Deck approvals in Joondalup and Wanneroo

The short answer for each council

City of Joondalup. For a single house or grouped dwelling, development (planning) approval is not required for decking 500 mm or less above natural ground level. Decking over 500 mm can avoid planning approval if it meets the R-Code setbacks for the lot’s density. A deck within 7.5 m of a side or rear boundary needs a privacy screen at least 1.6 m high. Building permit requirements depend on the deck, so confirm with the City on 9400 4000 before work starts.

City of Wanneroo. All decking requires a building permit, regardless of height or floor area. Planning approval may be required for decking over 500 mm above natural ground level. Decking over 500 mm is treated like a balcony, with a 7.5 m setback to side and rear boundaries unless a reduced setback is approved. Decks should be set back at least 900 mm from a boundary, or can go to the boundary if 900 mm is kept between the deck and the house, subject to overlooking rules.

Both positions were read from the councils’ own pages in September 2026. Councils change their guides, so treat this as the starting point and check the source links at the end before you lodge anything.

Planning approval and building permits are different things

People run the two together, and the councils’ own pages sometimes do too. They are separate decisions with separate rules.

Planning approval, which WA calls development approval, asks whether the deck is allowed where you want to put it. It looks at setbacks from boundaries, height above the ground, overlooking of neighbours and how much of the lot is covered. For a house, the rules come from the Residential Design Codes (the R-Codes) and the council’s local planning scheme. Many small decks are exempt from needing it at all.

A building permit asks whether the deck will be built safely: footings, structure, balustrades, stairs, and bushfire construction where that applies. It is issued by the local government under the Building Act 2011. Whether a deck needs one depends on the council and the deck. In Wanneroo the answer is always yes. In Joondalup you confirm with the City.

A deck can need one, both or neither. Sort out planning first, because a building permit will not be issued for something that needed planning approval and does not have it.

Why 500 mm is the number that matters

Both councils draw their line at 500 mm above natural ground level. Below it a deck is a low platform. Above it, the deck is treated more like a balcony: someone standing on it can see over a fence into the neighbour’s yard, which is what the R-Codes’ visual privacy rules are about. That is where the 7.5 m setback to side and rear boundaries comes from, and why privacy screens appear once a deck is raised.

The 500 mm is measured from natural ground level, not from the paving or the lawn you have now. On a sloping block the deck can be under 500 mm at the house and well over it at the far edge, and the highest point is the one that counts.

Privacy screens

In Joondalup, a deck within 7.5 m of a side or rear boundary needs a privacy screen at least 1.6 m high. In Wanneroo, decking over 500 mm has a 7.5 m setback to side and rear boundaries unless a reduced setback is approved, and screening is the usual way a reduced setback is approved. A screen built as part of the deck, in matching timber or batten, looks like it belongs. A screen added later to satisfy an inspector rarely does.

Boundaries

Wanneroo publishes a specific rule: decks should be set back at least 900 mm from a boundary, or can go to the boundary if 900 mm is kept between the deck and the house, subject to overlooking rules. Joondalup refers to the R-Code setbacks for the lot’s density code, which you can read off your certificate of title or the City’s mapping.

How a building permit application runs

Under the Building Act 2011 there are two routes. A certified application comes with a certificate of design compliance from a registered building surveyor, and the local government has 10 business days to decide it. An uncertified application is assessed by the council’s own surveyor and has 25 business days. For a deck, the application usually needs a site plan showing the deck and its distances to boundaries, a plan and elevations of the deck, structural details or engineering for anything raised or unusual, and the bushfire construction details if the lot is in a bushfire prone area.

Either the owner or the builder can be the applicant. What matters is that the quote says who prepares the drawings, who lodges, and whose name goes on the application, because that is where jobs go wrong. Nothing on this site is a promise that the contractor handles approvals; ask for it in writing.

The registered builder rule

In WA, building work that needs a permit and is worth more than $20,000 must be done by a registered building contractor or an approved owner-builder. A raised or large deck can cross that line. Ask to see the registration.

Bushfire prone areas

Check the DFES Map of Bush Fire Prone Areas for your lot. If the lot is inside a mapped area, a deck attached to the house has to meet the BAL construction requirements of AS 3959, and the building permit application needs a BAL assessment and the bushfire construction details. We do not say on this site whether a particular suburb is or is not bushfire prone, because the map runs through suburbs and is revised. Look up your own address. Our BAL-rated decking page explains what the levels mean for a deck.

A sensible order

1. Measure the height of the finished deck above natural ground at its highest point. Under 500 mm and over 500 mm are different projects.
2. Check your lot on the DFES map.
3. Read your council’s decking page, linked below, and ring the City if anything is unclear. Joondalup is on 9400 4000 and Wanneroo on 9405 5000.
4. Get the deck designed and quoted, with the quote stating who lodges what.
5. Lodge planning approval if it is needed, then the building permit, then build.

That order sounds obvious. It is the reverse of how a lot of decks get built, and those are the ones that end up on a council’s radar.