Council demolition requirements
Demolishing a house in the Strathfield Council area
What Strathfield Council publishes about demolition approvals, heritage, trees and site conditions, read from its own pages on 21 September 2026 (updated 6 October 2026). The council or certifier confirms the pathway for your address.
Covers 5 suburbs we service across South West Sydney and the Inner West.
How the council handles demolition approvals
Most development, including demolition, needs a DA, Strathfield Council says, though demolition can use a CDC, a straightforward pathway determined within ten days.
Heritage items and conservation areas
Strathfield’s Local Environmental Plan 2012 lists about 231 heritage items and 17 heritage conservation areas, shown on its heritage maps. The council has an in-house Heritage Advisor for enquiries.
Trees on the block
Strathfield Council’s written consent is needed to cut down, remove or injure a tree over 4 metres high or with a girth over 0.5 metres at 1 metre above ground, and its tree controls also restrict works within 5 metres of a tree’s base. Removal applications are lodged through the NSW Planning Portal; rubber trees, privet, umbrella trees, rhus trees and commercial fruit trees are exempt.
Flood and bushfire mapping
Strathfield Council manages flood-liable land under an Interim Flood Prone Land Policy adopted in 1999, which it is updating to reflect flood studies for Boundary Creek, the Cooks River and Coxs Creek, and Powells and Saleyards creeks. It also publishes a flood planning study area map.
Fees, bonds and public land
Strathfield Council needs a Standing Plant permit, with a traffic management plan and at least seven days’ notice, before a crane, cherry picker or concrete pump stands on a council road or footpath. Civil works in the footway or road reserve need a works permit with a fee and refundable bond, and Works Zone applications are due six weeks before work starts.
Council pages change. Treat this as a starting point and confirm requirements with Strathfield Council or your certifier before setting a demolition date. Strathfield Council website
The same across NSW
What applies in every council area
Council requirements sit on top of state rules that do not change from one area to the next.
Approval pathway
Most house demolition needs either a development application to the council or a complying development certificate from the council or a registered certifier under the state Demolition Code. Heritage items and conservation areas are generally excluded from the complying pathway.
Read the approvals guideLicensed demolition
Demolition work is licensed by SafeWork NSW. Gabrael holds restricted demolition licence AD202697 (DE2) and lodges the required notifications for the work it carries out.
How to check a contractorAsbestos
Suspected asbestos must be assessed before the building is disturbed. Our Class B licence AD211249 covers bonded, non-friable material; friable asbestos is removed by our Class A licensed partner.
Asbestos before demolitionUtilities
Water, sewer, electricity, gas and telecommunications are disconnected or abolished through the providers before demolition, and Before You Dig Australia is checked for services.
Utility disconnections guideNeighbours
Approval conditions commonly set working hours and neighbour notice, and a dilapidation report protects both sides where buildings sit close to the boundary.
Neighbours and noticeWaste
Concrete, timber and metals are sorted for licensed recycling and asbestos goes to an approved disposal facility with documentation. Some councils ask for a waste plan with the application.
Where the waste goes
Suburbs we service in this council area
Suburbs that sit across a council boundary appear under each council. We confirm the council for the exact address before preparing an application.
Start with your property
Planning a demolition in the Strathfield Council area?
Send the property address and what needs to go. We check the council, planning controls and heritage status for the address, then arrange a free site assessment.
7am to 7pm, seven days.