PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE — voir dire on admissibility of evidence of council officer concerning breaches of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) — exercise of powers of council officer to inspect residential premises under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) — whether inspection by council officers of residential premises lawful
Quick Take
1The phrase 'work being carried out' in s 9.16(2)(c) of the EPA Act is used descriptively, not as a strict temporal marker; a council investigation officer may lawfully enter residential premises to inspect work that has been completed, not only work in progress at the time of inspection.
2The word 'necessary' in s 9.16(2)(c) does not impose a temporal requirement that inspection occur contemporaneously with or shortly after the work; the statutory scheme (including the absence of any mechanism requiring councils to be notified of CDC works commencing) supports a broader construction.
3Under s 9.17(2) and (4), 'owner or occupier' is disjunctive: written notice to, or consent from, the owner alone satisfies the notice requirements even where the premises are occupied by a tenant, and there is no statutory obligation to separately notify an occupier.
