Section 10.7 certificate, City of Parramatta: cost, timing and what it doesn't cover

Cost and timing at City of Parramatta

Fees change on 1 July. These are the 2026-27 figures. Check the council's current fees and charges before you pay.

How to apply at City of Parramatta

Parramatta runs its own certificate system rather than the NSW Planning Portal's optional online service. There are two routes.

Online, through ePathway

Council's "Apply for a Certificate" service on its ePathway portal takes the application online. Each certificate type has its own form:

• Section 10.7(2) certificate
• Section 10.7(2) and (5) certificate
• Urgency fee, added to either of the above

By post

Send the application to PO Box 32, Parramatta NSW 2124. Council's property information certificates page holds the forms.

Two things Parramatta says about its certificates

• The certificate "applies to parent property only, not on individual lot numbers". If you are buying a unit, expect the certificate to describe the parent parcel rather than your lot alone.
• Council describes the 10.7(5) content as "advice on other relevant matters affecting the land". It does not publish a validity period for either certificate.

What the certificate tells you

A section 10.7(2) certificate is the council's statement of the planning rules that apply to a parcel of land on the day it is issued. The contents are prescribed by Schedule 2 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, so every NSW council answers the same list:

• Which instruments apply. The local environmental plan, state planning policies, development control plans and contributions plans that cover the land.
• Zone and uses. The zone, what is permitted with and without consent, what is prohibited, and any minimum lot size rule for building a dwelling.
• Heritage. Whether the land is a heritage item or sits in a conservation area.
• Hazard notations. Whether the land is bush fire prone, whether flood related development controls apply, and any mine subsidence, loose-fill asbestos or contaminated land notice.
• Acquisition and roads. Whether the land is reserved for acquisition or affected by road widening, and whether complying or exempt development is available.

A 10.7(5) certificate adds the council's advice on other matters affecting the land that it is aware of. It is discretionary: each council decides what goes in, so the same section buys different advice in different council areas. In NSW the vendor must attach a 10.7(2) certificate to the contract for sale, so for most purchases you read one before you ever order one.

What it doesn't cover in Parramatta

The certificate answers the prescribed questions and stops. In the Parramatta council area the gaps that cost buyers most are about water and about the street around the property.

Whether, and how, the land floods

The certificate states whether flood related development controls apply to the land. That is a planning answer, not a flood answer. It does not tell you how deep the water is expected to get, how often, whether it comes from the Parramatta River or from overland flow down the street, or how you would leave. Parramatta's Know Your Flood Risk page has no address search; it directs you to lodge a Flood Enquiry with council or to obtain a planning certificate. The maps that answer the question sit in the 2024 Parramatta River Flood Study, downloadable as PDF map sheets, which you read yourself.

Controls that are still moving

Council adopted the 2024 Parramatta River Flood Study on 11 June 2024. It covers around 60 per cent of the council area and is the largest update to Parramatta's flood modelling in 20 years. Council is now moving to a Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan, which is the step that turns modelling into development controls. A certificate issued today reflects the controls in force today; the ground under them is being redrawn.

Applications on neighbouring lots

The certificate covers the land it is issued for. It says nothing about the development application two doors down. Parramatta's DA tracker is split in two: one register for applications lodged before 1 July 2024 and one for applications lodged after, both reached from the track an application page. A search of one register is half a search.

The usual omissions

No planning certificate records easements (those are on title), distances to the station or shops, school catchments, or whether the listing's claims hold up. Those are separate lookups, and Prova's what's checked list is built around them.

Local context: the river and the runoff

Parramatta's flood problem has two faces, and council names both: flooding from the Parramatta River, and overland flooding, where intense rain runs across streets and yards faster than the drains take it. For a buyer the difference matters because overland flow can affect lots well away from any watercourse, and it is the kind of flooding a listing photo never shows.

The 2024 flood study is the reason to treat Parramatta flood notations carefully right now. A study that covers roughly 60 per cent of the local government area and is described by council as the largest update in 20 years means flood levels and extents have been re-estimated for a large share of the properties for sale here. The Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan that follows is where controls change: floor levels, filling, what can be built where. If you are buying in a low-lying part of the council area, ask council's flood team what the new study says about the lot, not only what the certificate says today.

Two administrative details trip people up. The certificate is issued for the parent property, not the individual lot number, so a unit buyer gets the site's planning position rather than the unit's. And the two DA trackers split at 1 July 2024 mean recent applications and older approvals live in different registers.

How to read your certificate when it arrives

1. Match the land description. Check the lot and deposited plan number and the address against the contract. A certificate for the wrong parcel is worthless.
2. Check the issue date. The certificate speaks as at that date. If the one attached to the contract is months old, ask your conveyancer whether a fresh one is worth ordering.
3. Read the permitted-uses list, not just the zone code. A use appearing under "permitted with consent" means you may apply, not that you will be approved.
4. Treat every "yes" on a hazard item as a question, not a verdict. Bush fire prone land calls for a bushfire attack level assessment. Flood related controls call for the council's flood information. A contaminated land notice calls for the EPA record.
5. Note what is absent. Nearby applications, easements, distances and school catchments are not on the certificate and need their own sources.
6. Take anything you don't understand to your conveyancer before exchange, while it can still change the price or the decision.

Questions about Parramatta 10.7 certificates