A change of use application is needed when the building stays the same but what happens inside it changes - retail to cafe, warehouse to gym, office to medical suite. Council assesses whether the new use is permissible in the zone and whether the premises can support it. Some changes of use qualify as complying development and can be certified in two to three weeks. Others need a full DA.
Retail shop to cafe or takeaway. Warehouse to gym or indoor recreation. Office to medical or allied health suite. Shop to beauty or hairdressing salon. Industrial unit to place of public worship. Dwelling to child care or boarding house. Restaurant to retail.
Is the use permissible in the zone? This is threshold. If the land use table in the LEP does not permit it with or without consent, nothing else matters.
What is the premises currently approved for? The starting point is the approved use, not what the last tenant actually did. Premises are frequently operating outside their approval, and inheriting that is a real risk.
Can the premises support the new use? Parking rates, waste, ventilation, accessibility, fire safety, and hours. This is where the cost usually sits.
Any change of use to a food premises, beauty salon or skin penetration premises triggers environmental health obligations in addition to planning. EHUP handles both, which is the difference between one scope and two consultants - see home business approvals and CDC for restaurants and cafes.
24–48 hours
We establish what the premises is currently approved for and whether your intended use is permissible in the zone.
2–4 days
CDC or DA, plus the likely building upgrade and report requirements.
1–3 weeks
Planning documentation, fitout plans, and the health requirements where applicable.
2–10 weeks
Managed through to issue or determination.
Council issued a notice to cease use of the studio as a granny flat. The owner had purchased the property under the impression that the studio could be legally rented out. EHUP was engaged and secured DA approval despite a shortfall in the required land size for a granny flat under the Campbelltown Local Environmental Plan.
A change of use of premises is when the building stays the same but its approved use changes, for example a retail shop becoming a cafe, a warehouse becoming a gym or an office becoming a medical suite. It is assessed by whether the new use is permissible in the zone and whether the premises can support it.
Around two to three weeks where it qualifies as complying development, and six to ten weeks where a full DA is needed. Our fees start from $2,600 + GST for a CDC and from $4,200 + GST for a DA, with council and certifier fees separate.
Not always. Where the new use falls within the same defined land use category as the approved one, and no building work or intensification is involved, approval may not be required. But that is a narrower exemption than most people assume, and the consequence of being wrong is enforcement. It is worth checking rather than assuming.
Only if your use is genuinely the same. "Retail" covers a lot of ground in ordinary speech and much less in planning terms - a shop selling goods and a cafe serving food are different land uses with different requirements, even in the same tenancy. This is the most common misunderstanding we correct.
Then no amount of application quality fixes it - permissibility is threshold, not discretionary. This is exactly why the check belongs before the lease, not after. Occasionally an alternative characterisation of the use is available, and we will tell you if so.
Frequently, yes. A change of use can bring accessibility, fire safety and Building Code obligations that did not apply to the previous use. On older buildings this is often the largest single cost, and it is much better identified before you commit.
Before you commit to a property, know what you're buying into.
Food and drink premises - cafes, restaurants and takeaway food shops - sit under two separate obligations that operators often assume are one process.
Commercial and light industrial projects span a wide range - from a cafe fitout that can be certified in two to three weeks, to a warehouse development where the capital at risk makes feasibility the first priority, not documentation.
Almost every building project in NSW falls into one of three categories: exempt development (no approval needed), complying development (a fast-track CDC), or a full Development Application.
A complying development certificate (CDC) is a fast-track approval for building work that meets every criterion in the Codes SEPP, issued by council or a private certifier with no merit assessment.
Tell us the address and what you want to do. We'll help identify the appropriate planning pathway, whether it is exempt development, complying development or a full DA. Your first conversation is free.