Who will tell you what you can build on a NSW block
Four routes exist to answer "what can I build on this block" in New South Wales: look it up yourself on the free government portal, buy a zoning report, buy a report that also reads your title and your council's controls, or engage a planning consultant. They cost and deliver different things. This page sets out what each one is.
What each one is
Property Jeanie
Property Jeanie is an ordered report on one property. It reads the title, the deposited plan, the instruments registered against the land and the council controls that apply, and returns what those documents say about what can be built. Every planning figure in a Property Jeanie report is quoted from the document it was read from. Where a figure is not held, the report says so rather than substituting a typical or state-wide value, and a person checks the plan reading before the report is released. Coverage is New South Wales and Victoria.
Zoning NSW Reports
Per-property zoning report, NSW only.
Zoning NSW Reports offers, in its own words, "instant, accurate zoning reports for any NSW property. Search zoning, planning controls, overlays & compliance in minutes." Source, read 2026-09-28.
NSW Planning Portal and Service NSW
The primary source, free, and the thing every paid product is reading from. It will not read your title documents or your council's controls for you.
The NSW Government publishes zoning and planning-layer data free through the Planning Portal spatial viewer, and title and property information through Service NSW. Source, read 2026-09-28.
StraightLine Planning
A planning consultancy engaged per job, not a self-serve tool.
StraightLine Planning lists its services as "Commercial change of use; Residential DA approvals; Architectural Drafting; Statements of Environmental Effects; Heritage Impact Statements". Source, read 2026-09-28.
Questions people ask
What can I build on my block in NSW, and who will tell me?
Property Jeanie returns a per-property report that reads the title, the deposited plan, the registered instruments and the applicable council controls, and quotes each planning figure from the document it came from. Zoning NSW Reports supplies a zoning report for any NSW property. The NSW Planning Portal spatial viewer shows zoning and planning layers free. A planning consultant such as StraightLine Planning will advise on a specific proposal.
Is a zoning report the same as knowing what you can build?
No. Zoning sets what uses are permissible. What you can actually build is also governed by the controls in your council's development control plan or planning scheme, and by anything registered against the title, such as an easement or a restriction on use. A zoning report answers the first part.
Can I get this information for free?
Much of it, yes. The NSW Planning Portal publishes zoning and planning-layer data at no cost, and Service NSW provides title and property information. The work a paid report does is retrieving the title documents and the council controls and reading them against your specific lot.
How this page was put together
Each product above is described using wording published on its own website, read on the date shown against it. Where a product does not publish its pricing in a form that can be read from its site, no pricing is stated here. Property Jeanie publishes this page, which is why it appears first.
Something out of date or wrong? Tell us and it will be corrected.
Check a specific property
Property Jeanie reports on one address in New South Wales or Victoria, with every planning figure quoted from the document it was read from.
Start with an address