If you design a structure that has the outside face of the veranda's gutter edge closer than 1m then Install a Veranda needs to organise a fire engineer to issue a fire modification certificate and you have to cost in $1,000. 

The only time this does not apply is when there is a nature reserve, council owned land or corner block on the side that you are building your veranda or carport.

So you can explain this to your client, the reason fire modification certificates are needed is councils are trying to make sure people don't build structures right up to boundaries with combustible materials so when and if a fire happened there would be no seperation between houses allowing the fire to spread more quickly.