What counts as unauthorised building works in Singapore?
Any building works carried out without an approval the law requires. For BCA that means works without approved plans or, for structural works, without a permit to carry them out. For SCDF it means fire safety works without approved plans or without a Fire Safety Certificate where one is needed. For URA it means development, change of use or works in a conservation area without planning or conservation permission. Works listed as insignificant building works do not need BCA plan submission but may still need other clearances.
From the RRD Field Guide, checked against the sources cited in Unauthorised Building Works in Singapore: Penalties, Detection and How to Regularise. General information, not advice for your project.
The fuller picture
Unauthorised building works are works carried out without a required approval from BCA (plans or structural permit), SCDF (fire safety works) or URA (planning or conservation permission). They can attract fines of up to S$200,000 under each regime. To keep them, the owner appoints a Qualified Person to survey and assess the works and seek retrospective approval; otherwise they must be rectified or removed.
More questions on this topic
- I bought the property with the unauthorised works already there. Am I responsible?
- Can unauthorised works be approved after the event?
- Will my lawyer's legal requisition reveal unauthorised works?
- How are unauthorised works usually discovered?
- What does regularisation cost?
- Is a mezzanine in a warehouse unit a building work?
- Does the tenant or the landlord bear liability for a tenant's unauthorised works?