Local Law Spotlight - Shipping Containers

Published on 30 July 2019

Shipping containers are a handy storage solution for moving house, building a house or as a storage shed.

There are regulations that govern the use of containers on private land. These come from national and state building regulations and Council’s General Local Law.

Council would like to encourage you to understand the use of shipping containers before you buy one and put it on your property.

A shipping container used as a storage shed is a classifiable building under the National Construction Code and the Building Regulations 2018 and is subject to a building permit.

A planning permit might also be required prior to a shipping container arriving at your property; depending on your location.

A Building Surveyor will generally require at a minimum that it be placed on approved foundations and that rain water can be appropriately drained from its roof in order to issue a building permit.

Council appreciates that the use of shipping containers are not always permanent and that they can be a means of temporary storage during the construction of other permitted developments such as a dwelling.

To accommodate the temporary use of shipping containers, Council offers a permit under its local law that allows a land owner to keep and use a shipping container for up to two (2) years, in association with a permitted development.

Further, Council provides a permit exemption where a shipping container is placed on land for a period not exceeding 7 days for the purpose of loading or unloading goods.

If you have any questions in relation to shipping containers, please get in touch with Council’s Planning and Building Department on 1300 797 363.

For further information on our local laws, click through on our website: Local Laws