If you’re about to list your property for sale it’s a great idea to check the Brisbane City Council info on your area, and ensure your agent understands what townplanning issues might affect you. Agents don’t usually have the skill set to give full planning advice but a quick check of BCC records is a must.

Long gone are the days of queuing up at a Council office to get a look at cryptic documents. The interactive website is a terrific resource and simple to navigate. There is still a lot of info that’s complex and long-winded and if your property has redevelopment potential especially then we’d recommend you have a townplanner prepare a pre-marketing report. But for a basic understanding of your area’s zoning and constraints the Property Enquiry tool is a 3 or 4 click process.

Many property owners aren’t aware what can and can’t be built in their neighbourhood and the interactive mapping tool allows you to use layers of zonings etc to see how the surrounding areas are going to evolve over the next few years – or at least how Council believes they should. We think this is the sort of info a buyer is likely to want to know, and if it helps add value to your sale then your agent should be on top of it.

By the way the site’s a great place to check on that local development application for new apartments, shops etc. Floorplans, illustrations, details on street and footpath impacts and plenty more will all be included and you can quietly study the info before deciding how you feel about its impact.

In our experience most property owners too often leave townplanning to the planners. Often the concerns about new development in our suburbs are ill-informed but the info is there and easy to access for everyone. A better understanding of the issues, especially by real estate agents, would be a good place to start.