Is a building permit required for a Louvre Pergola or a Louvered Roof ?

Well, first of all, a Louvred Pergola and a Louvred Roof are NOT the same. The main difference is that a Louvred Pergola does not collect water (so it is not watertight when closed), whereas a Louvred Roof needs to be connected to a legal point of stormwater discharge as it is watertight.

The market is now flooded with new cheap imports with what they call Louvred Pergolas, but they are not pergolas! They have guttering and collect rainwater, so they are a roof! If it's connected to your house, it needs a building permit and could possibly require extra items to obtain a building permit, like town planning, dispensations, or a fire modification, for example. I have personally been to a few of these companies to ask about the products and whether I need a permit. I think they have been very misleading, saying either no or to check with the council. However, when most people call the council, they get the wrong answer because they use the word pergola! Just because they call it a pergola, it's not. The company we use to obtain our building permits is getting lots of clients approaching them to ask for help to obtain a building permit, which sometimes can be obtained and sometimes can't, and the client may have to take the structure down!

The only time a louvred roof doesn't require a building permit, and even in this instance you would still need to check with the council, is if it is free-standing, under 10m², and if within 1m of a boundary, no higher than 2.4m.