Change of use approval delayed and rent already started? How to cover the gap until you can open

If your change of use approval is delayed and the rent has already started, you’re not stuck, but the clock is costing you money every week. Do three things now: confirm which approval pathway you’re on, get a written timeline from council or your certifier, and ask the landlord to move rent commencement to the approval date. Then fund the waiting period on purpose.

This is the point where an opening timeline breaks. The lease is signed, the shopfitter is pencilled in, and a piece of paper nobody controls has become the thing that decides when you earn your first dollar. Here’s how to work through it.

Which approval pathway are you actually on?

Most delays come from being on a slower pathway than the owner assumed. In NSW there are three, and the NSW Planning Portal sets out the order:

Pathway	What it means	Why it matters for your timeline
Exempt development	No planning approval needed if the change meets the exempt rules	Fastest — but narrow
Complying development (CDC)	A council or private certifier checks your plans against fixed standards	Usually quicker than a DA, with a certifier you can chase
Development application (DA)	Council assesses the proposal on its merits	Slowest, with referrals and possible public notice

The exempt rules are tight. Among the conditions on the Planning Portal: the new use must sit in the same business category as the old one, the current use must be lawful, the new use must be permitted in the zone, floor area can’t grow and the building must already meet fire safety and building code requirements. Moving between types of retail shop is treated as a change of tenant, not a change of use. Food and drink premises and beauty salons are excluded from exempt development, and so are sites in heritage conservation areas or listed as State heritage items.

Other states use their own systems. In Victoria, for example, the equivalent step is often a planning permit, and the rules sit with the local council and Planning Victoria. The principle is the same: the pathway you’re on sets the clock.

First move: ask your certifier or council planner, in writing, which pathway applies to your exact use and address, and what the next step is. If you’ve been waiting on the wrong pathway, it’s better to find out this week than in three months.

Why is council approval taking so long?

Rarely is it one thing. The usual culprits:

• A request for information. Council or your certifier asks for another report, a revised plan or a fire engineer’s letter. The clock often pauses while they wait for you.
• Incomplete lodgement. Missing plans, no owner’s consent from the landlord, or wrong documents mean the application sits in a queue before it’s formally accepted.
• Referrals. Fire, heritage, traffic or health teams review separately.
• Landlord consent. You usually need the owner’s signature on the application, and a slow landlord is a slow approval.

Your fastest lever is your own response time. Answer every request for information the same week, and keep a log of dates. In Victoria, councils have 60 statutory days to decide a planning permit application, and if they don’t, you can apply to VCAT for a failure-to-decide review. Planning Victoria’s guide covers how reviews work. But note the catch: the clock can stop when council asks for more information, so 60 days isn’t always 60 days. And VCAT has its own wait.

What is each week of delay really costing you?

Before you ring the landlord or a lender, put a number on it. A simple weekly “cost of waiting” list works:

1. Rent and outgoings (and any GST)
2. Loan or equipment repayments that have already started
3. Insurance, utilities and security for an empty tenancy
4. Wages for anyone you’ve already hired, plus super — with Payday Super in force from 1 July 2026, super is due with each pay run
5. Deposits and holding fees on equipment or stock you can’t take delivery of
6. Your own drawings, if the business is your income

Add them up, then multiply by the number of weeks council says it could take, and by a second figure that’s twice as long. That’s your delay range. It’s the number you take to the landlord and to a lender.

Illustrative example: an owner signs a lease for a shop they want to turn into a small clinic. Rent started at handover, the fit-out contract is signed, and the application needs more information from a fire engineer. The delay range is eight to sixteen weeks. Eight weeks of rent, outgoings, one hire and a repayment is already a real hole. Sixteen is the number they plan for.

Can you renegotiate the rent while you wait?

Often, yes. Landlords care about two things: a tenant who stays and a tenancy that’s improved. An approved change of use usually makes the property more valuable, so you have more leverage than it feels like.

What to ask for, in order of value:

• Rent commencing on approval, not on handover or lease start. This is the best outcome.
• An extended rent-free period that runs from approval, not from a fixed date.
• A staged start, for example outgoings only until approval, then full rent.
• A deferral, where missed rent is added back over the first months of trading.
• A conditional lease or a lease with a termination right if approval isn’t granted by a set date.

The best time to get these was before signing. In NSW, a landlord must give you a lessor’s disclosure statement at least seven days before the lease is entered into, according to the NSW Small Business Commission, and that’s the moment to ask whether approvals are needed and who is responsible. But if you’re past that, you can still ask. Bring the written timeline from council, evidence you’ve lodged properly and a proposal: “Rent starts at approval, and I’ll sign the extension we discussed.”

For lease rights specific to your state, the Victorian Small Business Commission and its NSW counterpart are the neutral starting points. Get a lawyer to write any variation. The definition of “approval” matters: granted, final and free of appeal are different things.

See where your cash gap really sits? Our funding planner lays it out in a few minutes, or you can start an enquiry when you’re ready to talk numbers.

What can happen on site while you wait?

Ask your certifier for a written answer, because the rules depend on your pathway and the works. As a rule, don’t start building work that needs approval before the right consent is in place. Some internal works are exempt, and some approvals cover use and building together. The expensive mistakes are stop-work orders and fines, and a landlord who now has a reason to push back.

Things that are usually safe to progress:

• Design, drawings and quotes
• Ordering long-lead equipment, with a delivery date that matches approval (hold the deposit, not the delivery)
• Hiring and training, timed to the revised opening date
• Supplier and insurance setup

If you’ve already paid a shopfitter a deposit, ask for the start date in writing and whether the contract can move. Tight contract dates and a floating approval date are how deposits get stuck. Our guide to moving into your first premises covers the lease terms that shape this, and the fit-out budget guide shows how to keep fit-out money separate from running costs.

How do you fund the gap without raiding the fit-out?

The mistake most owners make is letting the fit-out budget quietly turn into the rent budget. Keep the pots apart:

Pot	What it covers	Typical funding fit
Fit-out	Builder, trades, joinery	Fit-out or secured finance, staged to progress payments
Equipment	Chairs, ovens, treatment tables, fixtures	Equipment finance with the asset as security
Waiting period	Rent, repayments, wages, insurance until you can open	Working capital sized to your delay range
First weeks	Stock, marketing, quiet-weeks cash	Working capital or a line of credit

When a lender looks at a stalled opening, they’ll want the lease, the approval pathway and your written timeline, your cost to opening and a realistic path to takings. A plan that says “eight to sixteen weeks, here’s the evidence, here’s what I need to cover it” reads much better than “I just need some cash”. A cash flow forecast that shows the delay range in black and white helps.

Two further notes. Property-secured finance, where you or the business owns property, can be larger and faster than unsecured, and “$20k to $250k possible same day (property-secured)” is possible in the right circumstances. Smaller unsecured amounts can sometimes fund the same day too. And whatever you borrow, size it to the delay range plus a buffer, not just the best case.

A 7-day plan when approval stalls

1. Day 1: Confirm your pathway in writing with council or your certifier.
2. Day 2: Get a written list of outstanding information and answer it.
3. Day 3: Add up the weekly cost of waiting and the delay range.
4. Day 4: Send the landlord a variation proposal (rent from approval).
5. Day 5: Ask the shopfitter and suppliers to move dates, in writing.
6. Day 6: Update your cash flow forecast to a new opening date.
7. Day 7: Decide how much of the gap you need to fund, and speak to a finance specialist.

Waiting on a council isn’t a reason to stall your business

Approvals are the part of opening a business nobody can fully control, and owners get through them every week. What you can control is how long the gap hurts. If you’ve done the sums and the delay range is bigger than your cash on hand, it’s worth finding out where you stand before the next rent payment, not after it.

Here’s how we handle it. Enquiring takes about 60 seconds, and your credit file isn’t touched just for asking. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t light up. A real person reads what you’ve told us and calls you about your situation. Please fill the form in accurately, including the approval pathway and your delay range, so we can match the right option first time.

See if you qualify →