Council Approval for Home-Based Businesses
Most home-based businesses can be approved. If you are already operating and council has been in touch, that is usually fixable too - and it is much cheaper to sort out now than after an order is issued. The part almost nobody realises is that you generally need two approvals, not one: a planning approval from council, and an environmental health or food safety approval. EHUP does both, so you deal with one firm instead of being referred elsewhere halfway through.
Free consultation
- Typically 4–8 weeks · faster where the use qualifies as exempt or complying development
- From $1,450 + GST for a combined planning and health scope
- Quoted fixed after a free scope check
What kind of home business are you running?
Pick the closest match below - each page covers what that specific business type needs on both the planning and the health side.
The two approvals, and why nobody tells you about the second one
The planning approval answers: is this use acceptable at this address? Council looks at how many clients come and go, parking, hours of operation, signage, noise, and whether the business remains subordinate to the house being a home.
The health approval answers: is this service delivered safely? For a nail or beauty salon that means sterilisation, single-use items, waste disposal and hand-washing facilities. For skin penetration - tattooing, piercing, some cosmetic procedures - it means registration of the premises and compliance with the public health requirements. For food, it means food premises construction standards and notification as a food business.
They are enforced by different parts of council, and a planning-only consultant handles the first and refers the second out. EHUP holds both, which is the reason this segment exists on our site rather than being a footnote.
The three planning categories
NSW planning treats work-from-home in tiers, and which tier you are in changes everything.
Home occupation - the lightest. No clients visiting, no employees from outside the household, no signage, no goods sold on site. Often exempt from approval entirely.
Home business - clients do visit, and there may be limited signage and a small floor area given over to the business. Usually needs approval, and the thresholds vary by council.
Home industry - light manufacturing or trade work from the premises. Higher impact, more likely to need a full DA, and more likely to be constrained by the zone.
Most salons, clinics and catering operations sit in the home business tier. Which one applies to you is a question about your address and your actual operation, not about the label you use for it.
What council actually looks at
Number of client visits per day and how they arrive. Where clients park. Hours of operation. Noise, including plant and ventilation. Waste - particularly clinical or food waste. The floor area given over to the business relative to the dwelling. Whether any structural work or a separate entrance is involved. Signage.
None of these are trick questions, and in most cases a sensible operating description satisfies them. Problems arise when nobody wrote that description down and council has to assume the worst from a complaint.
Why we take this segment seriously
Home business approvals are small jobs. They are also, in our experience, the ones where the client is most worried, most likely to have been given wrong information by someone confident, and least likely to have been treated properly by a consultancy that would rather be doing a warehouse.
We would rather do them well.
How it works
A conversation with no judgement
Same day
Tell us what you do, how many clients a day, and whether council has contacted you. Nothing about this conversation is reported to council.
We work out where you stand
2–3 business days
We check whether the use is permitted at your address, which category it falls into, and what the health side requires.
Fixed fee, both sides in one scope
Within 2 business days
One written scope covering the planning application and the health requirements, with one fixed fee.
Lodgement and resolution
4–8 weeks typically
We lodge, we handle council, and where a notice was issued we respond to it directly.
What we take off your hands
What EHUP handles
- Checking whether your business qualifies as home business, home industry or home occupation
- The planning application to council
- The environmental health or food safety requirements, in-house
- Skin penetration registration and premises requirements where they apply
- Responding to a council letter, notice or complaint on your behalf
- Plain-English explanation at every step
What you don't have to deal with
- Being sent to a second consultant for the health side
- Trying to work out which of two frameworks a council letter is about
- Guessing whether you are allowed to have clients come to the house
Choose your situation
Beauty & Nail Salons
A nail, beauty, lash or waxing service run from home almost always needs council approval, and most of them can get it.
Skin Penetration Premises
In NSW, any premises where a skin penetration procedure is carried out must be notified to and registered with the local council before the procedure is offered, and must meet specific public health requirements for hygiene, sterilisation and waste.
Health Consulting Rooms
A health consulting room at a residential address - physiotherapy, psychology, counselling, massage, podiatry, dietetics, speech pathology or similar - is a defined land use and generally needs council approval.
Home Catering
If you prepare food at home to sell - catering, cakes, meal prep, tiffin services, market stalls - you are running a food business, and two separate obligations apply.
Frequently asked questions
Is council going to shut my business down?
That is the first question almost everyone asks, and in most cases the answer is no. Councils are generally far more interested in a business becoming compliant than in closing it. What does cause serious problems is ignoring correspondence. If you have received a letter, the worst option is to do nothing - engaging early is what keeps the business open.
Can I actually afford this?
Home business approvals are the smallest scope we do, which is why the fee is a fraction of a commercial application. We quote a fixed number before you commit anything, and the first conversation costs nothing. If the honest answer is that your use is exempt and you do not need us, we will tell you that.
Why do I need two approvals?
They cover different things. The planning approval is about whether the use is acceptable at that address - traffic, parking, noise, hours, the effect on neighbours. The environmental health approval is about how the service itself is delivered safely - sterilisation, waste, hand-washing facilities, food handling. Councils enforce both. Most people only find out about the second one when something goes wrong.
Do I have to tell council I am already operating?
Coming forward voluntarily is generally treated far more favourably than being found. It is also what allows the matter to be dealt with as an application rather than as enforcement. We walk you through exactly what is disclosed and how it is framed before anything is lodged.
What if English is not my first language?
Tell us and we will keep everything in plain language and walk you through each document before you sign it. A significant part of our home-business work is with clients for whom English is a second language, and confusion about council paperwork is the most common reason people put off dealing with it.
Can I keep operating while the application is being assessed?
It depends on what has already happened. If no notice or order has been issued, often yes. If council has issued a direction, that direction has to be followed. This is a specific question we answer for your situation on the first call, because guessing at it is genuinely risky.
Related services
Change of Use
A change of use application is needed when the building stays the same but what happens inside it changes - retail to cafe, warehouse to gym, office to medical suite.
Development Application (DA)
A Development Application is the merit-assessed approval pathway.
Why clients choose EHUP
- 10+
- 250+
- 14
- 1
Not sure which approval you need?
Tell us the address and what you want to do. We'll help identify the appropriate planning pathway, whether it is exempt development, complying development or a full DA. Your first conversation is free.