LMA’s - not to be underestimated!

13 April 2026

Zhengtang Precinct Loft Pty Ltd v The Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Noon [2026] SAERDC 7

This is a pivotal judgment where the ERD Court has confirmed that LMA’s are, indeed, an effective tool. To ensure that a council can oversee developments occurring in its area and can impose additional, contractual obligations on developers not otherwise available from the Planning and Design Code or the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016.

Our fulsome summary of the preceding Court of Appeal judgment in this matter can be found here.

The key facts are below:

• Zhengtang obtained a planning consent for a 53-metre-high apartment building from the SCAP;
• the subject land has an LMA registered on the title which limits building height to 25 metres within a 20% tolerance and includes numerous design criteria for future buildings;
• the LMA was registered in 2014. The ‘height limit’ in the Development Plan at the time was the same as that which exists in the Planning and Design Code. The LMA height limit is considerably lower than both;
• the Council issued an enforcement notice to prevent Zhengtang from constructing the approved building, in contravention of the LMA. The enforcement notice was appealed; and
• the ERD Court determined to, effectively, uphold the LMA. Therefore, the enforcement notice stands, and the approved building cannot be constructed.

This decision is pivotal because it sets out, for the first time, specific and detailed grounds upon which the ERD Court will consider whether an LMA should be upheld. The grounds include:

• the apparent rationale for entering the LMA, with reference to its content;
• whether the LMA conferred to a developer, any advantages to which it would not have otherwise been entitled to or which it would not have secured without delay, cost or risk;
• the legitimate contractual expectations of the Council;
• the passage of time;
• legislative changes and changes to the Planning and Design Code;
• changes in the locality;
• economic viability; and
• where an LMA applies to multiple titles, what development has occurred on those titles and whether any LMA’s have been rescinded, varied or waived.

This decision provides councils confidence that existing and future LMA’s remain a very powerful ‘tool’ in ensuring appropriate, positive, development outcomes, especially where a council has a direct interest in the development or is selling land to achieve particular development outcomes.

For any questions concerning existing LMA’s or how a new LMA can assist your council, please contact Victoria Shute on 8113 7104 or vshute@kelledyjones.com.au.