Find your council

Which council am I in?

Your council is set by where the property sits, not by the name of the suburb or the post office that serves it. A council area can take in dozens of towns and suburbs, and its name often differs from all of them, so type the postcode or a few letters of the council’s name and the list above narrows as you type. Every local government area in every state and territory of Australia is listed, from the capital cities to the remote shires.

What if my postcode covers two councils?

Postcodes were drawn for delivering mail, so one postcode can cross a council boundary, and two neighbouring streets can answer to different councils. The list shows every council a postcode touches. To be sure, type the full address into the site plan search: it reads the lot and names the council that lot belongs to. Your rates notice names it too.

What does the council decide, and what does a certifier decide?

The council runs the planning scheme: the zoning, the overlays such as flood, bushfire and heritage, and how close to a boundary the scheme lets you build. Building approval checks that the structure itself is safe and meets the building rules, and in most states a private certifier or building surveyor can give it as well as the council. The names and the steps differ from state to state, so each council’s page says how it works there and what goes on the site plan.

Councils by state