The Rules That Govern Property in Australia
The use, development, sale, lease and taxation of land in Australia are governed by law at three levels. The Commonwealth sets national rules on building standards, tax, foreign investment, environmental protection and native title. Each State and Territory sets its own planning system and its laws on building, conveyancing, renting, strata, land tax and duty. Councils apply local planning schemes that set zoning and development rules for their areas.
Planning Rules is arranged by State and Territory, covering Australia’s 547 local government areas. Each council page brings together the State and local instruments that apply there, with the version in force, a plain-English description and a link to the official text. Every instrument is checked against its official publisher each month. Descriptions are APN’s own and are not legal advice; the official version of each instrument prevails.
The 12 Commonwealth laws that apply across Australia are listed once, on the national page.
Each State and Territory page lists the instruments that apply throughout it, and links to a page for each of its council areas.
A council page opens with the area’s local plan: the Local Environmental Plan in New South Wales, the planning scheme in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, the Local Provisions Schedule in Tasmania, and the area plans in the Northern Territory. South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory each have a single planning instrument, the Planning and Design Code and the Territory Plan. The remaining instruments follow in subject tables: planning, building, buying and selling, renting, strata, land tax and duty, heritage and environment, hazards, real estate agents and local government. A State instrument that applies only to part of the State shows the precincts or sites it covers in that area.
Zoning maps and the controls that apply to a particular lot are published by each State’s planning website and by councils; each council page links to them.
Links lead to each instrument's official publisher.
