Short version: no, because New South Wales does not issue building permits. That term belongs to Victoria and to most of the internet articles you have probably been reading. NSW runs a different system, and under it, the large majority of kitchen renovations need no approval at all. The ones that catch most people out are the jobs that looked identical to a no-approval job right up until a wall came down.
NSW does not have building permits. It has three separate checks instead.
If you are asking, “Do you need a permit for kitchen renovation work in NSW?” the useful reframe is this: there is no single permit to chase.
There are three independent checks, and your kitchen has to clear all three. Planning approval is only the first. The second is whether anyone else has a legal say over your property. The third is the certificates your trades are required to produce once they start work.
Clearing check one and ignoring the other two is how a renovation goes wrong. A strata owner can be fully exempt from the planning system and still be ordered by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to rip a newly remodelled kitchen out because the owners corporation was never asked.
Check #1: Exempt, complying, or a full DA
Most kitchen renovations in NSW are exempt development, which means no council approval and no certifier. If you are replacing cabinetry, appliances, benchtops and splashbacks inside the same room, with no walls moved and no new openings cut, the work sits under the minor building alterations provisions of the Codes SEPP. You can start as soon as your trades are booked.
The catch is that exempt status is conditional, not automatic. Clause 2.52 of the Codes SEPP sets out what the work must not do. It must not change the configuration of a room by removing a wall or partition. It must not reduce window arrangements for light and ventilation, shrink a doorway, or enclose an open area. It must not affect the load-bearing capacity of the building, vertically or horizontally. And it must not alter fire-resisting components or interfere with entry, exit or fire safety measures.
Break one of those, and you have moved lanes.
| Pathway | What it covers | Who signs off | Typical timing |
| Exempt development | Like-for-like refit inside the existing room: cabinetry, benchtops, splashbacks, appliances, flooring | Nobody. There is no application to lodge. | Start immediately |
| Complying Development Certificate (CDC) | Work beyond exempt that still meets every Codes SEPP standard, such as removing a non-load-bearing wall or swapping a window like-for-like | Council or a private certifier, lodged through the NSW Planning Portal | As little as 20 days |
| Development Application (DA) | Anything the Codes SEPP won’t cover: heritage-listed sites, changes to the building footprint, or any proposal that fails a development standard | Your local council | Around 70 days on average |
NSW Planning puts the average determination time for a development application at roughly 70 days, against as little as 20 days for complying development, and estimates homeowners save up to $2,600 on renovations by using the complying pathway. That gap is why it pays to design to the exempt or complying standards where you can, rather than designing freely and discovering the cost afterwards.
The wall is where this usually bites. Opening a galley kitchen into the living room is the single most requested change in a modern renovation, and it is almost never exempt, even when the wall turns out to carry no load, because removing it changes the room’s configuration. Structural ambition has the same effect. A cantilevered island that needs steel in the floor is also likely to be a structural conversation, not just a joinery one.
One more trigger worth knowing: once your work does require a DA or CDC, and the job is valued at $50,000 or more, a BASIX certificate comes with it. Below that figure, or where the work stays exempt, BASIX doesn’t apply.
Check #2: Strata, heritage, and everyone else with a say
A strata kitchen renovation in NSW almost always needs owners corporation approval, separate from anything the planning system requires. Under section 110 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, renovating a kitchen is a minor renovation, which needs an ordinary resolution passed at a general meeting. A simple majority carries it, approval cannot be unreasonably withheld, and the scheme may delegate the decision to the strata committee by by-law.
Two things shift that classification. Anything involving waterproofing or structural change becomes a major renovation under section 108 and needs a special resolution, usually with a by-law attached. At the other end, purely cosmetic work under section 109, filling a crack or painting, needs no approval at all.
There is also a deadline in your favour since 1 July 2025. Where a by-law has delegated minor renovation approvals to the committee, and the committee fails to issue a written refusal with reasons within three months, the work is deemed approved. Waiting out a slow committee is now a real option, and it is one of the reasons renovating a kitchen in a strata building rewards early paperwork more than early demolition.
Heritage is the other quiet one. Clause 1.16 of the Codes SEPP blocks exempt development on land carrying a State Heritage Register item or an interim heritage order, and local listings, conservation areas, easements and title covenants all add their own restrictions. None of it appears in a kitchen catalogue, which is exactly why it gets missed.
Order your section 10.7 planning certificate from council before you finalise a design, not after. It is inexpensive, it arrives quickly, and it tells you whether the property is heritage-listed, sits in a conservation area, or is caught by a local exclusion. Any of those can remove the exempt pathway entirely, and finding out at the quote stage is a very different experience from finding out at the demolition stage.
Check #3: The certificates your trades owe you
This is the check almost nobody searches for, and it applies even when your renovation needs no planning approval whatsoever.
- Licensing. In NSW, residential building work valued at more than $5,000 including labour and materials must be carried out by a licensed contractor. Specialist work, meaning plumbing, gasfitting, electrical and refrigeration, always requires a licence regardless of value. Check the licence on the Building Commission NSW public register before you pay a deposit.
- Home Building Compensation cover. Work over $20,000 including GST requires HBC cover, regulated by SIRA. The certificate must be available before your builder takes any money, including the deposit.
- A CCEW for the electrical work. Every new circuit, downlight and hardwired appliance triggers a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work (CCEW). Your electrician must lodge it and give you a copy. It matters years later: when you sell, a visibly renovated kitchen with no CCEW on file is the sort of thing a buyer’s conveyancer notices.
- Plumbing compliance. Moving a sink, dishwasher or gas point brings notification and compliance obligations for your plumber. Keep the certificates with your house records.
There is a material aspect, too. Since the national prohibition on engineered stone, the benchtop conversation in NSW has moved toward porcelain and sintered stone, which changes fabrication and handling requirements. Ask your fabricator what they are working with.
Before you sign the quote
Do these four things this week.
- Pull your section 10.7 planning certificate from council.
- Mark on your plan every wall, window and doorway you intend to touch, because that single drawing decides which pathway you are in.
- If you are in strata, send written notice to the owners corporation now, since the clock on that three-month deemed approval only starts once you have asked.
- Check your builder’s licence number on the public register before any money changes hands.
A well-planned kitchen renovation designed to the exempt standards can start the day your cabinetry is ready. If you want a custom kitchen design assessed against the approval pathway before you commit, bring your floor plan to a free design consultation, and we’ll tell you which lane you are in.
This article is general information about NSW planning and building requirements, current as at September 2026. Rules change, and every property is different, so confirm your position with your local council, a registered certifier or your strata manager before starting work.
