Brisbane City Council slaps developers over building breaches

Hundreds of Brisbane builders have been issued with enforcement notices over a wide range of construction and development breaches.

Hundreds of builders have been issued with enforcement notices by Brisbane City Council in the past two years over a suite of construction and development breaches.

New data released by the council reveals it has dished out 850 enforcement notices for development and building breaches in the past two financial years.

Under State Government planning laws, enforcement notices can be issued by the council if construction has been carried out without approval, not in accordance with a development approval or if a building is dangerous or in a dilapidated condition.

Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. The council has handed out 850 enforcement notices in the past two years. AAP Image/Albert Perez

In the past two financial years, 35 of the 850 notices were finalised through the court process and 43 infringement notices were issued for construction breaches.

In November Brisbane City Council slapped two enforcement notices over a parcel of land at Pinkenba, alleging it was illegally used as a warehouse and had been raised without permission.

The land’s owner, Shawcor Australia, lodged a court appeal alleging it can use the space as a warehouse.

During the same month, Brisbane millionaire Sharon Panettiere was hit with an enforcement notice demanding she cease work on her historic inner city home.

Mrs Panettiere was accused of carrying out demolition of part of her weatherboard cottage in New Farm without proper council approvals.

The dilapidated Broadway Hotel at Woolloongabba. (AAP Image/Richard Walker)

She is fighting the council in the planning and environment court, stating in court documents that she obtained a development permit for demolition of part of the back of the home from a private certifier before starting work.

Woolloongabba’s Broadway Hotel, which was partially destroyed by fire in 2018, has been the site of one of the more prominent battles between the council and developers.

The council has issued several enforcement notices regarding the heritage-listed hotel’s condition before approving an application for the developer to demolish internal sections of the site.