Balwyn at a glance
A tree rule that covers digging
Boroondara's local law treats a tree with a trunk 110 cm or more around at 1.4 m (or 150 cm at ground level) as a canopy tree. Removing it, or trenching or digging less than 2 metres from its trunk, needs a permit.
Many homes owned outright
At the 2021 Census, 42.2% of the suburb of Balwyn's occupied homes were owned outright, against 32.2% across Victoria. 58.5% were separate houses, 26.0% townhouses, terraces or semis and 15.1% flats or apartments.
The pipe under the footpath is yours
Boroondara says your drains and underground pipes, including any under the footpath, are yours up to the legal point of discharge, where stormwater enters its network.
Yarra Valley Water for water and sewer
Balwyn is on Yarra Valley Water's supply list. Where its sewer responsibility ends depends on the property, so ask Yarra Valley Water before paying for a dig near the boundary.
Roots in the outlet: Council's or yours?
Boroondara clears its own blocked drains and maintains Council-owned easement drains on private land. It also repairs a damaged outlet pipe when one of its assets, such as a nature strip tree, caused the damage. For a private drain that's blocked, leaking, smelly or foaming, it points you to a plumber.
So if roots keep coming into the stormwater outlet near the street, have a plumber run a camera through first. Footage that shows where the roots get in helps when you raise it with Council. Our CCTV drain inspection page explains what you get.
The stormwater rules cut both ways. Groundwater and wastewater can't go into Boroondara's drains; sinks, showers, toilets and laundries belong on the sewer.
Sewer plans before a trench
Yarra Valley Water sells plans that show where a property's internal private sewer pipes run, and the depth and boundary offset of its own sewer. If a line needs replacing or relining, a plan takes the guesswork out of where it goes.
Yarra Valley Water says it won't reimburse internal pipe repairs, and if a blockage is your responsibility you arrange and pay the plumber. If the fix needs a trench near a canopy tree, apply for Boroondara's permit first. Its appeal guidance even lists a licensed plumber's report as supporting evidence.
Other Balwyn jobs
What we would do
Measure any big tree near the problem pipe before booking: a tape around the trunk at 1.4 m tells you whether Boroondara's canopy tree rule is in play. Then ask for a camera inspection instead of a straight dig. Where roots are the cause, relining can sometimes avoid a trench; where a dig can't be avoided, get the permit in hand first and have the drain specialist work around it.