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How to find if your land is reserved for acquisition

How to check the Land Reservation Acquisition layer on the NSW Planning Portal, and what it means if your land is reserved for a future public purpose.

How to find if your land is reserved for acquisition
Shea Cullen, Registered Architect at Good ArchitectShea CullenNSW Registered Architect 9748 · Updated 6 July 2026

Some land is reserved for a future public purpose, such as a road, a school, or open space. Where that applies, the relevant authority may acquire the land, and the reservation affects what you can do in the meantime. These simple steps show how to check the land reservation status of land in NSW on the Planning Portal.

Use the free land reservation checker below to see whether your address is reserved for acquisition in seconds, or follow the step by step guide to check it yourself on the NSW Planning Portal.

Check if your land is reserved for acquisition

Type your address to see the land reservation (acquisition) the NSW Planning Portal records for your property.

What a land reservation means

A reservation signals that an authority intends the land for a public purpose. It can limit development and, in some cases, give you a right to require the authority to acquire the affected land. The detail matters, so treat a reservation as a prompt to get advice early.

How to find it

  1. Open the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer.
  2. Search for your address.
  3. Turn on the Land Reservation Acquisition layer under the planning controls.
  4. Read whether any reservation applies to your lot.

If nothing is shown, your land is not reserved for acquisition under the planning instrument.

More site checks: find your zoning, find your land value and site area, or work through the full site feasibility guide.

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