Council Just Knocked Back Your Carpark. Here's What Happens Next.

The call came at 4:30pm on a Thursday.

The property manager had been managing the complex for six years. He'd never had a council compliance notice before. Now he had one sitting on his desk, referencing Section 7.3 of the local planning scheme, listing four non-conformances in the basement carpark, and giving him 28 days to fix them.

He found our number, called us the next morning, and we had a crew in there the following Saturday night. All four issues resolved. Compliance documentation provided Monday. He submitted his rectification notice to council with three weeks to spare.

The whole thing was stressful for him, but it didn't need to be. If you know what you're dealing with, a council non-compliance notice on a carpark is a very fixable problem. Here's what you need to understand.

Why Carparks Get Non-Compliance Notices

Most carpark compliance issues fall into four categories. Understanding which one you're dealing with determines how fast and how expensive the fix is.

1. Accessible Parking Bay Dimensions

This is the single most common issue we see. AS/NZS 2890.6:2009 specifies that accessible parking bays must be a minimum of 2,400mm wide, with an adjacent shared area of 2,400mm. That shared area needs to be level (maximum 1:40 gradient) and marked in yellow.

A lot of older carparks were marked at 2.8m or even 2.6m. That was tolerated for years. It isn't anymore. Councils are now actively measuring accessible bays during audits, particularly in healthcare, retail, and government facilities. The number of accessible bays you need comes from NCC D4D6: for example, shops need 1 per 50 car spaces up to 1,000, then 1 per 100, and offices and industrial sites need 1 per 100.

The fine for non-compliant accessible parking starts at $4,800 in most states. We've seen clients hit with that fine in Dandenong South, Frankston, and across inner-western Sydney within the past two years.

2. Bay Dimension Non-Compliance Under AS/NZS 2890.1

Standard bays need to be a minimum of 2,400mm wide and 5,400mm long for 90-degree parking. End bays adjacent to walls need an additional 300mm. Aisle widths for 90-degree two-way traffic need to be a minimum of 6,200mm (we recommend 6,500mm).

We marked a shopping centre in Frankston years back where the aisles came in at 5,500mm. Two-way traffic couldn't pass. Council flagged it in a development compliance audit.

The fix involved removing every second row of bays and remarking. Around 40 bays gone, roughly $12,000 in rework. That's the expensive version of not getting dimensions right the first time.

3. Faded or Non-Existent Line Marking

A surprisingly large number of non-compliance notices don't cite a dimensional issue at all — they cite absence of adequate marking. Lines faded below minimum retroreflectivity. Bay boundaries invisible in wet conditions. Pedestrian crossing markings worn to nothing. Directional arrows gone.

Under AS/NZS 2890.1, line marking needs to be maintained at a standard that provides adequate delineation under all likely conditions. That's the standard the council inspector is applying when they walk through your carpark with a clipboard.

4. Missing Mandatory Markings

No fire lane markings. No 'NO PARKING' zones. Missing directional arrows in one-way aisles. Accessible bay symbol absent or non-compliant. These are all citable non-conformances under the standard.

We've had facility managers call us genuinely confused about why they got a notice — their lines were visible and the bays looked fine. Then we looked at the notice and it was about the absence of specific mandatory markings the previous contractor had simply never applied.

The Timeline of a Non-Compliance Notice

Understanding what you're actually dealing with helps you respond calmly rather than in a panic.

Day 0: Notice Issued

Council issues a formal notice under the relevant planning legislation. In Victoria this is typically under the Planning and Environment Act 1987. In NSW under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. The notice will specify the non-conformance, reference the relevant standard or planning condition, and give a rectification timeframe — usually 14 to 28 days for minor marking issues, potentially longer for structural matters.

Days 1-3: Assess and Quote

This is where you call us. Send us the notice, send us your carpark plans if you have them, and we'll assess what's needed. For most marking issues, we can quote from plans and photos without a site visit. For dimension issues we'll need to come out, but we can usually do that within 48 hours.

Days 4-10: Schedule and Complete Work

Most carpark line marking rectification work is done overnight or over a weekend. We work around your operations so tenants and customers aren't affected. A typical 200-bay carpark with multiple non-conformances takes one to two nights.

Days 10-14: Provide Compliance Documentation

We provide completion photos, compliance documentation referencing the relevant AS/NZS standards, material certifications, and dimension verification. You use that documentation in your rectification notice response to council.

Days 14-28: Submit to Council

You submit your rectification notice with our documentation attached. In our experience, councils accept this without further inspection in about 90% of cases. Occasionally they'll send an inspector for a quick look, but with proper documentation and quality work, that's not a concern.

What Happens If You Don't Fix It in Time

This is where people get into real trouble.

If you don't respond to a council non-compliance notice within the specified timeframe, council can issue a penalty infringement notice. In Victoria, for a body corporate or company managing a commercial property, those fines can reach $10,000 or more for ongoing non-compliance with a planning condition.

Beyond the fine, council can also issue a compliance order requiring works to be completed before a specified date. Ignore that and you're in the territory of enforcement proceedings. We've had clients call us in that situation and it's always significantly more expensive and stressful than just dealing with the original notice promptly.

There's also an insurance dimension here that most people don't think about. If someone is injured in your carpark due to non-compliant marking and you had a council notice outstanding that you didn't act on, that's going to be a very uncomfortable conversation with your insurer. Non-compliance with a known defect is a different insurance position to an unforeseen accident.

A Recent Example That Shows How Smooth It Can Be

A strata manager in Cheltenham called us about a 220-bay underground carpark. Council had flagged three issues: accessible bays measured at 2,200mm instead of the 2,400mm minimum, no shared area hatching on two of the four accessible bays, and directional arrows missing from the entry ramp.

We assessed Tuesday afternoon, quoted by Wednesday lunchtime. Fixed price, no surprises.

Two-person crew worked Thursday and Friday nights. We ground out the existing accessible bay lines, remarked at the correct 2,400mm with a 2,400mm shared area and proper hatching in yellow, and added the missing directional arrows throughout.

Total work time: 11 hours across two nights. Compliance documentation provided Friday morning. Strata manager submitted the rectification response to council that same day with 18 days to spare.

No drama. Sorted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we dispute the council notice if we think our markings are compliant?

Yes, you can formally dispute it. But in our experience, if council has measured and cited specific dimensions, the measurements are usually right. The cost of disputing — including your time, legal input, and the council process — often exceeds the cost of just fixing the issue. We'll always be honest with you about whether the cited non-conformance is legitimate when we assess.

How much does rectification typically cost?

We don't publish pricing because every situation is different. A simple accessible bay remarking might be a few hundred dollars. A full carpark redimension with removal of existing marking is a much larger job. Upload your plans or photos and we'll give you a fixed price within 48 hours. No obligation.

Can you provide documentation that satisfies council?

Yes. We provide completion photos, compliance documentation referencing AS/NZS 2890.1:2004 and AS/NZS 2890.6:2009 (or whichever standards apply), material certifications, and measured dimension verification. We've had this documentation accepted by councils in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, and South Australia without further queries.

We manage multiple sites — can you coordinate across them?

Absolutely. We manage jobs across multiple sites for strata managers, shopping centre groups, and logistics companies regularly. We can coordinate scheduling, provide consolidated documentation, and work to a single point of contact. Call Niel on 0417 460 236 to talk through a multi-site situation.

Line Marking Australia. Since 2009. 5,000+ projects. VicRoads approved. $20M public liability. Fixed prices, full compliance documentation on every job.

Related reading: Carpark Line Marking · Accessible Parking Line Marking · Line Marking Removal · AS/NZS 2890.1 Guide · AS/NZS 2890.6 Guide · Strata Body Corporate Guide · Line Marking Melbourne · Line Marking Sydney