It was only then, as I sat with pen in hand ready to sign my life away, that my solicitor informed me the home had been identified by Eurobodalla Shire Council as being within a “sea-level rise investigation area”.

If sea-level is such a big deal – and council tells us it is – why are real estate agents not required to inform residents?

Why is council so reluctant to tell residents they are at risk?

And why is it so difficult to find simple explanations on the impact - what it means for my renovations, or that deck I was thinking of adding, or if I wanted to totally rebuild?

Navigating the council’s website is like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

I could not find a simple explanation of why property owners should care at all that their land is within these investigation areas.

The council web page “Clarifying data on Sea Level Rise - Clearing the Confusion” certainly did not do as it promised.

It was only with the help of another I came across the page “Development Assessment process - Sea Level Rise”, which informs me that should I wish to do any modifications which require a development application, I must first commission an engineer to identify the degree of risk associated with sea-level rise. 

And what if the risk is high, what then? What if it is low? It does not say.

While there has been a clear effort to inform residents about sea-level rise, largely thanks to Cr Milton Leslight, there is still a long way to go.

There are more than 6000 homes affected by sea-level rise throughout the shire, from Durras to Dalmeny. It is not an insignificant number.

There are many questions on the issue, but bamboozling residents with complicated and, sometimes irrelevant, information is certainly not the answer.

Home owners need to know if they at risk and what it means in real terms.