Renovating a Building - Apply Your Permit!

Hi.

Throughout the years of studying and now working in architecture, I can say that I have the most knowledge, or at least basic, of the building construction process. I'm currently working as an architect and one of my job is to process the enforcement of illegal extensions. Most cases of illegal extensions are the result of the owner of the building not having knowledge of the law or getting scammed by the contractor who didn't think the need to advise the owner. Hence, in today's post, I'll be sharing that knowledge.

What is the renovation of a building?

As a building owner, in this context, I would use - a house owner, at some point would want to do some renovation on their house. Be it to just change the colour of the house, change the main gate that the developer provided or do major renovation such as extending the wall to build a new kitchen. Renovation is one way to change the design of your house to your liking.

The Procedure

Most house owners don't know that every single change that you want to make to your house needs approval from the authorities first - in Malaysia, it's the Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT) or more familiar, your Majlis. By every single change, I meant that even to change the interior painting of your house needs approval.

How? - this varies from which state you're in. But mostly the same procedure is to get a building permit from the authority or hire a consultant to do the building plan submission if you're doing major renovations.

Law on Illegal Extensions

However, you should know that your dream renovated house has its limits. According to Uniform Building by-Law 1988 (UBBL1988), every building has its own building setback - usually 10' from the boundary line. You can't extend your building outside the building setback. For example, you can't build an extra bedroom.

Here is where most contractors don't advise the owner, instead they just do the construction without approval. The risk is you would be fined, or worse, you'll get a demolition notice. Some people would say to ignore any notice issued by the authority but little did they know, the authority can apply for a court order to demolish your renovation themselves - which they wouldn't do it carefully.

I would be sympathetic to house owners if they got sued for illegal extension cases as most of them don't know the law - which reminds me to always research and get information first before doing anything.

Did you know that you need a permit for your house renovation?

Till then,

Lya