Plan sealing

Plan Sealing requests are managed by the Building and Construction Coordination Officers within the Building and Construction Management Team (BCMT). If your development involves subdivision, Council will endorse the survey plan (also known as sealing) once the development is finalised, and you have met all relevant conditions of the approval and other lodgement requirements.

To help Council process your plan sealing request quickly and efficiently, make sure you have all the relevant supporting information to lodge with your request.

Getting started

Generally, the qualified surveyor who draws up the plan of subdivision (survey plan) will submit the request to Council on the owner's behalf. All correspondence about the request will be sent to the applicant. The applicant needs to advise the Building and Construction Coordination Officer assigned to assessing the request in writing if other parties are to be included in any correspondence.

As part of your development approval conditions, you may have to register the following documents with Titles Queensland along with your subdivision plan:

• easements, especially for Council owned infrastructure. For example, where stormwater currently exists or is proposed to be located within private property, where required by Urban Utilities or between individual lots, i.e. for access purposes.
• land transfer requests
• covenants regarding land use and/or construction such as covenants for the preservation of ecologically significant areas, or bushfire buffer areas relating to the lot.

Providing a well-made plan sealing request

A well-made, all-inclusive request will allow Council to process your plan sealing request efficiently. The below tips will assist in preparing a well-made request:

• Ensure that the documents below are submitted with a sealing request:
  • Form 18A
  • Survey Plan
  • Community Management Statement (CMS).
    When digital endorsement is requested, survey plans and CMS need to be supported by a certification.
• Ensure that CMS submitted for endorsement do not conflict with the development approval, and reference the exact wording of the conditions of the approval conditions.
• Ensure that the development has been constructed in accordance with Council’s development approval, including the conditions and approved plans.
• Ensure that the documents below are submitted with the plan sealing request to demonstrate compliance with relevant conditions of a development approval:
  • as-constructed plans 
  • required certifications/documents
  • copies of any private easement documents signed by all relevant owners (refer to the ‘Granting of Easements’ Condition in the development approval)
  • the Urban Utilities (UU) Connection Certificate referencing the current development approval (including any change applications) and/or the correct stage number.
• Ensure that all utility connection agreements such as Energex and Telecommunication Agreements have been entered into and the required connections have been completed.
• Ensure the payments below are made prior to lodgement:
  • Council’s infrastructure charges
  • Any outstanding Council rates (remain up to date).

If documentation is required to be re-submitted and re-viewed after lodgement, additional fees and charges may apply.

Plan sealing process

Plan sealing prelodgement service - recommended

To assist with resolution of project constraints and critical timeframes, Council offers a plan sealing prelodgement service. This service can provide advice on conditions compliance, documentation requirements, the ability to bond uncompleted works and other questions relating to the endorsement of a standard format, building format and/or volumetric survey plan.

Assessment of request

The timeframe for the sealing (endorsement) of a survey plan is 20 business days following payment of the lodgement fee. The Building and Construction Coordination Officer will, within this timeframe, either provide a letter advising of any outstanding matters or, if compliance has been achieved for the relevant development conditions and all other requirements, the survey plan will be endorsed.

Where an outstanding matters letter is issued requesting further information, the applicant is required to provide a comprehensive response. Once a response is received, the Building and Construction Coordination Officer will review this information within 20 business days. If compliance has been achieved for the relevant development conditions and all other requirements, the survey plan will be endorsed.

All requests for legal documentation and street naming need to be lodged separately to the plan sealing request. It is recommended these requests be lodged with Council as early as possible prior to lodging the plan sealing request, to avoid any unnecessary delays and to allow for a more streamlined process. 

Approval

A Notice of Approval pursuant to Schedule 18 of the Planning Regulation 2017, together with the Planning Body Approval of Survey Plan Form 18B, will be issued once all plan sealing requirements have been met.

Register your endorsed plan of subdivision

Following Council’s endorsement of a subdivision plan, the survey plans must be lodged for registration with Titles Queensland within six months in accordance with the requirements of the Land Title Act 1994.

Fees

Fees are applicable for all plan sealing related requests and processes and must be paid at the time of lodgement. Council’s assessment of a request will not commence until all fees are paid in full. Find out more about the fees for plan sealing and related requests here.

Lodgement

You can lodge the following plan sealing requests by completing the Plan sealing online request form:

• reconfiguring a lot
• building format plans
• plan sealing prelodgement requests.

Lodgement of the requests below can be made by completing the appropriate form and emailing Council:

• Bonding of uncompleted works checklist (PDF - 68kb)
• Checklist for preparation of legal documentation in relation to easements, covenants and transfer of land (PDF - 59kb)
• Sealing of survey plan checklist (PDF - 70kb)

Other useful information

Glossary