The honest framing
There is a sentence that belongs at the top of this page, so here it is: nobody on this website can promise you an approval, or a date for one.
What a contractor who works in your area can do is tell you which pathway your job will probably fall into, what your council usually asks for, and how long similar jobs have taken recently. That is genuinely useful information and it is worth having.
What they cannot do is decide it. Councils and accredited certifiers make that call, and a contractor who tells you otherwise is either mistaken or selling.
The two pathways
Complying development. Where a proposal meets pre-set standards under the state planning framework, it can be approved through a complying development certificate issued by a council or a private accredited certifier. This is generally the faster route.
It is not available for every property. Heritage listings, conservation areas and certain environmental or hazard overlays commonly take a site outside the complying development pathway.
Development application. Assessed by the council on its merits. Slower, sometimes involving neighbour notification and internal or external referrals, and the timeframe varies with the complexity of the site.
Which applies to you depends on the property, its zone, and the controls sitting over it. It is worth establishing early, because everything else in the program hangs off it.
The five councils
Demolition across our service area falls under five different authorities, each with its own controls and processes:
- Wollongong City Council — the Illawarra from Helensburgh south to the Shellharbour boundary
- Shellharbour City Council — Shellharbour, Albion Park, Shell Cove
- Kiama Municipal Council — Kiama, Gerringong, Jamberoo
- Wingecarribee Shire Council — the Southern Highlands, including Bowral, Mittagong and Moss Vale
- Shoalhaven City Council — Nowra, Bomaderry, Berry and the Shoalhaven
Heritage is a genuine consideration in the Southern Highlands, where there is a substantial stock of listed properties and conservation areas, and it exists in pockets across Wollongong and Kiama as well.
What councils commonly want
Beyond the approval itself, expect some combination of:
- A waste management plan — what material, separated how, going where
- Evidence of service disconnections for power, gas, water, sewer and telecommunications
- Sediment and erosion control measures, particularly on sloping sites
- Protection of adjoining property, and sometimes a dilapidation report on neighbouring buildings
- Traffic management where material is loaded from a public road
- Hazardous materials documentation where asbestos or other materials are present
Trees are a separate approval
Worth saying twice because it catches people: an approval to demolish a building does not authorise removing trees. Vegetation and tree preservation controls apply across all five councils and are enforced with substantial penalties.
If trees are going, that application runs alongside the demolition one, not after it. See site clearing.
Asbestos sits outside the planning system
Asbestos obligations are regulatory rather than planning matters, and they apply regardless of which approval pathway your demolition takes. Removal is separately licensed work, waste goes to facilities licensed to receive it, and the documentation follows the material. The asbestos page sets it out.
A realistic sequence
- Establish the approval pathway for your property
- Commission a hazardous materials survey if the building is pre-1990
- Lodge the application, with the waste management plan
- Initiate service disconnections — long lead time, start early
- Arrange asbestos removal by a licensed removalist, if required
- Demolish
Four to eight weeks from decision to machines on site is realistic for a straightforward house. Heritage, a DA pathway or a complex asbestos situation extends it.
See the 2026 cost bands or call 02 4214 4202.
General information only, dated 2026 — verify with your council or a certifier.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need council approval to demolish a house in NSW?
You need an approval of some kind in nearly all cases. Demolition may be able to proceed as complying development under the state planning framework, with a complying development certificate issued by an accredited certifier, or it may require development consent from the council. Which pathway applies depends on the property, the zone and what controls sit over it.
What is the difference between a CDC and a DA?
A complying development certificate is a combined planning and construction approval issued by a council or a private accredited certifier where the proposal meets pre-set standards — it is generally faster. A development application is assessed by the council on its merits and takes longer. If your property is heritage listed, in a conservation area, or affected by certain overlays, the CDC pathway is usually not available.
How long does approval take?
A CDC where the proposal clearly meets the standards is commonly the faster route, often a matter of weeks. A DA is assessed on merit and can take considerably longer, particularly where referrals or notification to neighbours are required. Nobody can guarantee a timeframe, and any contractor who does is not in a position to.
What is a waste management plan?
A document councils commonly require with a demolition application, setting out what material will be generated, how it will be separated, and where each stream is going. It is not a formality — it is the mechanism by which councils check that demolition waste is being handled and disposed of lawfully rather than dumped.
Who arranges the service disconnections?
Usually the property owner initiates them, though contractors commonly assist or coordinate. Electricity, gas, water, sewer and telecommunications each have their own process and their own lead time, and councils generally want evidence that they are complete before demolition proceeds. Start them as soon as the approval pathway is clear — they are the most common cause of a delayed start.