Act · 2022 Revised Edition · 7 parts
Town and Country Planning Act
Planning of areas and control of development in themIn plain English
Not legal adviceThe Town and Country Planning Act deals with the planning of areas in Brunei Darussalam and controls development in development control areas. The minister may, by a notice published in the gazette, exempt any land from all or any part of the Act, either generally or for a set period. A person who disputes the seizure or sale of their property, crops or land under the Act may ask a court to put the proceedings on hold.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Part
Preliminary
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
s 1Citation
This Act may be cited as the Town and Country Planning Act.
s 2Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“amendment”, in relation to the Master Plan, the District Plan or the
Local Plan, includes any alteration or addition to or any repeal or replacement of the Master Plan, the District Plan or the Local Plan in whole or in part;
“breach of planning control” means —
the carrying out of any development of land without the requisite planning permission;
the carrying out of works in a conservation area without the requisite conservation permission; or
any failure to comply with any condition subject to which planning permission or conservation permission was granted;
“building” includes any house, hut, shed or roofed enclosure (whether used for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise) and also any wall, fence, platform, staging, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage or bridge, or any structure or foundation connected to the foregoing;
“committee” means the committee appointed under section 7;
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“conservation” means the preservation, enhancement or restoration of —
the character or appearance of; and
the interior and exterior of any building in, a conservation area;
“conservation area” means an area designated by the Minister in accordance with sections 5, 17 and 20;
“conservation permission” means permission referred to in section 23(4);
“consolidation permission” means permission referred to in section 23(3);
“development plans” means the Master Plan, the District Plans and the
Local Plans;
“District Plan” means a land use plan for each of the administrative districts;
“enforcement notice” means a notice served under section 36;
“functions” includes powers and duties;
“information notice” has the meaning assigned to it in section 33;
“land” includes buildings, land covered by water and any estate or interest in or right over land;
“Local Plan” means a land use plan prepared for a locality;
“lot” means any piece of land entered in the Register kept under section 7 of the Land Code (Chapter 40) under a single document of title;
“Master Plan” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9;
“Minister” means the Minister responsible for town and country planning;
“occupier” includes any person in actual occupation of land or premises or any person having the charge, management or control of the land or premises either on his own account or as an agent of another person, but does not include a lodger;
Town and Country Planning
“owner”, in relation to land or premises, means —
the owner as shown in the Register kept under section 7 of the Land Code (Chapter 40) or his legally appointed representative;
the person for the time being receiving the rent of the land or premises whether on his own account or as trustee for any other person or as receiver (not being appointed by or on behalf of a mortgagee) or the person who would receive the rent if the land or premises were let to a tenant and includes —
a mortgagee in possession; and
the purchaser of a newly constructed premises or part thereof in respect of which a temporary occupation permit or a certificate of statutory completion has been granted;
“planning area” means any area designated by the Planning Authority under section 8(1);
“Planning Authority”, in relation to this Act or any Part or provision of this Act, means the person or persons appointed under section 6(1) to be responsible for the operation of this Act or that Part or provision;
“planning permission” means permission referred to in section 23(2);
“public purpose” means any land needed for the purposes of carrying out the land provisions of an approved development plan and such land is deemed to be land for a public purpose as provided in section 3(1) of the Land Acquisition Act (Chapter 41);
“repealed Act” means the repealed Town and Country Planning
(Development Control) Act (Chapter 143);
“street” includes any road, square, footway or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public has a right of way, and also the way over any public bridge, and includes also any road, footway or passage, open court or open alley, used or intended to be used as a means of access to 2 or more holdings, whether the public has a right of way thereover or not; and all channels, drains and ditches at the side of any street are deemed to be part of that street;
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“subdivision agreement” means any agreement whereby any person is given —
a right, whether vested or contingent, to acquire, lease or obtain possession of any lot or piece of land, whether immediately or on the fulfilment of any condition or on the happening of any event or after the lapse of any period of time or on the exercise of any option or on payment of any sum whether by instalments or otherwise; or
a right to erect a building on any portion of a property belonging to some other person;
“subdivision permission”
means permission referred to in section 23(3);
“temporary occupation permit” means a temporary occupation permit granted under any written law;
“use”, in relation to land, does not include the use of land by the carrying out of any building or other operations on the land;
“written permission” means a planning permission, subdivision permission, consolidation permission or conservation permission as the case may be, granted by the Planning Authority and includes any such permission granted or issued by electronic transmission or in a medium other than paper and authenticated in such manner as the
Planning Authority may determine;
“written statement”, in relation to the Master Plan, the District Plan or the Local Plan, means that part of the Master Plan, the District Plan or the Local Plan, which includes a summary of the main proposals of the
Master Plan, the District Plan or the Local Plan, with such descriptive matter as the Planning Authority considers necessary to illustrate the proposals of the Master Plan, the District Plan or the Local Plan, or as the Minister may, direct for that purpose.
Subject to subsection (2), in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “development” means the carrying out of any building, engineering, mining, earthworks or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any building or land.
Town and Country Planning
The following operations or uses of land are not deemed for the purposes of this Act to involve development of land —
the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of a building which do not materially affect the external appearance and do not increase the floor area;
the carrying out by the Government, a Municipal Board or a statutory authority of any works required for maintenance or improvement of a road where such works are on land within the road boundaries;
the carrying out by the Government, a Municipal Board or a statutory authority of any works for the purpose of laying, inspecting, repairing, or renewing any sewers, mains, pipes, cables or other apparatus including the breaking open of any road or other land for that purpose;
the use of any existing building or land within the cartilage of a dwelling-house for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment thereof;
the use of any land and associated buildings for the purpose of agriculture or forestry;
the general development orders as prescribed by the Planning
Authority; and
any other class of development which the Minister may, by notification published in the Gazette.
Subject to this section, in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “subdivision” means the division of any land or piece of state land —
for the purpose of creating separate documents of title for all or any portion of such lot or land;
for the purpose of parting with possessing or disposing of any portion thereof, either by way of lease, sale, gift or exchange or for the erection of a building or structure thereon;
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on the application to the officer in charge of the Land Office under section 21 of the Land Code (Chapter 40) for the partitioning of land, and includes any subdivision agreement for the purpose mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).
Subject to this section, in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “consolidation” means the consolidation in one document of title of two or more existing documents of title, which relate to contiguous land areas.
Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), the lease of any portion of a building for a use approved under section 24 or by a Municipal Board is not deemed to be subdivision or consolidation.
Where in the opinion of the Minister any area is of special architectural, historic, traditional or aesthetic interest, the Minister may designate the area as a conservation area.
A conservation area may comprise —
an area;
a single building; or
a group of buildings.
The limits of any area established as a conservation area under subsection (1) may be altered by the Minister by notification published in the
Gazette and the notification may also provide for the area to cease to be a conservation area.
Part
Administration
Part
Development Plans
Part
Planning, Subdivision, Consolidation and Conservation of Land
Part
Enforcement
Part
Recovery of Moneys
Part