How to Get Copies of Your Building Plans From the Municipality

Every municipality with a building control function keeps an archive of approved building plans for the erven in its area. In the large metros these records go back decades - Cape Town and Johannesburg hold plans from the early twentieth century, with older drawings often still on microfilm or aperture cards rather than in a digital system.

The archive typically holds the approved site plan, floor plans, elevations, sections and the drainage layout, together with the approval stamp and the submission date. What it does not always hold is the structural engineer's details, which are sometimes returned to the applicant after approval.

A separate record that pairs well with building plans is the Surveyor-General diagram (SG diagram) of the erf, which shows the registered boundaries. The diagram comes from the Surveyor-General's office, not the municipality, but the two documents together answer most 'what exactly is on my property' questions.

Unlike a zoning certificate, building plans are not released to the general public. Councils treat them as restricted records because they reveal the interior layout, security arrangements and services of a private property.

As a rule of thumb applied across the metros, copies are released to the registered owner of the property, or to a professional - an architect, draughtsperson, town planner or conveyancer - acting with the owner's written authorisation or power of attorney. A prospective buyer will normally need the current owner's consent letter before the council releases anything.

Expect to produce the erf number, proof of identity, proof of ownership (a recent rates account or title deed) and, where you are acting for the owner, the signed authorisation. Confirm the exact document list with the municipality before you go - counter staff will turn you away over a missing letter.

In the City of Johannesburg, building plan records are held by Building Development Management within the Development Planning department. Requests are made through the regional office that serves your erf, supported by the city's land use and building control customer channels.

You will complete a plan-copy request form, attach your ID, proof of ownership or authorisation, and pay the prescribed search and copy fee from the current tariff schedule. Copies of older plans may need to be retrieved from off-site or microfilm archives, which adds time.

Allow anywhere from a few working days for a recent digital plan to several weeks for an archived drawing. Because tariffs and lodgement channels change, confirm the current process and fee on the City's website or at your regional office before submitting - and keep the reference number you are given, as it is the only reliable way to follow up.

The City of Cape Town holds approved plans in the records of its Development Management department, with district planning offices across the metro. Requests are lodged through the City's building plan records process - increasingly via the City's online services - by the registered owner or an authorised professional.

You will need the erf number, owner verification and payment of the prescribed copy fee per plan or per sheet, depending on how the request is captured. Cape Town's archive is unusually deep, and it is common for very old properties to have plans that predate digital systems and must be scanned from film.

As with Joburg, check the City's current tariff and channel before lodging: the fee for copies is revised in the annual tariffs each July, and the City periodically moves records services between counter and online channels.

The City of Tshwane's building plan records sit with its Building Control division under City Planning and Development. Requests are made by the owner or an authorised agent at the relevant building control office, with the erf number, identity documents, proof of ownership or authorisation, and the prescribed fee.

Tshwane's records cover Pretoria and the surrounding towns absorbed into the metro - Centurion, Akasia, Mamelodi and others - but the depth of the archive varies by former local authority. Properties in the former separate municipalities sometimes have thinner records than central Pretoria erven.

Confirm the current request channel and tariff with the City before lodging, and if the erf was historically administered by another council, say so up front - it determines which archive the search runs against.

It happens more often than people expect, especially with properties older than sixty or seventy years, with alterations done informally, or where records were lost in municipal mergers. 'No plans on record' does not mean your building is illegal - it means the archive has nothing to give you.

Your practical options are: first, ask the conveyancing attorney who handled your transfer whether the transfer file holds any plans or diagrams; second, check with previous owners, builders or architects where traceable; third, commission an 'as-built' set, where a draughtsperson or architect measures the existing buildings and draws plans from scratch.

As-built plans matter because a sale, a bond application or a new building plan submission can all stall when the council has no record of existing structures. If the buildings were erected without approval, that is a separate legalisation process under the National Building Regulations - and it is worth speaking to a professional before volunteering drawings that expose unapproved work.

Plan copy fees are set in each municipality's annual tariff schedule and are modest - this is a records service, not an application. Expect a search or request fee plus a per-sheet or per-plan copy charge, and confirm the current figure in the municipality's tariff book before paying, as tariffs are revised every July.

Turnaround is usually days for recent, digitally stored plans and two to six weeks where drawings must be retrieved from microfilm or off-site archives. Requests without a complete authorisation pack are the single biggest cause of delay - submit everything at once.

One cost people forget: if the plans exist but are faint old blueprints, budget for having them redrawn or scanned at usable quality if you intend to use them for a new submission.

Most people request old plans because something bigger is coming: an addition, a second dwelling, a granny flat, a subdivision or a sale. The approved plans tell your draughtsperson what was approved before, and they tell your town planner whether the existing buildings match the current zoning rights.

If the next step is a new structure or alteration, you will need new building plans drawn and submitted for approval - the old plans are the starting point, not the submission. If the next step is a change of use or more rights than the zoning allows, a land use application (rezoning, consent use or departure) comes before any building plan can be lodged.

Landlodz's SACPLAN-registered planners work from exactly these records. Once you have your plans - or once you know none exist - we can confirm what your zoning allows, order the official zoning certificate, and prepare and lodge the land use application or coordinate the building plan submission that follows.