settlement date is at risk, and the buyer's confidence in the deal is dropping the whole time.
What Happens to an Agent When a Compliance Issue Surfaces During Due Diligence?
Not just lost time. The buyer starts wondering what else wasn't caught. The vendor starts asking why this wasn't picked up sooner. The agent is stuck in the middle of a timeline they don't control, waiting on a compliance answer they can't give. Even when the deal closes, it closes on worse terms than it should have: weaker negotiating position, sometimes a price adjustment, sometimes a nervous buyer who almost walked.
How Do You Check if a Deck or Renovation Is Council Consented Before Listing?
A check against council records at the listing stage takes a fraction of the time a due diligence scramble does, because nobody's under settlement pressure yet. It's not about predicting every possible issue. It's about not finding out for the first time at the point where there's no slack left in the calendar.
What Should Be Checked Before a Property Goes on the Market?
Whether everything visibly built on the property matches what council has on record. If there's a gap, knowing what it actually is, a minor documentation issue or something that needs a proper pathway to resolve, changes how the listing gets handled and what conversations happen with a buyer before due diligence, not during it.
Decks and outdoor structures
Additions and extensions
Internal reconfigurations
Anything that changed the footprint or layout since the last consented plan
What Is a Certificate of Acceptance and When Do You Need One?
A Certificate of Acceptance (COA) is the council pathway used to formally sign off building work that was carried out without the required consent, once council is satisfied it meets the applicable building code. Not every gap needs one. Some are minor documentation mismatches that clear quickly. Knowing which is which, without guessing, is what decides whether a deal timeline holds or slips.
How Do You Know if You Need a Certificate of Acceptance?
Project-X assesses unconsented building work to determine whether a Certificate of Acceptance is required. Backed by 15 years of combined prior council experience, our team understands how compliance assessments are evaluated and can identify which issues can be resolved quickly and which require a formal approval process before a property sale or project can move forward.
If you are preparing to list a property or it is already under offer, it is worth checking the built structure against council records early. Identifying compliance issues before they are discovered during the settlement process can help prevent costly delays, unexpected remediation, and unnecessary stress.
Listing Soon or Already Under Offer?
Check the built structure against council records early, before due diligence finds it for you.
Get Professional Help