The reserving section in each place
| Place | Act and section | Reserved work | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Surveying and Spatial Information Act 2002, s 21 | A land survey for fee or reward, and advertising one | 50 penalty units |
| South Australia | Survey Act 1992, s 15 | A cadastral survey for fee or reward | Division 5 fine |
| Tasmania | Surveyors Act 2002, s 16(2) | Surveying land | 200 penalty units |
| ACT | Surveyors Act 2007, s 49 | Carrying out a survey | 50 penalty units, 6 months’ imprisonment, or both |
| Northern Territory | Licensed Surveyors Act 1983, s 48(1) | Surveying land boundaries for fee or reward | 500 penalty units |
A land survey for fee or reward
Under s 21(1), a person must not “(a) carry out a land survey for fee or reward, or (b) advertise that he or she is willing to carry out a land survey for fee or reward, unless the person is a registered land surveyor.” Students of surveying and surveyors’ assistants under a registered land surveyor’s general supervision, and anyone else under one’s immediate supervision, fall outside paragraph (a) (s 21(3)). Section 21(2) keeps room for survey drafters preparing, or advertising to prepare, survey plans for a registered land surveyor, and s 22A for a firm whose land surveys for fee or reward are carried out only by a registered land surveyor, a student or surveyor’s assistant under one’s general supervision, or another person under one’s immediate supervision.
A “land survey” is a survey, other than a mining survey, carried out in connection with any of five things: the reservation or dedication of land; the creation, variation, transfer or extinguishment of an interest in land; a plan to be lodged under Division 3 of Part 23 of the Conveyancing Act 1919; documents the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 requires a registered land surveyor to prepare; or “the identification or marking out, or both, of the boundaries of a parcel of land” (s 3). The version read is current from 20 August 2024.
A cadastral survey, including by photogrammetry
Section 4 defines the work: “cadastral survey means any process of determining the boundaries of land by the measurement of distances and angles (including measurement by means of an electronic device) or by photogrammetry”. Section 15 reads in full: “A person must not carry out a cadastral survey for fee or reward unless (a) he or she is a licensed surveyor; or (b) he or she is acting under the supervision of a licensed surveyor; or (ba) the survey is carried out through the instrumentality of a licensed surveyor or a person acting under the supervision of a licensed surveyor; or (c) the survey is carried out as part of a course of training approved by the Institution of Surveyors.” So in South Australia, determining boundaries by photogrammetry, for fee or reward, is work that s 15 reserves.
Section 14 reserves placing a survey mark in the same way, to a licensed surveyor, a person under one’s supervision, or a survey on an approved training course. Both offences carry a Division 5 fine; the Act’s appendix, “provided for convenience of reference only”, shows that as $8,000 at the date of publication of the version dated 1 January 2021.
Surveying land, and deciding where improvements sit
All four subsections of s 16 of the Surveyors Act 2002:
- (1) “A person who is not a registered land surveyor must not carry on business or hold himself or herself out as a land surveyor or registered land surveyor.”: up to 200 penalty units, plus up to 5 penalty units a day while the offence continues after conviction;
- (2) “A person who is not a registered land surveyor, or acting under the supervision of a registered land surveyor, must not survey land.”: up to 200 penalty units (amended by No. 4 of 2024, applied 5 July 2024);
- (3) “A person who is not a registered land surveyor must not give a certificate that under any law is required to be given by a registered land surveyor.”: up to 200 penalty units;
- (4) “In this section, survey includes deciding, for fee or reward, whether improvements are, or are not, within the boundaries of any land.”
Section 20 leaves room for other surveying work: a person not registered as a surveyor may practise as a surveyor “otherwise than as a land surveyor”, so long as they do not hold themselves out as registered.
Five kinds of survey, reserved to surveyors
Under s 49, it is an offence to carry out a survey while not a surveyor and not supervised by one. The maximum is 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months, or both. At the Act’s republication date, an ACT penalty unit was $160 for an individual and $810 for a corporation; the republication read is No 13, effective 22 May 2026.
The Act’s dictionary limits “survey” to five purposes, all listed here: defining, redefining or marking the boundaries of land that is divided, or will be divided, under the Districts Act 2002, of public unleased land or a public road, of land in which an interest has been or is to be created, or of land to be resumed under a Territory or Commonwealth law; and deciding whether improvements are within the boundaries of any land.
Land boundaries, for fee or reward
Section 48(1): “A person other than a licensed surveyor or a person employed under the supervision of a licensed surveyor shall not, for fee or reward, survey land boundaries in the Territory.” The maximum is 500 penalty units, the same as for giving a certificate reserved to a licensed surveyor (s 48(2)) or using the title (s 48(3)). A corporation may still provide boundary surveys, and services incidental to them, through an officer or employee who is a licensed surveyor, and may use a name or description implying it is licensed while it does so (s 48(4)).
A “survey” is “a measurement or delimitation of land boundaries” authorised or required under an Act dealing with Crown land or affecting titles to land; by the Crown or by the proprietor, lessee or mortgagee of the land, or a prospective one; or in connection with dedicating, reserving, resuming or disposing of land under an Act, and it “includes all matters incidental to or consequent upon such measurement or delimitation” (s 4). The Act read is as in force at 13 September 2025.
Where this guide stops
This guide does not cover Victoria, Queensland or Western Australia. The flight side of a survey starts with the standard operating conditions, and the approvals a survey flight most often needs are in beyond visual line of sight and flying near airports.