New South Wales Section 10.7 Planning Certificate: What It Shows

This guide answers one New South Wales property question: what does a section 10.7 planning certificate show in 2026? It separates the prescribed certificate, the optional council-held layer, the contract record, and the follow-up sources a buyer or property professional still needs.

The parcel → version → control → constraint → follow-up check below is Proppi’s editorial framework for turning a certificate into a traceable property decision.

What Does a New South Wales Section 10.7 Planning Certificate Show?

The New South Wales Planning Portal planning-certificate page, updated 2 July 2026 and checked on 15 August 2026, says planning certificates provide information about planning and development controls applying to a specific parcel of land.

A basic certificate issued under section 10.7(2) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 contains the information prescribed by Schedule 2 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021. The Planning Portal groups that information as:

• land zoning
• relevant state, regional, and local planning instruments and policies
• planning and development controls
• hazards and risks affecting the land

The exact certificate applies to the identified land on its issue date. It is not a generic suburb report and should not be detached from its lot, plan, address, certificate number, and date.

What Is in a Section 10.7(2) Certificate?

Schedule 2 is detailed. A useful due-diligence review groups its prescribed entries rather than turning them into one undifferentiated checklist.

This table is a reading map, not a replacement for Schedule 2 or the issued certificate. An entry can point to a separate instrument whose definitions, maps, exceptions, and savings provisions decide the practical effect.

The Planning Portal’s online service also describes a section 10.7(2) certificate as showing zoning, state, regional, and local controls, plus constraints such as contamination, flooding, and bushfire-prone land.

What Extra Information Can Section 10.7(5) Add?

A full certificate combines the section 10.7(2) material with information issued under section 10.7(5). The Act permits the local council to include advice on other relevant matters affecting the land.

The New South Wales Planning Portal says this can include advice from other authorities and certain information the council holds that is relevant but not disclosed in the basic certificate. The extra layer is therefore council- and parcel-specific.

Do not infer that every full certificate contains the same categories. Record:

• whether the document is basic or full
• which council issued it
• the issue date and certificate number
• each section 10.7(5) notation and its stated source
• any missing attachment, referenced plan, or follow-up authority

A full certificate is broader, but it is not a warranty that every fact held outside council records has been captured.

Why Is the Certificate Attached to a Contract of Sale?

The New South Wales Planning Portal says the basic planning certificate must be attached to a contract of sale. Schedule 1 of the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022 lists a planning certificate as a prescribed contract document, subject to the regulation’s stated exceptions.

For a buyer-side evidence file, preserve:

• the exact certificate attached to the signed contract
• every updated certificate obtained before exchange or settlement
• the contract version and property identifiers it was matched against
• written advice explaining any material notation or discrepancy
• the buyer’s intended use and the follow-up checks made for that use

Do not silently replace the contract attachment with a later download. Both can matter: one records what was disclosed with the contract; the other records what was checked later.

The certificate is only one part of the packet. Use the New South Wales contract-for-sale document guide to review the title, plan, drainage, registered dealings, warnings, pool records, special conditions, and off-the-plan material around it.

Does a Planning Certificate Prove What Can Be Built?

No. Service New South Wales describes the certificate as information about controls, requirements, and restrictions affecting how land can be used or developed. It is not a development approval.

A development answer can still depend on:

• the current text and maps for every applicable planning instrument
• dimensions, easements, covenants, and restrictions shown by title and survey records
• site slope, access, services, vegetation, contamination, flooding, bushfire, or geotechnical facts
• existing consents, approved plans, occupation and building records, and unauthorised work
• the development application or complying development pathway
• council, planner, surveyor, engineer, certifier, conveyancer, or lawyer advice

The certificate is best treated as a source index and constraint alert. It narrows the questions; it does not answer every design, approval, title, condition, or construction question.

What Hazard Notations Need Follow-Up?

Hazard labels should remain tied to the authority and dataset behind them. A certificate may record that land is affected by a planning control or mapped category, but the next decision can require the current map, policy, study, certificate, or site assessment.

For example, the New South Wales planning practice note on biodiversity and native-vegetation notations explains how statutory biodiversity and vegetation information is disclosed through section 10.7 certificates. It does not turn the certificate into an ecological assessment of one development proposal.

Use the same source discipline for contamination, loose-fill asbestos, bushfire, flooding, coastal, mine-subsidence, and road-widening entries:

1. preserve the certificate wording
2. identify the cited authority, instrument, map, or register
3. retrieve the current source record
4. record the source date and parcel match
5. obtain specialist advice where the intended use needs it

This is the same evidence principle used in Proppi’s property-hazard record guide, but the sources and legal effect here are specific to New South Wales.

What Does the Certificate Not Replace?

A New South Wales planning certificate does not replace:

• a current title search and copies of registered dealings
• a deposited plan, strata plan, survey, or boundary advice
• a building or pest inspection
• council development consents, approved plans, construction and occupation records
• a building information certificate
• sewer and drainage diagrams or utility searches
• strata inspection records, levy evidence, defect files, and insurance
• a planning feasibility assessment for the buyer’s proposed use
• legal advice on the contract, disclosure, title, easements, or restrictions

Apartment buyers can use the New South Wales strata-record guide for the owners corporation and lot-level evidence that sits outside a planning certificate. New residential strata buyers should also understand the separate New South Wales strata building bond process.

What Should a Buyer or Property Professional Record?

Use one review row for each material entry:

The second-order operational problem is version drift. The contract may contain one certificate, the council may issue another, and a planning instrument or map can change later. Preserve each version instead of overwriting the earlier record.

For document provenance and version control, see the property document management hub and Proppi’s editorial sourcing standard.

Facts, Interpretation, and Practical Implications

The interpretation is Proppi’s synthesis. A particular contract, parcel, proposed use, certificate, or planning instrument may require advice from a New South Wales conveyancer, lawyer, planner, surveyor, engineer, council, or other specialist.

A Citation-Ready New South Wales Planning File

The original synthesis in this guide is the five-part certificate test:

1. Parcel — does the address, lot, plan, and local government area match the property?
2. Version — which certificate type, number, issue date, and contract version is being read?
3. Control — which zoning, instrument, policy, map, or development rule is cited?
4. Constraint — which hazard, notice, authority advice, or council-held matter is disclosed?
5. Follow-up — which current source record, specialist report, advice, or approval resolves it?

This framework keeps the certificate useful to buyers, selling agents, buyers’ agents, conveyancers, planners, developers, and property managers without making the document promise more than it does.

Source Note

This article is specific to New South Wales, Australia. It uses the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022, and New South Wales Government guidance checked on 15 August 2026. The Planning Portal certificate overview was updated on 2 July 2026. Planning instruments, maps, certificates, council records, and contract requirements can change.

Keep Reading

• New South Wales Strata Records for Apartment Buyers
• New South Wales Strata Building Bond
• Victoria Section 32 Vendor Statement
• Queensland Property Seller Disclosure
• Australia Stamp Duty by State
• Property Document Management Hub

The Short Version

1. A New South Wales section 10.7(2) certificate reports prescribed planning controls and land information.
2. Schedule 2 covers zoning, instruments, controls, hazards, risks, and other listed matters.
3. A full certificate adds relevant section 10.7(5) information held by the issuing council.
4. A basic planning certificate is a prescribed contract-of-sale document, subject to stated exceptions.
5. The certificate does not approve development or replace title, survey, building, strata, or specialist checks.
6. Preserve the parcel, version, control, constraint, source, and resulting decision.

Last reviewed: 15 August 2026. New South Wales legislation, planning instruments, maps, local council records, contract requirements, and Planning Portal services can change. Check the current certificate and primary sources, and obtain advice for a purchase or proposed development.