APN Codex · Planning Rules
New South Wales — Orange
The Rules That Govern Property in Orange
Instruments
70
Local Plan
0
NSW
70
As At
17 Sep 2026
1Overview
The use, development, sale, lease and taxation of land in Orange are governed by the 70 instruments listed here: 70 New South Wales Acts, regulations and State Environmental Planning Policies. Each entry records the version in force, a plain-English description and a link to the official text.
Commonwealth laws that apply across Australia, including the Building Code and foreign investment rules, are listed on the national page →
Every instrument is checked against its official publisher each month, and a new version is recorded when it takes effect. Descriptions are APN’s own and are not legal advice; the official version of each instrument prevails.
2The Local Plan
The council’s local planning instrument is available from the official publishers listed on this page. Zoning maps, development control plans and property-specific overlays are not listed here; the NSW Planning Portal reports the controls that apply to a particular lot.
3Latest Versions
35 of the 70 instruments have a version that took effect in the 90 days to 17 September 2026. The most recent:
- 11 September 2026: State Environmental Planning Policy (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021. Official →
- 11 September 2026: State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021. Official →
- 11 September 2026: State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008. Official →
- 9 September 2026: State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021. Official →
- 4 September 2026: Water Management (General) Regulation 2025. Official →
- 1 September 2026: Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021. Official →
- 1 September 2026: Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Official →
- 28 August 2026: Real Property Regulation 2026. Official →
4Planning and Development
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979Establishes the system of environmental planning and development assessment for New South Wales. It defines development to include land use, subdivision, building work and demolition, sets out categories from exempt development to development needing consent, and confers planning functions on councils and public authorities. | NSW | Act | 1 Sep 2026 | Official → |
| Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991Governs how State authorities acquire land, whether by agreement or compulsorily, and the compensation owed to owners. It guarantees compensation of at least unaffected market value, simplifies compulsory acquisition procedures, obliges authorities to buy land reserved for a public purpose where the owner shows hardship, and favours negotiated purchase over compulsory process. | NSW | Act | 5 Jul 2024 | Official → |
| Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021Sets out detailed rules for development certification and building fire safety under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. It covers the duties of principal certifiers before and during building and subdivision work, inspections and notices where directions are not complied with, and requirements for smoke alarms in buildings, including buildings within strata schemes. | NSW | Regulation | 19 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021Provides the principal procedural regulation under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, replacing its 2000 predecessor. Among its provisions are rules on planning proposals, including prescribed proposal authorities, written notice when a council declines a request and agreements to recover study costs, and on the required form and public exhibition of development control plans. | NSW | Regulation | 1 Sep 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Biodiversity and Conservation) 2021Consolidates State environmental planning provisions on biodiversity and conservation in New South Wales. It includes controls to protect the biodiversity values and amenity of trees and other vegetation in non-rural areas, and provisions for the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment that seek healthy catchments and require development there to achieve a neutral or beneficial effect on water quality. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 7 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008Establishes State-wide codes that allow development meeting set standards to proceed through streamlined pathways, either as exempt development with minimal environmental impact or as complying development. It identifies the kinds of works each code covers and the development standards those works must satisfy. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 11 Sep 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021Sets out State environmental planning provisions for housing in New South Wales, guided by principles that include enabling a diverse range of housing types such as purpose-built rental housing. It provides development controls for forms of housing including build-to-rent housing, hostels and residential care facilities, and incorporates provisions for manufactured home estates and caravan parks, including non-discretionary development standards that limit what consent authorities may require. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 11 Sep 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Industry and Employment) 2021Sets out State planning controls for employment land and outdoor signage in New South Wales under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. One chapter protects and enhances the Western Sydney Employment Area for employment uses, specifying permitted and prohibited development, development control plan requirements and principal development standards. Another regulates signage and advertisements, supported by schedules of additional permitted uses and assessment criteria. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021Identifies development and infrastructure of State or regional significance in New South Wales and the planning pathways that apply to it. It declares categories of State significant and critical State significant infrastructure, removes that status from certain exempt development, and deals with subdivision certificates and staged applications for infrastructure. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 9 Sep 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Primary Production) 2021Sets out planning controls for primary production and rural development in New South Wales, aiming to support the orderly economic use of rural land and to reduce conflict between competing land uses. It includes provisions on artificial waterbodies and on livestock industries, including when certain livestock and goat depot development may proceed without consent. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021Consolidates State environmental planning provisions on resilience and hazards in New South Wales. It promotes an integrated, coordinated approach to coastal zone land use planning, requires preliminary hazard analysis and consent authority consideration for potentially hazardous or offensive industry, and sets a Statewide planning approach to remediating contaminated land to reduce risks to human health and the environment. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 4 Aug 2023 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Resources and Energy) 2021Regulates the planning assessment of mining, petroleum production and extractive industries in New South Wales, recognising their importance to the State. It sets non-discretionary development standards for mining on matters such as cumulative noise, prohibits coal seam gas development in certain exclusion zones, and identifies extractive industry development that is treated as designated development. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Sustainable Buildings) 2022Promotes the design and delivery of sustainable buildings in New South Wales through consistent sustainability assessment and the recording of building performance data. It targets lower energy and mains water use, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, monitoring of embodied emissions in construction materials, and good thermal performance. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 31 Oct 2025 | Official → |
| State Environmental Planning Policy (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021Sets planning rules for transport and public infrastructure development in New South Wales. Among other matters, it declares certain port, wharf, dredging and reclamation development by public authorities to be State significant infrastructure, refers to assessment guidelines and participation arrangements for new health services facilities and schools, and regulates permits for clearing trees and vegetation. | NSW | State Environmental Planning Policy | 11 Sep 2026 | Official → |
5Building and Construction
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018Provides for the registration of people who carry out certification work and the accreditation of people who perform other regulated work. It treats certification as a public function to be exercised impartially and ethically, allows approved bodies corporate to act as accreditation authorities, and provides for scrutiny and review of those exercising functions under it. | NSW | Act | 14 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020Provides for the registration of design, principal design, engineering, specialist and other building practitioners, and for compliance declarations on regulated designs and building work. It also establishes a duty of care and defines building elements to include fire safety systems, waterproofing, load-bearing components and the building enclosure. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Home Building Act 1989Regulates the residential building industry and certain specialist work in New South Wales. It provides for contractor licences, tradesperson and supervisor certificates and owner-builder permits, applying the State's uniform licensing procedures with modifications. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020Confers powers to secure compliance with, and enforce, building and construction laws and codes in relation to residential apartment building work. It enables the appointment of authorised officers with investigative functions and supports regulations on notices, appeals, records, registers and fees. | NSW | Act | 14 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Swimming Pools Act 1992Requires access to private swimming pools in New South Wales to be effectively restricted by barriers, replacing the earlier swimming pools legislation. It provides for pool inspections, certificates of compliance, and the appointment of authorised officers by local authorities with powers to enter premises to inspect pools and investigate complaints. | NSW | Act | 14 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Building and Development Certifiers Regulation 2020Makes supporting provisions under the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 for the registration and conduct of certifiers in New South Wales. It sets classes of registration with the qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills required, continuing professional development and a code of conduct. It also deals with professional indemnity insurance, conflicts of interest, contracts for certification work, record keeping, the role of councils, indexed fees, penalty notice offences and information that certifiers and councils must supply. | NSW | Regulation | 22 May 2026 | Official → |
| Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2021Supports the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 with detailed requirements for regulated designs, design compliance declarations and practitioner arrangements in New South Wales. It defines construction issued regulated designs by reference to the Building Code of Australia and governs applications to recognise engineering bodies and renew that recognition, including grounds for refusal. | NSW | Regulation | 30 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Home Building Regulation 2014Makes supporting provisions under the Home Building Act 1989 for residential building work and specialist work in New South Wales. It deals with exemptions from contracting and advertising rules, contractor licences, certificates and owner-builder permits, and home building insurance, including amounts of cover and exemptions. It also regulates alternative indemnity products offered through fidelity fund schemes and specialised insurance arrangements, and covers insurers and providers, fees, premises affected by loose-fill asbestos insulation and the register. | NSW | Regulation | 16 May 2025 | Official → |
| Swimming Pools Regulation 2018Supports the Swimming Pools Act 1992 in New South Wales by setting standards for child-resistant barriers around outdoor pools and access restrictions for indoor and spa pools, drawing on the Building Code of Australia and the Australian Standard for pool safety barriers. It prescribes the content and legibility of supervision and resuscitation warning signs, the process for seeking barrier exemptions from local authorities with rights of appeal to the Land and Environment Court, pool inspections and certificates, pool registration and penalty notice offences. | NSW | Regulation | 1 Dec 2021 | Official → |
6Buying, Selling and Title
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conveyancing Act 1919Amends and consolidates the property law of New South Wales and aims to simplify and improve conveyancing practice. Among other matters, it governs easements, profits a prendre, restrictions on the use of land and positive covenants, including the Court's power to modify or extinguish them. | NSW | Act | 3 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Crown Land Management Act 2016Provides for the ownership, use and management of Crown land in New South Wales and repeals related legislation. It sets out objects, explains what is and is not Crown land, divides the State into the Eastern and Central Division and the Western Division, and addresses the Act's relationship with other laws. | NSW | Act | 21 Nov 2024 | Official → |
| Real Property Act 1900Consolidates New South Wales law on declaring title to land and facilitating its transfer through a register of title. It provides for the registration of dealings, gives registered interests priority according to the order in which they are registered, and restricts acquiring title against a registered proprietor by length of possession, subject to defined exceptions. | NSW | Act | 15 Aug 2025 | Official → |
| Conveyancing (General) Regulation 2026Makes general regulations under the Conveyancing Act 1919 covering the General Register of Deeds and the lodgement of plans, including deposited plans, strata plans and the instruments that accompany plans lodged for registration or recording. Its schedules prescribe witnesses, authorities and fees, and it replaces the previous general regulation. | NSW | Regulation | 21 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022Supports the Conveyancing Act 1919 on the sale of land in New South Wales by prescribing the documents to be attached to contracts for sale, together with warranties and implied terms, including for lots in proposed plans of subdivision. It sets requirements for disclosure statements in off the plan contracts, the cooling off period for residential property sales, options and purchasers' remedies, and lists exempt contracts, options and land and the prescribed forms. | NSW | Regulation | 15 Aug 2025 | Official → |
| Crown Land Management Regulation 2018Supports the Crown Land Management Act 2016 with detailed rules for managing Crown land in New South Wales, operating from the repeal of the Crown Lands Act 1989. Its provisions include an indexed fee unit for charges, matters relating to Western lands leases and pests, and an instrument of trust giving trustees powers to sell, lease, license or develop trust land. | NSW | Regulation | 16 Aug 2024 | Official → |
| Real Property Regulation 2026Supports the Real Property Act 1900 in New South Wales by prescribing the particulars of an estate or interest that a caveator must state in a caveat and how part of the land affected by a caveat is to be described. It also deals with access to the Register, including search times, miscellaneous matters and fees set in fee units, and replaces the previous Real Property Regulation. | NSW | Regulation | 28 Aug 2026 | Official → |
7Renting and Residential Communities
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013Regulates residential land lease communities, setting out the rights and obligations of operators and home owners and procedures for resolving disputes between them. It aims to improve community governance, support informed choices by prospective home owners, protect home owners from bullying and unfair business practices, and imposes rules of conduct on operators; it replaces the former residential parks legislation. | NSW | Act | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| Residential Tenancies Act 2010Regulates residential tenancy agreements in New South Wales, setting out what landlords and tenants are entitled to and required to do, and dealing with rent and rental bonds. It also constitutes the Rental Bond Board and requires periodic ministerial review of whether the Act's policy objectives remain valid. | NSW | Act | 30 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| Retirement Villages Act 1999Sets out the rights and obligations of retirement village residents and operators, and provides mechanisms for resolving disputes between them. It supports disclosure of information to prospective residents, prescribes required content for resident contracts, and replaces the earlier 1989 retirement villages legislation. | NSW | Act | 14 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Residential (Land Lease) Communities Regulation 2015Makes supporting rules under the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 for land lease communities and their operators in New South Wales. It prescribes a standard form of residential site agreement and a form of site condition report, and sets which register details about convictions and disciplinary action may be published online and when. It counts only one home owner per site for special levy resolutions and mediation applications, and specifies penalty notice offences. | NSW | Regulation | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019Supports the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 in New South Wales with detailed provisions on residential tenancies. It includes a scheme allowing a deposited rental bond to be transferred to a new tenancy through the online rental bond service, with rules for differing bond amounts, claims, fees and the disqualification of scheme users. | NSW | Regulation | 21 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Retirement Villages Regulation 2025Supports the Retirement Villages Act 1999 in New South Wales, including requirements for asset registers, capital maintenance reports and the funding of capital maintenance for major items of capital. It also covers use of capital works fund money with resident consent, display of audited accounts, making good deficits, ballots, and internal dispute and complaint resolution processes, including matters of elder abuse. | NSW | Regulation | 22 Aug 2025 | Official → |
8Strata and Community Title
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Land Development Act 2021Facilitates the subdivision of land in New South Wales into parcels for separate development or disposal that share a common property interest in associated land, developed in conjunction with other parcels. It is read as part of the Real Property Act 1900, and governs development contracts and the developer's right to complete development permitted under them. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Community Land Management Act 2021Governs how community, precinct and neighbourhood subdivision schemes in New South Wales are managed, and provides for settling disputes that arise within them. It covers association resolutions, the appointment of facilities managers, and mediation arranged by the Secretary for matters that could otherwise go to the Tribunal. | NSW | Act | 14 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Strata Schemes Development Act 2015Provides for subdividing land, including buildings, into cubic spaces to create freehold and leasehold strata schemes in New South Wales. It governs dealings with lots and common property, the variation, termination and renewal of schemes, and the position of lessors in leasehold schemes. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Strata Schemes Management Act 2015Governs how strata schemes in New South Wales are managed and provides mechanisms for settling disputes that arise within them. It deals with owners corporations, the appointment of building managers, and the administrative and capital works funds that schemes must keep and may invest. | NSW | Act | 26 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Community Land Development Regulation 2021Makes supporting rules under the Community Land Development Act 2021 for community land schemes in New South Wales. It sets requirements for scheme plans, including location plans, and for other plans and instruments, instruments of severance and conversion, development contracts, management statements and the amalgamation of schemes, and prescribes public authorities for the Act. It operates alongside conveyancing and real property regulations and lodgment rules, prevailing where they conflict. | NSW | Regulation | 14 Oct 2021 | Official → |
| Community Land Management Regulation 2021Makes supporting provisions under the Community Land Management Act 2021 for the management of community land schemes in New South Wales. It covers associations and their committees, including connected persons, elections, ballots and pre-meeting electronic voting, as well as facilities managers, financial and property management, management statements and by-laws, insurance, records and information, and alternative dispute resolution. It also prescribes fees and penalty notice offences and preserves existing association seals. | NSW | Regulation | 1 Apr 2026 | Official → |
| Strata Schemes Development Regulation 2016Makes supporting provisions under the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 in New South Wales for plans lodged with the Registrar-General, including strata plans, strata plans of subdivision or consolidation and building alteration plans. It deals with staged development, certification, lodgment and strata renewal, sets an indexed fee unit, and operates alongside conveyancing and real property regulations and lodgment rules, prevailing where they conflict. | NSW | Regulation | 1 May 2023 | Official → |
| Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016Supports the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 with detailed rules for owners corporations and strata committees in New South Wales, including pre-meeting electronic voting and ballots. It also prescribes the form and content of building inspector reports and related building defects documentation, and contains savings and transitional provisions such as those on seals and strata managing agent appointments. | NSW | Regulation | 26 Jun 2026 | Official → |
9Land Tax, Duties and Valuation
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duties Act 1997Creates and charges a range of State duties in New South Wales, each dealt with in its own Chapter, with a duty becoming a debt owed to the State once liability arises. It sets out dutiable transactions and property and the rates of duty, including a premium rate for high-value residential land, and is read together with the Taxation Administration Act 1996, which governs assessment, collection and review. | NSW | Act | 29 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Land Tax Act 1956Imposes land tax in New South Wales on the taxable value of certain land, and is read together with the Land Tax Management Act 1956. It sets out tax thresholds and provides for a surcharge land tax on residential land, including residence requirements for exemptions and the circumstances in which surcharge may be refunded. | NSW | Act | 23 Sep 2025 | Official → |
| Land Tax Management Act 1956Provides for imposing, assessing and collecting land tax in New South Wales on the unimproved value of certain land. It sets out how land value is determined for tax purposes, including averaging values across land tax years, apportioning value between lots in strata parcels, and special rules for particular holdings such as colliery land. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Taxation Administration Act 1996Makes general provision for administering and enforcing the New South Wales taxation laws, which themselves impose tax and set exemptions and refund entitlements. It covers assessment and reassessment of liability, refunds, interest and penalty tax, special return arrangements, collection, record keeping and offences, the powers and secrecy duties of tax officers, and objections and reviews. | NSW | Act | 18 Feb 2026 | Official → |
| Valuation of Land Act 1916Provides for the valuation of land in New South Wales and establishes the office of Valuer-General, including the appointment of contract valuers. It governs valuation lists used by rating and taxing authorities, restricts those authorities from altering lists without the Valuer-General's consent, and gives authorised persons powers to enter land and obtain records needed for accurate valuations. | NSW | Act | 4 Sep 2023 | Official → |
| Duties Regulation 2022Makes supporting provisions under the Duties Act 1997 in New South Wales. It prescribes classes of excluded transactions, including changes to default beneficial interests under discretionary trusts, changes in ownership on death, dealings in mortgages and other security over land, changes to water rights, and various dealings made without consideration, such as easement variations, moves between joint tenancy and tenancy in common, and lease expiries. | NSW | Regulation | 3 Dec 2025 | Official → |
| Land Tax Management Regulation 2024Makes supporting provisions under the Land Tax Management Act 1956 in New South Wales, replacing an earlier regulation. It governs how the Chief Commissioner keeps the public register of land parcels that receive a reduction in land value, including the details recorded for each parcel, and exempts certain leases of NSW Land and Housing Corporation land from a land tax provision where the lease mainly serves to provide housing. | NSW | Regulation | 12 Dec 2025 | Official → |
| Valuation of Land Regulation 2025Makes supporting provisions under the Valuation of Land Act 1916, prescribing agricultural or pastoral leases of Crown land held by named public bodies, such as the Land and Housing Corporation, Transport for NSW and the Sydney and Hunter water corporations, as leases that make land Crown lease restricted. It sets how objections are lodged with or withdrawn from the Valuer-General and how notices may be served, allowing electronic service of valuation notices only with consent. It also repeals the former regulation with savings. | NSW | Regulation | 29 Aug 2025 | Official → |
10Heritage and Environment
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016Provides for conserving biodiversity in New South Wales, consistent with ecologically sustainable development, so that the environment stays healthy, productive and resilient for present and future communities. It seeks to conserve biodiversity at bioregional and State scales and help ecosystems adapt to change, and provides for biodiversity assessment, stewardship sites and declared areas of outstanding biodiversity value. | NSW | Act | 10 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| Coastal Management Act 2016Provides for managing, using and occupying the New South Wales coast in an ecologically sustainable way, in support of the State's social, cultural and economic wellbeing. It protects natural coastal processes and values, maintains public access, recognises Aboriginal peoples' use of the coastal zone, and sets management objectives for areas such as the coastal environment area and coastal use area identified by State environmental planning policy. | NSW | Act | 9 Aug 2024 | Official → |
| Contaminated Land Management Act 1997Sets up a framework under which land the Environment Protection Authority regards as significantly contaminated is investigated and, where warranted, remediated. It allocates accountability for managing such contamination, defines the EPA's role in assessing contamination and overseeing site investigation and management, and amends related chemicals legislation. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Heritage Act 1977Conserves the environmental heritage of New South Wales by promoting understanding and conservation of the State's heritage and providing for the identification, registration and interim protection of items of State heritage significance. It constitutes the Heritage Council of New South Wales, encourages adaptive reuse, supports owners with conservation, and provides for a fund to finance heritage matters and administration. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Local Land Services Act 2013Establishes Local Land Services as a statutory corporation responsible for managing and delivering local land services in the State's social, economic and environmental interests, with a governance framework that includes local boards taking on devolved management and planning functions. It replaces the former rural lands protection and catchment management authority legislation, and deals with the organisation's fund, service fees and reporting. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997Protects, restores and enhances the quality of the New South Wales environment having regard to ecologically sustainable development, replacing earlier environment protection legislation. It designates the EPA and local authorities as regulatory authorities, requires environment protection licences for scheduled activities, and creates offences for carrying on those activities without a licence. | NSW | Act | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| Water Management Act 2000Establishes the framework for protecting and conserving New South Wales water sources and managing them on an ecologically sustainable basis. It provides for management plans that commit water to environmental purposes, access licences and allocation accounts, and conditions requiring water to be kept for the environment. | NSW | Act | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
| Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017Supports the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 in New South Wales, including by setting when proposed development exceeds the biodiversity offsets scheme threshold, based on the area of native vegetation cleared or clearing on land shown on the Biodiversity Values Map. It also deals with biodiversity stewardship sites, fees for related assessment services, the retirement of biodiversity credits, and conservation areas such as the national park estate. | NSW | Regulation | 9 May 2025 | Official → |
| Heritage Regulation 2012Makes supporting provisions under the Heritage Act 1977 in New South Wales. It prescribes fees and forms for applications to carry out activities regulated by that Act and sets a process for determining certain applications. It also establishes minimum standards of maintenance and repair, including for ruins and moveable objects, with provision for inspections. | NSW | Regulation | 2 Aug 2024 | Official → |
| Local Land Services Regulation 2026Makes supporting provisions under the Local Land Services Act 2013 in New South Wales, replacing the earlier regulation. It deals with local board members and their elections, the levying of and liability for rates, notional carrying capacity measured in stock units, catchment contributions and annual returns. It also covers native vegetation, public roads and travelling stock reserves, including impounding, stock watering places, the transport of stock and penalty notice offences. | NSW | Regulation | 28 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2022Supports the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 in New South Wales by identifying the appropriate regulatory authority and regulating environment protection licences, including licence and load-based fees, load reduction agreements and a technical review panel. It also covers pollution incident response plans, vehicle testing, exemptions, environmental monitoring programs, the National Pollutant Inventory, energy recovery from waste, noise abatement directions, green offset schemes and PFAS firefighting foam. | NSW | Regulation | 28 Aug 2026 | Official → |
| Water Management (General) Regulation 2025Makes general regulations under the Water Management Act 2000, replacing the 2018 regulation for all matters other than water supply authorities. Its provisions define minor streams using the Strahler stream ordering system and set up a scheme obliging the Ministerial Corporation to negotiate in good faith with landholders affected by declared environmental water releases, with a view to agreed mitigation. | NSW | Regulation | 4 Sep 2026 | Official → |
11Natural Hazards and Fire
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rural Fires Act 1997Establishes the NSW Rural Fire Service and defines its functions, and provides for preventing, mitigating and suppressing bush and other fires across the rural fire districts of the State. It also provides for the Commissioner to coordinate bush fire fighting and grants powers to enter land to investigate the cause or origin of fires. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Rural Fires Regulation 2022Supports the Rural Fires Act 1997 in New South Wales with provisions on rural fire brigades and groups of brigades, including disciplinary action against members and brigade registers, and on Bush Fire Management Committees. It regulates fire prevention, including fire permits, bush fire danger periods, limits on public authorities lighting fires and notice of hazard reduction work, and deals with serving notices, fire prohibition zones and penalty notice offences. | NSW | Regulation | 31 May 2024 | Official → |
12Real Estate Agents
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property and Stock Agents Act 2002Regulates property and stock agents in New South Wales, replacing earlier agents legislation. It provides for licensing of real estate, stock and station and strata managing agents and of corporations, registration of assistant agents, and the grounds on which a person is disqualified. | NSW | Act | 29 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022Supports the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 with detailed rules for agents in New South Wales. It sets conduct requirements for real estate, buyer's and strata managing agents and their assistants, and the terms agency agreements must contain for residential, rural and business sales, property management and strata management. It also deals with professional indemnity insurance, auctions, trust money, records, exemptions, penalty notice offences and fees. | NSW | Regulation | 1 Jul 2025 | Official → |
13Local Government
| Instrument | Level | Type | In Force From | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Government Act 1993Provides the legislative framework for local government in New South Wales, including how councils are constituted and exercise their functions. It covers matters such as guidelines that councils must consider when exercising functions and the management of community land, including land categorised as an area of cultural significance. | NSW | Act | 10 Jun 2026 | Official → |
| Local Government (General) Regulation 2021Makes supporting provisions under the Local Government Act 1993 for the operation of NSW councils. It covers approvals, including for water, sewerage, stormwater and waste work and a mutual recognition scheme, orders about premises, environmental upgrade agreements, councillor conduct and training, strategic planning, audit and risk committees, and county councils. It also regulates meetings, elections, referendums and polls, joint organisations, penalty notices and coastal protection services. | NSW | Regulation | 1 Jul 2026 | Official → |
New South Wales legislation information is sourced from the NSW Legislation website under CC BY 4.0. Links lead to each instrument's official publisher.
