Time frame
Most by-laws give the council a 90 day period to make a decision on an application for approval. This can be used as a yardstick to those by-laws that do not have a time frame. If the council does not have by-laws, then this entire article is not applicable. This is only applicable if there are proper by-laws in place.

Scenario 1 - You hear nothing from the city council in 90 days
The applicant has two options. The first and appropriate option is to demand a decision in writing from the council within 21 days, failing which a court application will be launched to compel them to make a decision on your application. This court application will take six months to finalise and the court will again give the council 90 days (three months) to come to a decision. In other words it will take nine months before a decision is made. The second option is to negotiate and beg the council, which is what most people do. This is how six months to a year go by without a decision.

Follow the first option once and at least all your subsequent applications will be finalised within 90 days.

There is a third option – putting a board up without the approval of the city council. This option is advisable only if you have back up legal advice and you are fully aware of the legal risks involved.

Scenario 2 – What to do if the council requests more documents or more information.

Sometimes councils request documents or information already supplied in your original application. This is the time to employ the paper trail methodology. Do not rush in by showing them that you have already supplied the info. Rather send them a letter acknowledging their request for this documentation and ask them to supply you with a complete list of all outstanding documentation on the application within 10 days. Usually they will not even respond to your letter.

Ninety days after the submission of the application, send the council a letter indicating exactly on which page the requested documents are to be found, pointing out that the council has had the required information in its possession from day one and that, since the 90 day period had expired, you are giving it 21 days to make a final decision, failing which you will bring a court application. In these circumstances the council cannot ask for more information (as the 90 days have lapsed) and they have to make a decision on the application as submitted. Should the application have been properly prepared as indicated in the foregoing articles in the series, the council will be left with no alternative but to approve the application.

Next edition in the series we will deal with the legitimate request for info that was not supplied in you application.

PART 4…

In this part we deal with information requests from councils after the submission of applications for approval. This is where most applications come unstuck.

Firstly, if the request is for documents that are required by the relevant by-law it simply means that you did not submit all the documents originally. This is inexcusable and you should simply supply the documents post haste.

The request for documents or information by the council transfers the duty to proceed with the application back to the applicant. If nothing is done, there is no duty on the council to proceed with the application. If the council asks for documents or info that is not required by the by-laws, it should be treated circumspectly.

If the information is readily available, there is no reason not to supply it. Make sure that the supply of the info is accompanied by a covering letter. If numerous pieces of information are requested, supply all the info once it has been obtained instead of doing it piecemeal.

If information is requested that is not required in terms of the by-laws, the applicant is entitled to enquire why the council requires the information and how the information will impact on the application. The problem is that councils are in no hurry to respond. Therefore, it is incumbent on the applicant to follow it up on a weekly basis. After the third unanswered request, the applicant is entitled to notify the council that he/she assumes that it has abandoned the initial request for information and that he/she is awaiting the outcome of the application.

If the council does not respond, the 90-day rule applies.

Should the council, however, provides reasons for the request and those reasons are relevant to the application, the applicant has no choice but to supply it. If the reasons are, however, not relevant to the application, the applicant should notify the council to that effect and state that he/she is not going to supply the info and motivate the decision.

Then the 90 day rule applies.