Burial on Private Land in Tasmania: Rules, Approvals, and What Rural Families Need to Know

In Tasmania, burying a loved one on private land is legal — but it requires navigating a three-step government approval process that takes time, involves environmental testing, and creates permanent encumbrances on the property title. Families considering a home burial or natural burial on a farm need to start this process before death occurs, not after. The clock starts the moment a person dies, and the public health requirements do not pause while approval is being sought.

Here is how the process works, what can stop it, and what families need to know before they commit to this option.

What the Law Actually Allows

Under the Burial and Cremation Act 2019 and its accompanying Burial and Cremation Regulations 2025, private burials outside of a registered cemetery are permitted on rural land only. Urban allotments — residential properties within township boundaries — are strictly prohibited.

The Act also allows for natural burial, meaning burial in a shroud without an embalmed body and without a formal coffin. Tasmania's regulations accommodate this. There is no legal requirement for embalming for a standard ground burial (the exception being above-ground vaults or mausoleums, which do require arterial embalming).

What is not permitted under any circumstances: burying human remains without having first obtained formal approval from both the local Council and the Director of Public Health.

The Three-Step Approval Process

Step 1: Obtain written landowner consent. This sounds simple but matters legally. If the land is held jointly, all legal landowners must consent in writing. If the property is mortgaged, the lender may also need to be informed, since burial on a title can affect property value and lending security.

Step 2: Apply to the local Council. The application is submitted to the General Manager of the relevant municipal council. It must include a topographic plan of the proposed burial site showing the grave's exact location, distance from any watercourses, existing structures, and property boundaries.

The Council's Environmental Health Officer (EHO) will conduct a site inspection. This inspection includes requiring the family to dig a test hole — typically 1 to 1.5 metres deep — at the proposed burial site. The EHO assesses:

• Whether the water table is low enough that decomposition fluids will not contaminate groundwater
• Soil profile and drainage characteristics
• Minimum setback distances from any waterways, bores, or buildings

If the EHO is satisfied, the Council issues a written assessment and forwards the application to the next stage.

Step 3: Director of Public Health approval. The Council's assessment is sent to the Director of Public Health, who provides the final state-level authorisation. Both the Council and the Director must approve the application for the burial to proceed legally.

Why Timing Is Critical

When someone is dying at home or in a hospice, the instinct is to wait until death occurs before initiating the private burial application. In Tasmania, this creates a serious problem.

Bodies cannot be kept unrefrigerated indefinitely. The Burial and Cremation Regulations 2025 require the ambient temperature of remains to be maintained at 5 degrees Celsius or lower if the family is caring for the body at home. While families can use cooling beds, dry ice, or domestic refrigeration to meet this requirement for three to five days in some circumstances, the Council approval and Public Health sign-off process is not guaranteed to be completed in that timeframe.

The practical recommendation from anyone experienced with this process: begin the Council application well before death, ideally while the person is still alive. Councils receive very few private burial applications and are not equipped to fast-track them. Advance preparation is the only way to ensure the approval exists before it is urgently needed.

What Cannot Be Undone: Title and Access Issues

Burying a family member on private land creates a permanent legal situation. Once human remains are interred on a property, removing them requires a formal exhumation permit — a significant bureaucratic undertaking. If the property is later sold, there is no automatic guarantee that the new owner will allow the family ongoing access to the grave.

Families proceeding with private burial are strongly advised to:

• Take independent legal advice on registering a covenant or access easement on the property title before or at the time of burial
• Ensure any right of access to the grave is documented and attached to the title
• Understand that a future owner can apply to have remains relocated, though the process is heavily regulated

These are not hypothetical concerns. Farms change hands. Families separate. Properties are subdivided. Without a registered easement, the family's relationship with the burial site after a property sale depends entirely on the goodwill of whoever owns the land.

The Alternative: Green and Natural Burial in Registered Cemeteries

If the goal is a natural or eco-friendly burial without the complexity of private land approval, Tasmania has registered cemeteries that offer natural burial sections. In a natural burial section, bodies are buried in shrouds or biodegradable coffins without embalming, in land that will return to native vegetation over time. This achieves the ecological intent without the approval process, title implications, or ongoing access uncertainty.

For families who want something between a conventional cemetery burial and a fully private burial, this is worth exploring. Contact the relevant local council cemetery authority for current availability.

Home Funerals Alongside Private Burial

Home burial in Tasmania can be combined with a home funeral — keeping the body at home for viewing and vigil before burial on the land. This is entirely legal provided:

• The Medical Certificate of Cause of Death has been issued (within 48 hours of death)
• The body is kept at 5°C or below
• The private burial approval is in place before interment

Families can conduct the washing and laying out of the body themselves, prepare the grave on their own land, and carry out the burial without a licensed funeral director involved at any stage. What they cannot do is bypass the official documentation — the MCCD and the burial approval are non-negotiable.

The BDM notification — a written statement of disposal submitted to Births, Deaths and Marriages Tasmania — must be lodged within 7 days of the burial. This obligation falls on whoever acted as the funeral director in the process, which in a home funeral means the family member who coordinated the burial.

If the Application Is Refused

Councils and the Director of Public Health can refuse an application if environmental requirements are not met — for example, if the test hole reveals the water table is too high, or if the site is too close to a waterway.

Refusal can also occur if the application is for an urban residential property, which is not eligible regardless of lot size or intention.

If refused, the family's options are standard cemetery burial, cremation, or natural burial in a registered cemetery. A private land burial cannot proceed without both approvals.

For the complete checklist — including the exact documents required, the EHO inspection process, the template for applying to your local Council, and the post-burial BDM notification requirements — see the Tasmania Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide.

See more Tasmania guides →