Enquire about purchasing Council land

Council retains land for a number of strategic purposes, including: road reserves, community and recreational needs, public open space, parks and gardens, environmental protection, and service provisions.

Our obligations under legislation

Council has obligations under the Local Government Act 2020 which sets out legislative requirements for the sale and exchange of Council-owned land. Council is also obliged to adhere to the Local Government Best Practice Guidelines for the sale, exchange & transfer of land (Dept Planning and Community Development - June 2009).

Our procedure

Information about the procedure Council follows when selling land can be found in our Fact sheet - Sale of minor parcels of Council owned land(PDF, 268KB)

This fact sheet only applies to land that is assessed as a minor land parcel, which is a parcel of land which cannot be sold on the open market as an individual lot. Minor parcels of land will only be considered as surplus, if assessed as being no longer reasonably required by Council.

Sale by private treaty

There may be circumstances where it is appropriate to sell/exchange land by private treaty, as referenced in the Local Government Best Practice Guidelines, considerations being:

• the nature of land that is proposed for sale/exchange; and
• how the proposed sale/exchange is initiated, e.g. often it is an external person who has initiated discussions with the council with regard to the sale/exchange of land, that will determine if a sale/exchange by private treaty is appropriate.

The nature/type of land may include:

• rear laneways and rights-of-way;
• disused/closed roads; and
• allotments in inappropriate subdivisions

Other information

Please also refer to Council’s Amenity Local Law 2013, clause 20 ‘Actions affecting council land’ - Without a permit a person must not on any Council land occupy or fence off any part of the Council land.

How to apply