When it comes to putting in applications for housing approvals, small details matter.

“Typos” they call them – small typographical errors such as spelling mistakes and wrong addresses and dates – are causing unnecessary delays to the approval of thousands of homes in NSW each year.

In the past 12 months NSW councils considered more than 5250 Development Applications of which almost 1000 were lodged with minor errors and inconsistencies that were only identified post-consent, resulting in unnecessary and avoidable delays in assessment timeframes.

To combat this annoying issue, the State Government is releasing a guide for councils on a best-practice approach for reviewing draft conditions of consent to reduce errors and eliminate the need for some modification applications, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said.

“These are simple errors leading to unnecessary delays,” Mr Scully explained.

“A planning circular will be issued so that typos don’t get in the way of building new homes,” he added.

The planning circular outlines a new proactive step for developments with 30 or more dwellings, which would see councils provide applicants with the draft conditions of consent for their review during the assessment process.

Applicants will then have seven days to review the draft conditions of consent and provide council with any feedback.

“The NSW Government has adopted a better practice when it comes to consent conditions to see better results and more homes built faster,” Mr Scully revealed.

Introducing this pro-active step will help identify and correct these minor errors and inconsistencies before the consent is granted, and ultimately minimise the need for modification applications, reducing delays in the post-consent stage.

This new process is already undertaken for DAs assessed by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

It also supports the Department’s introduction in August 2024 of standard conditions of consent and standard format notices of determination, to help speed up assessment timeframes, provide greater consistency and certainty, and make development consents easier to navigate.