What a section 10.7 certificate covers

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.

The 10.7(2)

Prescribed content, set by Schedule 2 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021. The council must state it. In summary, and in our words rather than the Regulation's, the matters include:

• the planning instruments and development control plans that apply, and draft instruments that have been publicly exhibited;
• the zone, and what may be done in it with consent, without consent, and not at all;
• whether a development standard sets minimum land dimensions for a dwelling house;
• whether the land is in a conservation area or has a heritage item on it;
• contributions plans, and whether the exempt and complying development codes can be used;
• land reserved for acquisition, and road widening;
• flood related development controls, including whether the land is in a flood planning area;
• council and public authority policies that restrict development because of a hazard, such as landslip, bush fire, tidal inundation, subsidence, acid sulfate soils, contamination, aircraft noise, salinity or coastal hazards;
• whether the land is bush fire prone;
• loose-fill asbestos insulation;
• whether the land is in a mine subsidence district;
• and a number of narrower matters.

The list does not ask for the height limit or the floor space ratio. Those are read from the local environmental plan the certificate names.

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.

The 10.7(5)

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, for a further fee. The Planning Portal also describes it as carrying advice from other authorities.

What it costs

The fee is set in fee units by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 and indexed each 1 July. There is one fee for an application for a certificate under section 10.7(1), and a further fee if the certificate is also to include advice under section 10.7(5). The current amounts are in the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure's schedule of planning and development fees and charges, which is replaced each July. Some councils take applications through the NSW Planning Portal's online certificate service, which councils may choose to adopt; others take them directly.

Why the zoning layer is not a substitute

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 floor space ratio and the hazard layers. Each finding names its register, and gives its date where the register publishes one, so you know what to expect and what to ask, and the report names the certificate as the next step and who sets its fee. It is not a certificate. The certificate is what you act on.

What we hold council by council is on the New South Wales council pages, and the hazard map by council puts every council's figures on one map. For Victoria, see the section 32 vendor statement.

Reports from $9.90 including GST, paid once. The price belongs to the jurisdiction the address is in. The check is free: it tells you the exact total for your address, and which registers cover it, before you pay anything.