Section 10.7 planning certificates, surfaced

The problem with the planning certificate

The Section 10.7 planning certificate is one of the most important documents in a contract for sale of land, and one of the easiest to skim. It records the zoning, and the notations that tell your client what they can and cannot do with the property — land reservation, road widening, contamination, bushfire and flood-related entries among them. The detail that matters is dense, formatted to a template, and sits well inside the annexures.

Reading it properly on every contract takes time and concentration. The risk is not that the certificate is missing — it is that a notation with real consequences is read past.

How Torri handles the 10.7 certificate

• 1

  Locate the certificate

  Torri finds the planning certificate within the contract bundle, so you are not flicking through annexures to confirm it is there and which certificate it is.

• 2

  Read the zoning and notations

  The zoning is read, and the notations the certificate records are surfaced — the entries that affect how the land can be used and what your client is taking on.

• 3

  Lift it to the top

  What the certificate states is pulled to the top of the review, where it can inform your advice rather than waiting to be found.

Built for NSW conveyancing

The Section 10.7 certificate is a NSW instrument, issued by the local council under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. Torri reads it in that context — including the additional advice carried by a 10.7(5) certificate where one is included — so the planning picture is grounded in how NSW actually records it, not a generic read of a document.

Where it fits your review

Surfacing the zoning and notations early means the planning position is on the table from the start of the matter, not discovered late. Torri tells you what the certificate states; the professional judgement on what it means for your client stays with you. It speeds the read — it does not replace the planning check you rely on.