Terms of Service

Last updated: July 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using the Council DA API ("Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Service.

2. Description of Service

Council DA provides an API that aggregates development application data from Australian councils. The Service includes access to application data, webhooks, and related documentation.

3. Account Registration

To use the Service, you must:

  • Register for an account with accurate information
  • Maintain the security of your API keys
  • Notify us immediately of any unauthorised access
  • Be at least 18 years old or have legal authority to enter contracts

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

  • Use the Service for any unlawful purpose
  • Attempt to reverse engineer or decompile the Service
  • Share API keys with third parties without authorisation
  • Exceed rate limits or attempt to circumvent usage restrictions
  • Scrape or collect data beyond your plan's allowance
  • Resell, redistribute, or sublicense the data — whether raw, modified, aggregated, or presented as derived insights — without a written commercial licence (see 6.4)
  • Make the data, or any product or service built on it, available to your own customers or any other third party without a written commercial licence

5. Subscription and Payment

5.1 Billing: Subscriptions are billed monthly or annually in advance. All fees are in Australian Dollars (AUD) and are non-refundable.

5.2 Free Tier: New accounts include ongoing free access (search, a 30-record preview per query, and 25 API calls per day) with no credit card required. Paid plans are billed immediately upon subscription.

5.3 Overage: API calls exceeding your plan limit may incur additional charges as specified in your plan details.

6. Data and Intellectual Property

6.1 Our Data: The aggregated and structured data provided through our API is our intellectual property. Your subscription grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use this data within your own organisation, for the purposes and volumes set out in your plan. Subscription plans do not include any right to redistribute (see 6.4).

6.2 Source Data: Development application data originates from publicly available council sources. We do not claim ownership of underlying government data.

6.3 Internal Use: Your subscription permits use within your own organisation — searching, analysis, reporting, and integration into internal systems and workflows used by your own staff. You may share individual results with a client where doing so is incidental to professional advice you are providing to that client. You may not provide the data to that client as a standing feed, product, or service.

6.4 Redistribution: Redistribution means making the data, or any insight, analysis, alert, report, or product derived from it, available to any person outside your organisation. This includes your own customers, whether you charge them or not, and whether it is presented under our brand, your brand, or no brand at all. Redistribution is not included in any standard subscription plan and requires a separate written commercial licence. This applies however substantially the data has been transformed, filtered, aggregated, or combined with other sources. If you are unsure whether your intended use is redistribution, contact us before you build — we would rather scope it with you early than discover it later.

6.5 Personal Information: Applicant and owner name fields are provided on a business-to-business basis only. You must not use them to contact, profile, or market to natural persons, and must not redistribute them in any form that identifies a natural person. Where a commercial licence permits redistribution, this restriction flows through to your customers and you remain responsible for their compliance with it.

7. Service Level Agreement

We target 99.9% uptime for API availability. Scheduled maintenance windows will be communicated in advance. Service credits may be available for Enterprise customers experiencing downtime beyond SLA commitments.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Council DA shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages. Our total liability is limited to the amount paid by you in the 12 months preceding the claim.

9. Disclaimer

The Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of development application data. You should verify critical information with official council sources.

10. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms. You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period.

11. Changes to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. Material changes will be notified via email or dashboard notification at least 30 days before taking effect.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. Any disputes shall be resolved in the courts of New South Wales.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at legal@council-da.com