A heritage overlay may affect any building, renovation or maintenance work on your property. The heritage overlay details when you’ll need a planning permit. It also shows the location and the level of heritage controls over a particular heritage place.
You can find out more about the provisions in our planning scheme.
Assess the significance of a property
A statement of significance will accompany a heritage assessment and indicate why the site is important and what to conserve. Documenting what’s significant of a place helps to protect and manage the place appropriately.
Proposals for a planning permit for a heritage place needs to consider the policies and provisions of our planning scheme.
Check to see if a heritage overlay affects your property
Search to see if a heritage overlay affects your property.
When do you need a permit?
When your property has a heritage overlay you’ll need a permit to:
- subdivide or consolidate land
- demolish or remove a building (including part of a building)
- construct a building (including part of a building, or a fence)
- externally alter a building
- construct or carry out works
- construct or display a sign
- externally paint an unpainted surface (refer to note below)
- externally paint a building if the painting constitutes an advertisement.
When do additional controls apply for the heritage overlay
There’ll be some instances where additional controls will apply, such as:
- external paint controls
- internal alteration controls
- control over trees.
Our schedule to the heritage overlay will identify any additional controls.
Making repairs or maintenance on a heritage place
You won’t need a planning permit to carry out routine maintenance and repairs if they don’t change the appearance of the place.
When doing maintenance or repair work, you’ll need to follow the same standards for any:
- details
- specifications
- materials.
If unsure, check with us before doing any repair or maintenance work.
The heritage overlay may not apply to the whole site. Refer to the planning scheme maps online or in our offices.
Demolishing a heritage place
We discourage demolition of a heritage place if it’s individually significant or it contributes to the significance of an area. Demolition will only occur if we find the building structurally unsound.
The statement of significance will say why the place is important.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) can review planning permit decisions.
