Why your Section 10.7 certificate might not show flood risk
A s10.7 planning certificate gives you a single yes/no answer about flood controls. It does not tell you how deep the water gets, how often it floods, or what your insurance will cost. And after two legislative changes in 2021 and 2023, the certificate may now show less flood information than it used to.
What your planning certificate tells you vs what you need
Section 10.7 certificate
That's it. One binary answer.
What you actually need to know
None of this appears on the certificate.
What you can do about it
The s10.7 certificate is a starting point, not an endpoint. Five ways to get a fuller picture before you commit:
1. Get an insurance quote before you buy
Call at least two insurers with the specific address and ask for a quote including flood cover. The premium reflects the insurer's flood model — data you cannot access any other way. This is the single most informative step a buyer can take, and it costs nothing.
2. Run a flood risk check that goes beyond the binary
Tools that cross-reference multiple data sources — LEP overlays, flood study modelling, and historical event data — can show depth and frequency information the s10.7 does not include. PlotDetect's free Flood Risk Check does this for any NSW address. For the broader picture — flood, bushfire, coastal, and heat exposure combined — PlotDetect's climate risk score checks five government-mapped hazard layers in one view. It shows which hazards overlap your property — it does not predict whether damage will occur.
3. Check the SES Flood Data Portal
The NSW SES Flood Data Portal (flooddata.ses.nsw.gov.au) hosts 1% AEP and historical flood extent layers for some councils. Coverage is patchy — each council decides what to upload — but where data exists, it shows mapped flood extents rather than a yes/no flag.
4. Ask council for flood study data directly
Some councils will provide flood study information for specific properties on request, even where the full dataset is not publicly available. Ask for the 1% AEP flood level at your address and the flood planning level (FPL). Not all councils respond, but it costs nothing to ask.
5. Look beyond the flood planning area boundary
Flood planning areas are based on the 1% AEP flood plus a freeboard (usually 0.5m). Properties just outside the boundary are not necessarily flood-free — boundaries represent a modelling output with inherent uncertainty. Overland flow, stormwater flooding, and flash flooding are typically not captured in the statutory flood planning area at all.
If you're a conveyancer, a Conveyancing Planning Disclosure report consolidates LEP, SEPP, and DCP constraints — including flood overlays — into a single document. See our planning disclosure tools for conveyancers.
The insurance information gap
Insurers do not rely on s10.7 certificates or LEP flood maps. They use proprietary flood models informed by data sources that consumers cannot access. The National Flood Information Database (NFID), maintained by the Insurance Council of Australia, covers 13.7 million addresses. It is used for insurance pricing. It is not available to the public.
The information gap between insurers and buyers
What the insurer knows
- ●NFID: 13.7 million addresses mapped
- ●Proprietary flood depth models
- ●Historical claims data by address
- ●Climate projection scenarios
What the buyer gets
- ●s10.7 certificate: “Yes” or “No”
The premium you're quoted reflects everything above. The certificate you hold reflects one binary flag.
Properties in flood planning areas typically face $1,000–$5,000 higher annual premiums, with flood excess sometimes set at $10,000 or more. In severe cases, flood cover is excluded entirely. These costs are invisible until you ask for a quote — and by then, you may have already exchanged contracts.
Key figures from APRA's March 2026 Insurance Climate Vulnerability Assessment
- 1 in 7 Australian households are currently uninsured
- 1 in 4 projected to be uninsured by 2050
- NSW and QLD together account for 60% of all uninsured homes
- Annual weather losses: $7 billion (2024), projected above $16 billion by 2050
- Flood losses projected to increase by 240% by 2050
Source: APRA “Mind the Gap” Insurance Climate Vulnerability Assessment, March 2026
For a deeper look at how climate risk is repricing Australian property insurance, see our analysis of the APRA findings.
What changed in 2021 and 2023
Before 2021, most NSW councils included flood planning maps directly in their Local Environmental Plans. When you ordered a s10.7 planning certificate, the certificate referenced those maps. Two legislative changes altered this.
How NSW flood disclosure changed
Pre-2021
Flood maps in LEPs
Councils included flood planning maps directly in their LEP. Certificates referenced those maps.
Jul 2021
Maps removed from LEPs
Flood Prone Land Package replaced specific maps with generic clauses 5.21 and 5.22.
Nov 2023
EPI flood areas revoked
EPI 2023-609 revoked most remaining EPI Flood Planning Areas. The data layer went blank.
2026-27
CC&NH SEPP (proposed)
Would centralise flood provisions in one state instrument. Under consideration.
July 2021: Flood Prone Land Package
The Standard Instrument Amendment (Flood Planning) Order 2021 replaced the old map-referencing flood clauses in LEPs with generic clauses 5.21 and 5.22. Instead of pointing to a specific flood map, the new clauses reference a broader “Flood Planning Area” defined by council. The government framed this as modernisation. The practical effect: the statutory link between the LEP and a specific, publicly visible flood map was broken.
November 2023: EPI flood area revocations
The Environmental Planning Instrument (EPI) 2023-609 revoked most remaining EPI Flood Planning Areas from LEPs. The state-level EPI flood data layer — the dataset the NSW Planning Portal used to show flood status — now returns no data for many addresses where it previously showed flood information. The data was not corrected or updated. It was removed.
A s10.7 certificate issued today may show less flood information than one issued for the same property in 2019. The absence of flood data on the certificate is not evidence that the property has no flood risk. It may simply mean the data is no longer there.
Why flood data is missing from many councils
There is no single source of truth for flood risk in NSW. Flood data is fragmented across at least five systems, none of which talk to each other:
- LEP flood overlays — now partly revoked
- Council flood studies — detailed modelling, but often not publicly accessible
- SES Flood Data Portal — patchy coverage, council-controlled uploads
- State EPI flood layers — only cover a fraction of NSW councils
- Insurer flood models — private, not shared with consumers
The copyright problem nobody talks about
Many councils commissioned engineering consultants to produce flood studies. Under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), unless copyright was explicitly assigned in the contract, consultant-created works are owned by the consultant — not the council that paid for them.
The result: councils that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on flood modelling cannot legally share the spatial data with the public. Some councils have stated this explicitly when asked. The data exists. It is locked behind a copyright wall.
This is a structural problem, not an oversight. The most detailed flood information for your property may exist in a consultant's archive and never appear on any publicly available map or certificate.
Council-by-council differences
Flood data availability varies dramatically across NSW. The state-level EPI flood layer only covers a handful of councils. The rest rely on their own flood studies, which may or may not be published.
| Data situation | Example councils |
|---|---|
| Detailed flood study data publicly accessible via council GIS | Byron, Tweed, Port Macquarie-Hastings |
| Data on state EPI layer (limited) | Wollongong, Wingecarribee |
| Partial data on SES Flood Portal (may require login) | Penrith, Campbelltown |
| No publicly accessible digital flood data | Many regional LGAs, including some of the most flood-affected areas in NSW |
The irony is hard to miss. Some of the most flood-affected areas in NSW — places that have made national headlines — have the least accessible flood data for property buyers. The Hawkesbury experienced two major floods within three years (2021 and 2022), yet the state EPI layer returns nothing for most addresses in the valley.
What's coming: the CC&NH SEPP and mandatory climate reporting
The NSW Government has acknowledged the flood data transparency problem, at least in part. Two regulatory changes are in progress:
Climate Change and Natural Hazards SEPP
Exhibited between 17 February and 16 March 2026, the CC&NH SEPP will replace SEPP (Resilience & Hazards) 2021. It proposes centralising flood provisions from individual LEPs into a single state instrument, prescribing NARCliM 2.0 climate scenarios, and introducing all-hazards assessment covering flood, bushfire, coastal erosion, and urban heat. Expected to commence late 2026 or 2027.
If implemented as exhibited, this would re-establish a consistent state-level flood framework — addressing part of the fragmentation created by the 2021 and 2023 changes.
AASB S2: mandatory climate-related financial disclosures
From 2025, large Australian companies must report climate risk under AASB S2, including address-level exposure to physical hazards like flooding. Group 1 entities (revenue over $500M) are reporting now. Group 2 ($200M+) starts from mid-2026. By 2029, approximately 10,000 entities will need property-level flood data for their portfolios.
Banks are also required under APRA CPG 229 to assess address-level flood exposure across mortgage portfolios. The demand for granular flood data is growing from the institutional side, even as consumer-facing data has become harder to access.
Frequently asked questions
Does a clear s10.7 certificate mean my property has no flood risk?
No. The certificate only tells you whether LEP flood-related development controls currently apply. After the 2021 and 2023 changes, some properties with real flood exposure may show no flood controls because the underlying data layer was removed. Absence of data is not absence of risk.
Why was flood data removed from LEPs?
The Flood Prone Land Package (2021) replaced LEP-specific flood maps with generic clauses 5.21 and 5.22. The EPI 2023-609 then revoked most remaining flood planning areas. The stated purpose was to let councils update mapping without amending the LEP. The practical effect was less flood information on certificates.
Where can I find detailed flood data for my property?
The SES Flood Data Portal (flooddata.ses.nsw.gov.au) hosts flood extent layers for some councils. Your council's website may have flood study maps. For depth and frequency data, see our guide on how to check if your house is in a flood zone in NSW.
Can I rely on the s10.7 for conveyancing due diligence?
The certificate is a legal requirement, but it provides only binary flood status. Conveyancers and buyers increasingly need to go beyond the certificate — checking flood study data, insurance quotes, and overland flow exposure — to understand actual flood risk.
Will the new CC&NH SEPP fix this?
The Climate Change and Natural Hazards SEPP proposes centralising flood provisions into one state instrument. If implemented as exhibited, it would re-establish a consistent framework. But the underlying data access problem — consultant copyright over flood studies — would remain.
How does flood risk affect property insurance?
Insurers use proprietary flood models not available to consumers. Properties in flood areas typically face $1,000–$5,000 higher annual premiums. According to APRA's March 2026 assessment, 1 in 4 Australian households could be uninsurable by 2050 due to rising climate risk costs.
See what your Section 10.7 certificate does not show
PlotDetect's free Flood Risk Check shows modelled flood depth at multiple return intervals — not just the binary yes/no from the planning certificate. Enter any NSW address for instant results. No account required.
Check flood risk — free