Learn · Planning and development
Why a property's development application history matters
Read this lot’s applications from lodged to lapsed. An approval is not works done, still live, or a building certificate.
Districts Research · ·
This lot’s applications
This lot’s register is not the same question as what is being built nearby.
- This parcelApplications on the lot you are buying
- NearbyA different check
Swipe the panels.
A typical case
What does this property’s own application history tell me, and what does an old approval still allow?
A typical case: the listing shows a renovated rear addition. The register shows a 2018 approval for a different footprint, a 2021 withdrawn dual occupancy, and nothing about a building permit. Those three facts are the history. They are not the neighbour’s mid-rise, and they are not proof the addition you walked through was certified.
This lot’s applications tell you what has been proposed and decided here. Nearby applications tell you about the street. Districts keeps them in separate checks because they answer different questions.
Anatomy of a record: lodged through lapsed
Read description, status, decision, conditions, dates and documents. Approved is not built. Lodged is not approved. Lapsed is not refused.
Open the source record, not only a Districts summary card. Write the six fields below even when one of them is blank.
| Field | What to write down | Usual misread |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Alterations, secondary dwelling, subdivision, demolition, change of use, number of dwellings. | Marketing language instead of the registered description. |
| Status | Lodged, advertised, assessment, approved, refused, withdrawn, lapsed, appealed. | Treating lodged as approved, or refused as “they will never allow anything”. |
| Decision | Grant, grant with conditions, refuse, deemed refusal. Note the decision-maker. | Ignoring who decided (council, panel, minister, court). |
| Conditions | Floor levels, access, landscaping, contributions, time limits, plans stamped as approved. | Assuming conditions expired when the works looked finished. |
| Dates | Lodgement, decision, commencement, lapse. Some approvals die if not commenced in time. | Reading an old approval as still available without checking the clock. |
| Documents | Plans, reports, notice of determination, where the register publishes them. | Relying on the summary card when the stamped plan is public. |
Prior approval is not works done, and may not still be available
Three separate facts hide inside “it was approved”. First, did anyone carry the works out? Second, were those works the works that were approved? Third, is the consent still live, or has it lapsed, been surrendered or been superseded?
A subdivision approval that was never registered is still one title. A dual occupancy consent that lapsed is not a right you inherit. An approval for a different footprint does not legalise the addition you measured with your phone. Ask for the stamped plans and the later building or occupancy papers.
Planning decision and building decision are different files
Planning is a state and territory matter in Australia, administered largely by councils. The names differ: development application in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT; planning permit in Victoria and Tasmania; development approval in South Australia and Western Australia; development permit in the Northern Territory. The schemes, portals and assessment paths differ too. Always use the scheme and portal for the council and state where the property sits.
Most jurisdictions split the planning question (is the use and form acceptable under the scheme?) from the building question (does the construction meet the building code?). The second file often sits with a private certifier and never appears on the planning register Districts can query.
Works can be exempt from planning approval and still need building approval, or the reverse. When you ask “was this approved?”, name both files. Tasmania’s s337 certificate is one of the few council products that commonly lists planning, building and plumbing approvals together, as at the issue date. Elsewhere you will usually make two searches.
This lot versus the street
Districts runs two checks. This lot’s DA history queries applications on this parcel. The nearby pipeline queries a radius and groups applications into projects. An approval next door is not this lot’s history. An empty this-lot result is not an empty street. See nearby applications.
Worked history: Districts fields on one parcel
Labelled illustration. A Districts development block shows two applications on the parcel: applicationType dual occupancy, status withdrawn, lodgementDate 2021-04-12, decision null; and applicationType alterations and additions, status approved, decisionDate 2018-09-03, sourceUrl pointing at the council record. Building approvals are not in the block. Official report is not loaded.
Reading: someone asked for two dwellings and did not proceed. Someone earlier obtained planning approval for additions. You still do not know whether the additions match the house, whether a construction certificate issued, or whether conditions remain. The withdrawn dual occupancy is evidence of an attempt, not evidence that two dwellings are impossible or likely.
Traps when the register looks empty or looks finished
- Reading queried_empty as “no history” when the adapter never covered that council, or when older paper files predate the electronic register.
- Reading approved as built, or built as certified.
- Ignoring conditions that still bind the land.
- Confusing a neighbour’s file with this folio.
- Treating a lapsed consent as a live right, or a refused application as a permanent ban on every other proposal.
What a planning register does not establish
It does not prove existing works were approved or certified. It does not show outstanding orders unless that council publishes them there. It does not show whether conditions were complied with. ACT decided-DA pages currently keep records for five years after the decision and note that published records date back to 2019; older ACT files need a different search. Victorian ministerial permits on the current public register start from 29 November 2014.
How Districts lists this lot’s applications
This lot’s DA history is one of the ten checks. Where a register adapter exists, Districts lists applications against the parcel with description, status, dates and a link to the source record. Where the register was not queried or no adapter exists, the check is unknown. Silence is not “no development”. Coverage is on the coverage page and in the planning applications methodology.
How to confirm planning and building files before you act
- Council or state register for this parcel, using the lookup in the nearby-applications guide.
- Notice of determination and stamped plans for any approval you will rely on.
- Building, occupancy or plumbing certificates, via council, certifier or a s337-style product where it exists.
- Your conveyancer for outstanding notices and for whether an approval has lapsed.
Common questions
If the register shows no applications, were the works approved?
You do not know. The planning register may not include building approvals, older paper files or another authority’s decisions. Ask for certificates and search the building file.
Can I use a previous owner’s unused approval?
Only if that approval still attaches to the land, has not lapsed, and you can meet its conditions. Many consents die if not commenced in time. Read the notice. Do not assume it travels with the sale.
How Districts derives it
Explore using Districts
Sources
Official material this page used. Dates are when Districts checked the page, not the life of the instrument.
NSW Planning Portal
Statewide NSW tracking of development applications and state-significant applications; council trackers for gaps.
Checked
Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria)
Guide to Victoria’s planning system: the register of applications
Each responsible authority keeps a s49 register. There is no single statewide permit register.
Checked
Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria)
Ministerial planning permits on the current register from 29 November 2014.
Checked
ACT Government planning
Decided ACT DA records date back to 2019 and remain published for five years after the decision.
Checked
Dorset Council
Buying property in Dorset: 337 Certificate
Council Land Information Certificate lists zone, planning, building and plumbing approvals and enforcement as at the issue date.
Checked
Related guides
Planning and development
How to check development applications near a property
Look up nearby applications on the register that actually exists for that state. Distance depends on the project, not a national radius.
Planning and development
How to check property zoning in Australia
Find the official zone and scheme text for a lot in each state and territory. The map is a finding aid. The ordinance is the rule.
Property due diligence
Property red flags to investigate before buying
A signal table: innocent reading, more serious reading, and the evidence that resolves it. Not a fear list.
Using Districts
How to read Districts flood and planning data
Zone, overlays, floodShare and this-lot applications, each with a retrieved date. Not loaded is not clear.
Research purposes only. Not personal financial advice, a valuation, or a planning certificate. Always speak to a licensed financial adviser before you act.