New Build Covenant Landscape Plans Explained (2026 Guide)

If you've recently settled into a new build at Aura, Olivine, Aspire, Lakelands, Springfield, Caboolture or any other master-planned community in Australia, you're probably staring at one of two things right now: a stack of paperwork mentioning landscape covenants, or bare dirt where a garden should be (or both).

This guide explains what a covenant landscape plan actually is, what your developer is asking for, what your real options are, and where the genuine value sits. Written from inside the design industry — not the developer's perspective.

Two opinions up front because they shape what follows:

1. I've stopped recommending the $375-$395 DA-compliance route to anyone who actually lives in the house. The math doesn't work. You pay $395 for a tick-box plan that satisfies the covenant with the developer's default species (typically Lomandra 'Tanika', Westringia 'Mundi', Dianella 'Cassa Blue', Carpobrotus, Ficinia nodosa, Liriope 'Stripey White' — same six plants, every estate, every state). Six months in, you realise you don't actually like the look. You then commission a $700-$1,200 "real" plan to replace it. Total: $1,100-$1,600 for two plans, plus the cost of replanting. A single $690-$1,200 credentialed plan delivers compliance AND a garden you'll keep — for less total spend.
2. The compliance teams aren't trying to catch you out. Stockland Compliance, Mirvac's Community Experience teams, Villawood and Peet — every team I've dealt with through clients wants compliance, not enforcement. They send reminders before they send breach notices. The buyers who get into trouble are the ones who go silent for 90 days, not the ones who email "I've engaged a designer, plan to install by X date."

What is a covenant landscape plan?

A covenant is a contractual obligation attached to your land title. When you bought into the estate, you agreed to a set of design and behaviour standards intended to maintain the look and feel of the community. Almost every Australian master-planned estate has one. The landscape clause typically requires you to:

• Complete landscaping (front yard at minimum, sometimes back yard) within a defined deadline post-handover
• Use species from an approved list (often natives + drought-tolerant + certain ornamentals)
• Meet front-yard standards (no bare dirt visible from street, screening of bin areas, defined turf percentage, etc.)
• Avoid prohibited species (often invasive plants, sometimes specific palms or conifers)
• Maintain the landscape going forward (not let it die or go to weeds)

The "plan" the developer wants from you is a document that demonstrates your intended landscaping meets these standards. It's usually a planting plan with species labelled, sometimes a basic layout sketch, and (less commonly) a hardscape plan if you're also installing paths or paved areas.

Estate-by-estate: what major AU developers actually require

Specifics vary by community and release — always check your individual covenant deed and the design guidelines on your developer's portal — but here's the general shape across the major AU developers in 2026.

How to find your specific requirements

1. Your settlement pack from the developer. When you settled, you received a folder (digital or physical) with your covenant deed, design guidelines, and often a buyer welcome guide. The landscape requirements are in here — specifically in a document called something like "Design Essentials," "Design Guidelines," "Restrictive Covenants" or "Buyer Information."
2. Your developer's resident portal. Stockland, Mirvac, Villawood, Peet all maintain online portals where current owners can download the latest version of design guidelines.
3. Your conveyancing solicitor. If you can't find the documents, your solicitor's settlement file will have a copy. Ask them to forward.
4. Your sales contact. The developer's sales rep at your community can email you the current guidelines. They'd much rather you ask than you submit a non-compliant plan.

What happens if you miss the deadline?

The most common outcome is nothing dramatic — most owners finish landscaping eventually, just later than the deadline. But here's the escalation path if you ignore it entirely:

1. Friendly reminder letter from the developer's compliance team (typically 30-60 days past deadline). This is normally where it ends — owners get the prompt and act.
2. Formal breach notice (typically 90+ days past deadline). At this point you're in formal breach of the covenant deed, which is a contractual matter.
3. Developer rectification — in serious cases, the developer can install landscaping themselves and bill you for it. Costs typically $5,000-$15,000 because they price it as a forced-rectification job, not a competitive quote. The covenant deed gives them the right to do this without further consent.
4. Legal remedy — extremely rare for individual lots, but the developer can pursue court orders or sale-restriction notices on your title. Reserved for genuine non-engagement, not for buyers who are trying to comply.

The cost of the cheap-plan trap

Faced with a covenant deadline, the natural reflex is to find the cheapest plan that satisfies the requirement. There are services that will produce a $200-$400 DA-style compliance plan in 2-5 days. They're functional. They tick the box.

The problem: they don't deliver a garden you'll want to live with. The species list is selected from the approved list with no consideration of your style preferences, microclimate, or what you actually find beautiful. Lomandra hedges. Coastal Rosemary blocks of three. Carpobrotus everywhere because it's drought-tolerant and on every approved list.

Six months in, after you've planted the council-approved scheme, you'll either rip it out and start again (paying for plants twice, plus labour) or live with a garden that looks the same as everyone else's on the street.

The math:

• Path 1 (compliance-only): $395 plan + $700-$1,200 second plan later when you want it to look good = $1,100-$1,600 total + the cost of replanting
• Path 2 (compliance + beautiful in one plan): $690-$1,200 from a credentialed remote service that designs to your covenant AND your style = $690-$1,200 total, no rework

For 90% of new-build owner-occupiers, Path 2 is cheaper, faster, and delivers a result you'll keep. The compliance-only band only makes sense for investment properties where the box-tick is the entire goal.

The 8 things I check on every covenant intake

This is the actual workflow when a covenant document arrives at intake. Useful to know what a real designer is doing — and what cheap services skip.

1. Approved species list — exact botanical names with cultivars where specified. Stockland Aura's Design Essentials list typically runs 60-80 species; Mirvac Olivine's runs longer with more Mediterranean lean. I cross-reference every candidate species against the document's allowed list. If the developer says "Westringia" without specifying cultivar, I default to 'Mundi' (their typical preference based on what they plant in common areas) but flag it for your sign-off.
2. Prohibited / undesirable species list. Most covenants explicitly prohibit Cocos Palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana), Cootamundra Wattle (Acacia baileyana), Camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), seed-setting Agapanthus cultivars, and a few others. A surprising number of cheap plans miss this and specify a banned species — instant compliance fail.
3. Front-yard turf percentage. Most estates require 30-50% of the front yard to be lawn (deliberate aesthetic — keeps the estate from looking like a row of mulched beds). I measure your front-yard area against the spec. Buffalo, Couch, Kikuyu or Zoysia depending on your climate and water situation.
4. Minimum tree count. Typically 1 canopy tree per 100m² of front yard, with minimum mature size specified (often 4-6m height). Easy to overlook. Frequent fail mode: buyer plants three Lilly Pillies and calls it done — Lilly Pilly's a shrub, not a canopy tree per most covenants.
5. Screening of service zones. Bin storage, hot water service, AC condenser, gas meter, NBN box — most covenants require visual screening from the street. Specific spec varies (some need 1.8m solid screening, some allow plant-based, some require both).
6. Mature size + spacing compliance. Some estates spec maximum mature size for front-yard plants (to keep sight-lines from neighbouring properties). I check every species's mature dimensions against the limit before specifying.
7. Plant-supply availability. The species list might allow Banksia 'Honey Pots' but if it's not in stock at any wholesale catalogue (Plantmark, Speciality Trees, regional indigenous nurseries) you'll hit a 4-8 week sourcing delay. I check current availability before finalising the schedule.
8. Plan submission format. Stockland generally accepts a PDF planting plan via email; Mirvac Olivine has a specific submission form on the resident portal; some Villawood communities want hardcopy. I deliver the plan in the format your specific community accepts and include the developer's required header info (lot number, owner name, design date) to streamline approval.

What a "good" covenant landscape plan actually contains

The realistic timeline (don't panic)

If your deadline is 4-6 months away, you have plenty of time. Here's a realistic working timeline for getting a quality covenant-compliant plan in and installed:

• Week 1: Download your Design Guidelines + take photos of your dirt-yard + measure rough bed dimensions
• Week 2: Engage a remote planting designer (intake form takes ~15 minutes, plan delivered in 5 business days)
• Week 3-4: Receive your plan, review, request one round of revisions if needed, finalise
• Week 4-5: Get plant-supply quotes (or buy yourself if comfortable) + landscaper installation quotes
• Week 6-10: Install — typically 1-3 days for an average front yard once plants are on site

That's a realistic 8-10 week start-to-finish for a buyer who has a 4-6 month deadline. Most who miss the deadline did so by leaving the planning until month 5.

Frequently asked questions