The purpose of a subdivision is to divide a Title into two or more new Titles, corresponding to pieces of land that the owners can then build on or borrow against. The subdivision process therefore has Local and State Government components. The Local Government components are related to planning and referring to the service authorities, while the State Government component is concerned with how the new Titles are registered at Land Use Victoria.
Following the submission of the application for a subdivision permit to Council, the Plan of Subdivision is referred to the service authorities for feedback. Upon Council receiving that feedback it may then issue a subdivision permit, with conditions, in a period of approximately 60 days. These conditions must be complied with for Council to issue a Statement of Compliance which is needed by Land Use Victoria to issue new Certificates of Title.
All subdivisions are required to be based upon survey, however our role at Digital Land Surveys is not limited to marking and establishing the boundaries of the current Title and producing a Preliminary Plan of Subdivision for presales of the land. Our role in subdivisions also involves advising our clients of the various stipulations of the authorities; making the application to Council for a subdivision permit on behalf of our clients; providing the Abstract of Field Records and Surveyor’s Report required by Land Use Victoria; presenting a Form 13 under the Subdivision Act 1988 to Council to testify that the boundaries have been marked; as well as defining the roads and lot boundaries of the proposed subdivision.
Receiving Statement of Compliance from Council for a subdivision can often be a lengthy process due to conditions of the subdivision permit, however at Digital Land Surveys we pride ourselves on helping our clients navigate the technical requirements of their permit. For more information about subdivisions please call (03) 9855 2727 or email us.
Boundary Re-Alignment Subdivisions
There are two types of boundary re-alignment that we help our clients with at Digital Land Surveys, a standard boundary re-alignment and a NICO Subdivision. Both types of boundary re-alignment follow the same procedures as a normal subdivision.
A standard boundary re-alignment only involves the one party which owns two Certificates of Title with a common boundary and seeks to redefine that boundary. This re-alignment is at the owner’s discretion as long as it does not create a substandard piece of land according to the Local Planning Scheme. A NICO (Not In Common Ownership) Subdivision is an agreement between two parties to realign a common boundary. In a NICO subdivision the two parties must agree upon the new boundary line and the new boundary cannot compromise the existing site services or affect ownership.
These types of subdivision are now processed under the VicSmart system, which means that Council has 10 days to issue a Planning Permit. Our aim at Digital Land Surveys is to aid our clients in achieving Statement of Compliance for their boundary re-alignment subdivision, which can only be reached with the consent of the referred service authorities. As with standard subdivisions, Statement of Compliance can then be registered at Land Use Victoria to receive the new Certificates of Title.