NSW is rewriting its bushfire building rules. What it means for a rural block you are about to buy.

The listing says "build your dream home". The photos show a ridge, a view and a stand of timber behind the house site.

What the listing does not say is how close that timber is to the house site, and what that distance will cost when the building plans go in.

In New South Wales, that question has a formal answer. It is called a bushfire attack level, and the rules that set it are being rewritten.

What is changing?

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) put a full rewrite of its planning rules, draft Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2026, on public exhibition from 6 August to 3 September 2026. Exhibition has closed. The RFS says feedback will be considered in preparing the final document, and it has not announced a date.

Until the new version is published and recognised in law, Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 still applies. It has been in force since 1 March 2020.

So for a block you are buying this spring, the 2019 rules decide what you can build. The 2026 draft tells you which way they are heading.

According to the RFS's own summary of key changes, published with the draft on 6 August 2026, the proposals include:

• A firebreak around the building. The draft introduces a fuel-reduced zone immediately around a building, generally 1.5m wide or out to the property boundary. The 2019 rules have no equivalent.
• 2 fire weather areas instead of 3. The current fire danger index categories would be replaced by alpine and non-alpine. The RFS says this may change separation distances, asset protection zones and construction outcomes on some sites.
• A new middle pathway. A merit assessment pathway would sit between the standard "acceptable solutions" and a fully engineered "performance solution".
• Tighter limits on complying development. Complying development on bushfire prone land would have to use acceptable solutions only.
• New rules for rural subdivision. The draft spells out the radiant heat limit for future building footprints in residential and rural residential subdivisions: 29 kW/m², or BAL-29 or lower where grassland is the hazard.

Is the land you are buying bushfire prone?

Start here. Every NSW council prepares a bushfire prone land map, and the RFS Commissioner certifies it. The map sorts vegetation into 3 categories by risk and draws a buffer around each:

• Vegetation Category 1, the highest risk: forest, woodland, heath, forested wetland and timber plantations. Buffer of 100m.
• Vegetation Category 2, the lower risk: rainforest and smaller or managed remnants. Buffer of 30m.
• Vegetation Category 3, medium risk: grassland, freshwater wetland, semi-arid woodland, alpine complex and arid shrubland. Buffer of 30m.

If any part of a lot falls in the vegetation or the buffer, it is mapped as bushfire prone. The section 10.7 planning certificate in the contract will say so. You can also check an address on the NSW Planning Portal spatial viewer or with the RFS's own online check.

A mapped lot is not an unbuildable lot. What the map tells you is that the build will be assessed against bushfire rules, and that the result will shape the design.

What a MapCheck report shows for this. The planning certificate tells you whether a lot is bushfire prone. A MapCheck ADVANCED report shows how much of it: the RFS bushfire prone land map over your lot, the area of each vegetation category in hectares and as a share of the property, the recorded fire history from NPWS, and what the mapping means for a house, a shed or a subdivision. Start with a free preview of any NSW lot.

What is a bushfire attack level?

A bushfire attack level (BAL) measures how much ember, radiant heat and flame a building could be exposed to. It is set by the vegetation type, the slope and the distance between the building and the vegetation. Australian Standard AS 3959:2018 sets the construction requirements for each level.

There are 6 levels:

The BAL rating determines the construction and building requirements. The higher the level, the more the house has to resist, and the more its windows, decks, cladding and roof have to be specified for it.

The opportunity sits in the same numbers. BAL depends on distance, so where you put the house can change the rating. A large rural lot often has more than one place a house could go.

Can I clear trees around a house on a rural block?

Sometimes, and the rules overlap.

The RFS 10/50 rule lets owners in a designated entitlement area clear trees within 10m of a home, and other vegetation within 50m, without approval. It applies to lawfully approved homes in designated areas. A bare block with no approved house has no 10/50 entitlement yet, and the entitlement areas should be checked on the day you plan to clear.

Clearing for an asset protection zone is assessed as part of the development. Separately, native vegetation on rural land is regulated under the Local Land Services Act 2013. The 2 maps are different, and they use the word "category" in different ways: on the bushfire map, Category 1 is the highest risk; on the native vegetation map, Category 1 is exempt land.

What should a buyer check before signing?

1. The planning certificate. Is the lot mapped as bushfire prone?
2. Where the house could go. How far is each possible house site from the mapped vegetation, and on what slope?
3. The likely BAL. A bushfire consultant can assess the BAL for a proposed site. Ask what the rating would be at 2 or 3 different spots.
4. Access. Rural subdivisions and dwellings have access requirements. The draft proposes new options for shared access roads on lots of 1ha or more.
5. The vegetation rules. Whether the clearing you would need for a house is something you can actually do.

None of this replaces your conveyancer, a bushfire consultant or the council. It gives you the questions to ask them before the contract is signed, not after.

Frequently asked questions

Has Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2026 started?

No. The draft was exhibited from 6 August to 3 September 2026. Until the final version is published and recognised in law, Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 applies.

How do I find out if a property is bushfire prone in NSW?

Check the section 10.7 planning certificate, the NSW Planning Portal spatial viewer or the RFS online check. Councils prepare the maps and the RFS Commissioner certifies them.

What is BAL-29?

The fourth of 6 bushfire attack levels: high risk, particularly from embers, debris and heat. Each level carries construction requirements under AS 3959:2018.

Before you sign anything

Bushfire is one question about a rural block. A MapCheck ADVANCED report answers it alongside the others a buyer needs before the contract, for that lot, in one plain-English PDF:

• Bushfire prone land and fire history: the RFS mapping over your lot, the hectares in each vegetation category, recorded fires from NPWS, and what that means for building.
• Legal permissions: zoning, permitted uses and the native vegetation clearing categories.
• What the land is: landscape, vegetation, geology and water.
• How you can use it: land capability, dams and infrastructure.
• What it is worth: land value and tax.
• Conservation profile: the vegetation communities on the lot and whether it could host a biodiversity stewardship site.

Every NSW lot has a free preview, with no account needed. The ADVANCED report is A$1,499.

Get a free preview of your lot

Don't go in blind. Buy informed.

MapCheck provides preliminary screening information from NSW government datasets. It is not legal, planning, bushfire or financial advice. Seek independent professional advice before acting.