Before a Long Jetty knock-down, a $73.00 Council certificate says which route is open

What the certificate is, and what it costs

Under section 10.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, anyone may apply to a council for a planning certificate for any land in its area, on paying the fee. Council must issue it as soon as practicable. The Act sets no number of days, and no Council page read for this article gives one. Council's own description is a certificate which identifies the land constraints on your property.

Council's 2026/27 fees list the section 10.7(2) certificate at $73.00, with no GST. Section 10.7(5) lets a council add advice on other relevant matters affecting the land that it is aware of, and Council charges $111.00 for that on top; its application form lists the combined certificate at $184.00. It can be ordered through Council's online property portal after registering an account, or on the paper form, lodged in person at a Customer Service Centre or by post with a cheque.

What it says about a Long Jetty lot

Schedule 2 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation sets what the certificate must state. Three of its matters decide how a house comes down. It must say whether an item of environmental heritage is located on the land. It must say whether complying development may be carried out on the land under each of the State's complying development codes, and if it may not, why. And it must say whether the land is within the flood planning area and subject to flood related development controls.

The heritage answer carries weight in Long Jetty, because many of the suburb's listed items are dwelling houses. Demolishing a heritage item needs development consent, and a complying development certificate cannot be used on land with a heritage item. If the certificate names one on your lot, the faster route is closed before any quote is written.

Council's heritage rules can ask for a heritage management document for work near a listed item, so check the heritage schedule for the houses either side as well.

Flood, acid sulfate soils and the lake

Long Jetty's lake frontage sits in the Tuggerah Lakes flood plan's area for The Entrance and Long Jetty, and its lower land beside the lake reads as acid sulfate soils Class 3 or 2 on Council's map. The certificate covers both. Schedule 2 asks about flood related development controls, and separately about any adopted policy restricting development because of acid sulfate soils, tidal inundation, coastal hazards or sea level rise, among other risks.

If it says flood controls apply, the replacement house is designed around a floor level, and that is a second certificate. Council's Flood Information Certificate maps the lot's flood levels and flood hazard and states the minimum floor level that applies. It costs $424.55 on the normal 15-day service in 2026/27. Ordering it early lets the new house be drawn before the old one comes down.

Two more lines worth reading

The certificate must also say whether any of the land is bush fire prone, and whether the house is listed on the NSW register of homes with loose-fill asbestos insulation. Read that second line before any demolition is quoted.

Section 10.7(7) of the Act adds one protection. In proceedings for an offence against the Act or its regulations, a certificate is conclusively presumed to be true and correct in favour of the person who obtained it or could reasonably be expected to rely on it. That is a reason to order a current certificate in your own name before the work starts, and to keep it.