A planning certificate under section 10.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 is the council's own statement of what applies to that parcel on that date, and the council is answerable for what the certificate must contain. A spatial layer is neither.
It comes in two parts, and they are not alternatives.
Prescribed content, set by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021. The council must state it. It covers the environmental planning instruments applying to the land, the zone and what may be done in it, whether the land is bush fire prone, whether it is in a flood planning area, land reservation for acquisition, road widening, and a list of other notations the regulation requires — including hazard matters such as landslip, salinity, subsidence and contamination.
Under section 52A of the Conveyancing Act 1919 and the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022, a 10.7(2) certificate is one of the documents a vendor must attach to a contract for sale. If a prescribed document is missing, the regulation gives the purchaser a right to rescind within 14 days after the contract is made, unless the contract has already been completed, and it must be exercised in the way the regulation sets out. Whether it applies to a particular contract is a question for your solicitor or conveyancer.
So the first thing to do is ask the agent for the contract and read what is attached, and check the date it was issued, rather than paying for one. A certificate attached to a contract can predate exchange by months, across a rezoning or a new flood map.
Not prescribed. It is whatever else the council thinks the buyer should know, and councils differ in how much they volunteer.
It is often described as the part that discloses contamination and landslip. That is not the useful distinction, and it is wrong: landslip, salinity, contamination notified under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 and mine subsidence districts are all already prescribed on the 10.7(2). What the 10.7(5) adds is the council's own record — former uses of the site, contamination history that was never formally notified, draft or unadopted policies, drainage and flood information the council holds, and any outstanding orders or notices.
Because it is not prescribed, it is usually not attached to the contract. It is the part worth ordering yourself, and it is ordered at the same time and usually for a small additional fee.
The state's spatial layers are authoritative for what they show and they are what our report reads. They are not the certificate. Several of the matters the 10.7(2) must state exist nowhere spatial, and a certificate is issued for a parcel on a date by the council that will make the decision.
Our report tells you the zone, the minimum lot size, the height limit and the hazard layers, each with its register and its currency date, so you know what to expect and what to ask, and it names the certificate as the next step with what the council charges for it. The certificate is what you act on.
Check an address$9.90 including GST, paid once. Check the address first — the check is free and tells you which registers cover it before you pay anything.
A section 10.7 planning certificate is a document issued by a New South Wales council under section 10.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, stating the planning controls that apply to a parcel of land as at the date of issue.
A section 10.7(2) certificate contains content prescribed by Schedule 2 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, including applicable environmental planning instruments, zoning, bush fire prone land status, flood-related development controls, and council and public authority policies on hazard risk restrictions such as landslip, subsidence, salinity and contamination. It is a document a vendor must attach to a contract for sale under section 52A of the Conveyancing Act 1919 and the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022.
A section 10.7(5) certificate contains additional matters the council considers relevant. Its content is not prescribed and varies between councils. It commonly discloses council-held records that are not prescribed on the 10.7(2), such as former land uses, unnotified contamination history and council policies affecting the land.
General information about New South Wales registers. Not legal, planning or valuation advice for any particular property.