Decoding commercial zoning & overlays in Victoria: A practical guide for agents

Welcome to Planning 101 for Commercial Real Estate Agents, a blog series designed to equip you with essential knowledge about how town planning impacts commercial properties in Victoria. Understanding planning isn’t just a technicality; it’s a strategic tool that helps you identify opportunities, manage risks, and close deals smoothly for your clients.

Further reading in this series:

As a commercial real estate agent in Victoria, you constantly encounter terms like Commercial 1 Zone, Industrial 3 Zone, Heritage Overlay, or Design and Development Overlay. These aren’t just labels on a map; they are the fundamental building blocks of the Victorian Planning Scheme that dictate what a property can be used for and how it can be developed. But what do they actually mean in practical terms for you and your commercial property clients?

Understanding commercial zoning and overlays is essential for accurately assessing a property’s potential and limitations, providing informed advice, and avoiding unexpected planning hurdles.

The problem: Zoning and overlay confusion

Without a clear understanding of zoning and overlays, it’s difficult to confidently answer client questions about permitted uses, development potential, or potential restrictions. Misinterpreting these controls can lead to recommending unsuitable properties or underestimating the complexity of future plans.

The solution: A basic understanding of key planning controls affecting commercial properties

The Planning Scheme maps divide land into different Zones, each with specific objectives and rules about land use and development. Overlays apply in addition to the zone, adding extra requirements or restrictions for specific characteristics of the land (e.g., heritage significance, environmental sensitivity, design requirements).

Key commercial zones and what they mean (in simple terms):

  • Commercial 1 Zone (C1Z): Typically found in town centres and shopping strips. Permits a wide range of retail, commercial, residential, and other uses. Often encourages multi-storey development. This is usually the most flexible commercial zone.
  • Commercial 2 Zone (C2Z): Often located on main roads or at the edge of centres. Focuses more on showrooms, restricted retail, warehouses, and some office/commercial uses. Less focus on residential than C1Z.
  • Industrial Zones (e.g., IN1Z, IN3Z): Primarily for industrial uses, warehouses, and some limited office/commercial. Residential use is usually prohibited. Different industrial zones have slightly different purposes (e.g., IN1Z for general industry, IN3Z often for more sensitive or restricted industries).
  • Mixed Use Zone (MUZ): Allows for a mix of residential, commercial, and sometimes light industrial uses. Often found in transition areas.

Key overlays and their practical impact on commercial real estate:

  • Heritage Overlay (HO): Protects buildings and precincts of historical significance. Can severely restrict external (and sometimes internal) alterations, demolition, and new development design to ensure compatibility with heritage values.
  • Design and Development Overlay (DDO): Specifies design guidelines or mandatory requirements for new buildings and alterations (e.g., height limits, setbacks, materials, streetscape interface). Aims to achieve desired urban design outcomes.
  • Parking Overlay / Clause 52.06 (Car Parking): Specifies car parking requirements for different land uses. Can require a minimum number of spaces or set a maximum, impacting the feasibility of converting a building to a use with different parking needs.
  • Activity Centre Zone (ACZ): Applies to designated major activity centres. Often replaces standard zone rules and includes detailed precincts and mandatory requirements for development, design, and sometimes specific uses.

Understanding the interplay between a commercial property’s Zone and any Overlays is fundamental to determining its planning potential and limitations and identifying likely permit triggers. While the full Planning Scheme is complex, knowing the basics of these controls empowers you to have informed initial conversations with clients.

How AS Planning helps decode planning controls relating to commercial properties

AS Planning provides expert interpretation of Victorian commercial zoning and overlays. We can help you understand how these controls apply to a specific property, clarifying permitted uses, development considerations, and key restrictions.

Contact AS Planning for expert help decoding commercial zoning and overlays for your commercial properties and clients in Victoria. Get a quote.

Planning permit delays are killing my deals – How can I prevent this for commercial leases and sales?

Welcome to Planning 101 for Commercial Real Estate Agents, a blog series designed to equip you with essential knowledge about how town planning impacts commercial properties in Victoria. Understanding planning isn’t just a technicality; it’s a strategic tool that helps you identify opportunities, manage risks, and close deals smoothly for your clients.

Further reading in this series:

You’ve worked hard to find the right tenant or buyer for a commercial property in Victoria. Heads of agreement are signed, or the offer is on the table. Then comes the crunch: the client discovers they need a planning permit for their intended use, signage, or fit-out, and the potential for significant delays puts the entire deal at risk. How can you avoid this frustrating scenario?

Unexpected planning permit requirements are a major cause of stalled or collapsed commercial property transactions. The key to preventing these delays is proactivity.

The problem: Uncertainty and unforeseen hurdles mid-deal

When a client discovers the need for a planning permit late in the negotiation process, it introduces uncertainty regarding:

  • Timeline: How long will the permit application take? (It can be weeks or months).
  • Outcome: Will the permit actually be granted?
  • Conditions: What conditions might Council impose that affect their plans or costs?

This uncertainty makes commercial real estate clients nervous, impacts their business launch timelines, and provides grounds for renegotiation or withdrawal, often leading to lost deals for the commercial agent.

The solution: Address planning early and provide clarity

The most effective way to prevent planning delays from killing your commercial real estate deals is to address potential planning permit requirements before they become obstacles.

Strategies to prevent planning delays affecting commercial properties:

  1. Pre-listing planning check: Understand the property’s planning controls and likely permit triggers before you market it. This allows you to inform potential clients upfront about the planning pathway required for typical uses or modifications.
  2. Early planning assessment for interested parties: Once you have a seriously interested tenant or buyer with a specific proposed use or fit-out in mind, encourage them (or the landlord/vendor) to get a rapid planning assessment immediately. This confirms if a permit is needed and flags any potential issues early in the negotiation phase.
  3. Facilitate pre-application discussions: For commercial real estate proposals with potential planning complexity, connect your client with a town planner who can organise and lead a pre-application meeting with Council. Getting early Council feedback can identify concerns and help shape the proposal to increase the chances of a smooth application process later.
  4. Manage expectations: Be upfront with clients about the potential for planning requirements based on the property and their intended use. While you don’t need to be the planning expert, acknowledge that permits may be needed and recommend professional advice be sought.
  5. Partner with a planning expert: Have a trusted town planning consultant ready to assist your clients quickly when planning questions arise. Their expertise in navigating Council processes and preparing applications can significantly streamline the path to approval compared to a client trying to figure it out themselves.

By providing access to timely, expert planning advice, you turn potential planning roadblocks into manageable steps, demonstrating value to both commercial property landlords/vendors (smoother transactions) and tenants/buyers (clarity and a clearer path forward).

How AS Planning helps prevent planning related delays

AS Planning works with commercial real estate agents and their clients in Victoria to proactively identify planning permit triggers, provide rapid assessments, liaise with Council, and manage planning applications efficiently. We provide the planning clarity needed to keep your commercial leases and sales on track.

Contact AS Planning to help streamline the planning process and prevent delays for your commercial deals in Victoria. Get a quote.

Commercial property signage & fit-outs: What planning permits do my clients need?

Welcome to Planning 101 for Commercial Real Estate Agents, a blog series designed to equip you with essential knowledge about how town planning impacts commercial properties in Victoria. Understanding planning isn’t just a technicality; it’s a strategic tool that helps you identify opportunities, manage risks, and close deals smoothly for your clients.

Further reading in this series:

Beyond securing the ideal location, incoming commercial real estate tenants and buyers in Victoria need to make the space their own. This almost always involves fitting out the interior and installing visible signage. However, even these seemingly straightforward steps can require planning permits, adding unexpected time and complexity if not anticipated.

Understanding the common triggers for planning permits related to commercial property fit-outs and signage is essential for managing client expectations and ensuring a smooth transition into their new premises.

The problem: planning permit surprises for signage and works

Clients often assume that once they’ve leased or bought a commercial space, they can immediately install their branding and undertake interior fit-out works. They may not realise that specific planning rules apply, potentially triggering the need for permits that cause delays to their opening timeline.

The solution: identifying planning triggers early

Key planning permit triggers for commercial properties relate to changes that are externally visible, impact the building’s structure (in a way defined by planning), or relate to advertising.

Common planning permit triggers for commercial properties:

  1. Business Identification Signage: This is one of the most frequent triggers. Most Planning Schemes have specific rules (Clause 52.05) about the size, type (e.g., fascia signs, projecting signs, sky signs, electronic signs), location, and illumination of business signage. A planning permit is often required, particularly for:
    • New illuminated or large format signs.
    • Signs on heritage buildings or in heritage areas (Heritage Overlay).
    • Signs that exceed specific size or location limits set by the zone or an overlay.
    • Multiple signs on one building.
    • Changing signs on properties with existing signage permits where the permit specifies details of the signs.
  2. External Works or Building Alterations: While minor internal cosmetic fit-outs usually don’t need planning permits. However, planning permits are often required for:
    • Changes to the building’s façade (windows, doors, cladding).
    • Adding new external features (awnings, balconies, plant equipment visible externally).
    • Structural alterations that impact the building’s exterior form.
    • Works on heritage buildings or in areas with specific design controls (Design and Development Overlay).
  3. Intensification of Use: Sometimes, a fit-out indicates an intensification of the approved use (e.g., adding significantly more seating to a café). While the use itself might be permitted, the intensification might trigger new planning considerations like increased car parking demand.

Why permits are often needed for commercial properties

Planning permits for signage and works ensure that changes are appropriate for the building’s context, don’t negatively impact streetscape or neighbouring properties, comply with design guidelines, and respect any heritage significance.

Advising your clients upfront about potential permit requirements for their planned signage and fit-out prevents surprises and helps them factor in the necessary time for the application process.

How AS Planning can assist with signage and fit-out related permits for commercial properties

AS Planning specialises in identifying planning permit triggers for commercial property signage and fit-outs in Victoria. We can advise your clients on likely requirements, prepare the necessary planning reports, and manage the planning permit application process with Council to help them get operational smoothly.

Contact AS Planning for planning permit support for commercial signage and fit-outs in Victoria. Get a quote.

What kind of businesses can my commercial property be used for?

Welcome to Planning 101 for Commercial Real Estate Agents, a blog series designed to equip you with essential knowledge about how town planning impacts commercial properties in Victoria. Understanding planning isn’t just a technicality; it’s a strategic tool that helps you identify opportunities, manage risks, and close deals smoothly for your clients.

Further reading in this series:

A potential tenant or buyer loves your commercial real estate listing, but they need it for a specific use – perhaps converting an old office into a medical centre, a retail shop premises into a gym, or turning a vacant warehouse into a trendy food and drink premises. Their crucial question is simple: “Can I actually do that here?” Providing a clear, accurate answer quickly is key to progressing this commercial real estate deal.

The ability to use a property for a specific purpose is governed by the Victorian Planning Scheme, primarily through its zoning. Understanding ‘permitted uses’ is fundamental in commercial real estate.

The problem: Assuming a “Use” is allowed

Assuming a property’s zone allows any commercial activity is a common mistake. Zones permit specific categories of use, and even within those, some uses require a planning permit while others don’t. A proposed use that doesn’t align with the zone’s permission, or requires a permit the client isn’t prepared for, can quickly halt negotiations.

The solution: Checking ‘Permitted Use’ of a commercial property against the Planning Scheme

The definitive answer lies in consulting the Planning Scheme relevant to the property’s location.

How to check if a specific “Use” is permitted:

  1. Identify the Zone: Determine the property’s zoning. Common commercial zones include Commercial 1 (C1Z), Commercial 2 (C2Z), Mixed Use Zone (MUZ), or various Industrial Zones (IN1Z, IN3Z).
  2. Consult the Zone Provisions: Go to the specific zone in the relevant Planning Scheme document. Within the zone’s table of uses, find the proposed use type (e.g., ‘Medical Centre’, ‘Food and Drink Premises’, ‘Office’).
  3. Understand the Permission Status: The table will indicate one of the following statuses for that use in that zone:
    • ‘Section 1 – Permit Not Required’: The use is allowed ‘as of right’, provided it meets any specified conditions. Great news!
    • ‘Section 2 – Permit Required’: The use is allowable, but requires a planning permit from the Council. This adds time and cost, which the client needs to know upfront.
    • ‘Section 3 – Prohibited’: The use is not allowed in this zone under any circumstances. This property won’t work for your client’s intended use.
  4. Check Overlays: Review any overlays affecting the property. Some overlays can add further restrictions or requirements for certain uses, even if the zone initially permits it.

Example: Food and Drink Premises to Medical Centre Conversion

Converting an existing food and drink premises (which might be permitted ‘as of right’ in a C1Z) to a Medical Centre (which might require a permit in the same zone) requires a ‘Change of Use’ permit application. The Council will assess the proposal based on planning considerations like car parking availability, traffic impacts, amenity to neighbours, and compatibility with the surrounding area.

Providing your client with a clear answer – whether their proposed use is permitted ‘as of right’, requires a permit, or is prohibited – based on a planning assessment, manages expectations and facilitates informed decisions.

How AS Planning can clarify permitted commercial property “Uses”

AS Planning provides expert advice on permitted uses for commercial properties in Victoria. We analyse zoning and overlays to determine if a specific use is allowed ‘as of right’, requires a planning permit, or is prohibited, helping you advise your commercial real estate clients accurately.

Contact AS Planning for clarity on permitted uses for your commercial real estate listings or for your clients’ business needs in Victoria. Request a quote.

What planning checks should I do before listing a commercial property in Victoria?

What planning checks should I do before listing a commercial property in Victoria? Image of a real estate agent with clipboard, infront of a vacant shop front.

Welcome to Planning 101 for Commercial Real Estate Agents, a blog series designed to equip you with essential knowledge about how town planning impacts commercial properties in Victoria. Understanding planning isn’t just a technicality; it’s a strategic tool that helps you identify opportunities, manage risks, and close deals smoothly for your clients.

Further reading in this series:

You’ve landed a new commercial listing in Victoria – congratulations! You’re ready to hit the market analysis, and prepare your marketing campaign. But before the sign goes up, there’s a critical step that can save you headaches down the line and even strengthen your pitch: conducting preliminary planning checks.

Ignoring planning upfront can lead to surprises for potential buyers or tenants, causing delays or deal collapse. Being proactive demonstrates expertise and provides clarity.

Planning permission unknowns can kill commercial real estate deals

Commercial tenants and buyers need to know if a property is suitable for their specific business needs. Their key questions often relate to how they can legally use the space and make necessary changes. If you or the vendor/landlord can’t answer these questions quickly and confidently, uncertainty creeps in. This is especially true for:

  • Businesses needing a different use than the current one (e.g., a retail space wanting to become a gym).
  • Clients with specific fit-out requirements.
  • Businesses that need prominent signage.

Do your planning due diligence before listing your commercial property

Conducting key planning checks before you list, allows you to identify potential issues early and proactively arm yourself (and your marketing materials) with accurate information. This isn’t about getting permits, it is about understanding the property’s planning potential and limitations.

Key planning checks for commercial real estate agents:

Here are the essential planning points to investigate for commercial listing in Victoria:

  1. Verify the Zoning: What is the current zone of the property (e.g., Commercial 1 Zone, Industrial 3 Zone)? This is the most fundamental step, dictating the primary types of uses and development permitted. The Planning Scheme maps and associated zone will clearly state this.
  2. Identify Relevant Overlays: Does the property have any overlays (e.g., Heritage Overlay, Design and Development Overlay, Parking Overlay, Activity Centre Overlay)? Overlays add specific requirements or restrictions that layer on top of the zone rules and are crucial to understand.
  3. Check “Permitted Uses”: Based on the zoning and overlays, what uses are allowed ‘as of right’ (no planning permit needed), and which require a planning permit? This is vital for advising potential clients on whether their business type is permissible.
  4. Flag Common Permit Triggers: Be aware of typical activities that may require a permit in commercial settings:
    • Changing the Use (if the new use isn’t ‘as of right’).
    • Installing new Business Identification Signage (size, illumination, location restrictions apply).
    • Undertaking significant External Works or Building Alterations.
    • Seeking a Reduction in Car Parking Requirements.
    • Activities related to Liquor Licensing or Extended Trading Hours (the use and hours often need planning approval before a Liquor Licence is granted).
  5. Assess Permit History (if possible): Has the property had recent planning permits issued? Were there any conditions attached that might impact future use or development? Were there any retrospective permits issued (which could indicate past compliance issues)?

Understanding these points allows you to anticipate commercial property buyer/tenant questions and discuss the property’s planning context with confidence.

Need planning advice or due diligence check before listing a commercial property?

AS Planning specialises in providing clear, rapid preliminary planning checks for commercial properties in Victoria. We can quickly verify zoning, identify overlays, clarify permitted uses, and flag likely permit triggers, equipping you with the essential planning information you need before you list. Request a quote.