Council demolition requirements
Demolishing a house in the Sutherland Shire Council area
What Sutherland Shire Council publishes about demolition approvals, heritage, trees and site conditions, read from its own pages on 21 September 2026. The council or certifier confirms the pathway for your address.
Covers 41 suburbs we service across the Sutherland Shire, South West Sydney and Wollongong.
How the council handles demolition approvals
Sutherland Shire Council lists building or demolishing a home as a project that can suit a fast-tracked Complying Development Certificate (CDC) from Council or an accredited certifier, if strict standards are met.
Heritage items and conservation areas
Heritage properties can be checked on the council’s Shire Maps. If a proposal affects a heritage item, Sutherland Shire Council requires a Statement of Heritage Impact from a qualified heritage consultant, and assessment may involve other government departments.
Trees on the block
Removing a tree on private land generally needs council permission, though certain species and works are exempt. Pruning a heritage-listed tree needs a heritage minor works notification, and trees in a threatened ecological community need a DA.
Flood and bushfire mapping
The council’s Shire Maps let you check a property’s zoning, planning, bushfire prone land and flood prone land layers.
Council pages change. Treat this as a starting point and confirm requirements with Sutherland Shire Council or your certifier before setting a demolition date. Sutherland Shire 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.
- Alfords Point
- Bangor
- Barden Ridge
- Bonnet Bay
- Bundeena
- Burraneer
- Caringbah
- Caringbah South
- Como
- Cronulla
- Dolans Bay
- Engadine
- Grays Point
- Gymea
- Gymea Bay
- Heathcote
- Holsworthy
- Illawong
- Jannali
- Kangaroo Point
- Kareela
- Kirrawee
- Kurnell
- Lilli Pilli
- Lilyvale
- Loftus
- Lucas Heights
- Maianbar
- Menai
- Miranda
- Oyster Bay
- Sutherland
- Sylvania
- Sylvania Waters
- Taren Point
- Waterfall
- Woolooware
- Woronora
- Woronora Heights
- Yarrawarrah
- Yowie Bay
Start with your property
Planning a demolition in the Sutherland Shire 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.