Plan assessment before you lodge

What is a planning certificate?

Council issues a planning certificate about your land. It has two parts. The first part is mandatory and covers a set list of matters required by NSW law. It is this certificate that has to accompany a contract for the sale of land.

The second part is optional. Councils use it to add advice on other matters affecting the land. Because it is voluntary, the content varies between councils, and it does not have to go with a sale contract. For design work, a certificate with both parts usually gives a fuller picture of your site.

What should I check first?

The mandatory part covers 22 matters. When building a house or outbuilding, the most useful are the zoning and planning rules that apply, and whether a CDC (fast-track approval) is allowed. Also check flood controls, bush fire prone land, hazard risk policies, mine subsidence, loose-fill asbestos insulation, and whether land is reserved for acquisition or road widening.

The CDC item also shows whether a local variation limits fast-track approval on your land. A certificate reflects the position on the date it was issued, so use a recent one.

How big must my lot be?

Lots under the Housing Code need an area no smaller than 200 square metres, and they must be 6 metres or wider where the building line sits. A battle-axe lot needs room for a 12 by 12 metre area, excluding the access laneway. That laneway needs a minimum width of 3 metres and does not count toward lot area. Only one house is allowed per lot, although a granny flat may also be approved.

How high, how close and how green?

Building height is limited to 8.5 metres, measured from the natural ground level before any digging or filling.

Side setbacks (the gap to the side boundary) are set by how wide the lot is where the building line falls. The setback is 0.9 metres where the lot is up to 18 metres wide, 1.5 metres where it is over 18 and up to 24 metres wide, and 2.5 metres where it is wider than that. They increase for any part of the building more than 4.5 metres above ground, so upper storey walls usually step further in.

Required landscaping varies with lot size. A lot over 300 and up to 450 square metres needs a minimum of 15 per cent landscaped. An area only counts when it measures 1.5 metres or more in both width and length. In addition, the area ahead of the building line needs 25 per cent landscaping. Maximum floor area is linked to lot size and is measured from the inside face of the external walls. We check every figure against the rules that currently apply to your lot.

Where can the house sit on the street?

The Housing Code does not give the front setback as one fixed number. It is based on the average setback of the two closest dwellings within 40 metres, so the houses next to yours shape where your building line can go.

Some features can project in front of that line. Porches, balconies, bay windows and similar elements may sit up to 1.5 metres ahead of the building line, but only across a quarter of the articulation zone. The street front must also have at least one door and one window from a habitable room facing the road at ground level.

With a survey that locates the neighbouring houses, the likely front setback can be settled early, while rooms can still be moved around cheaply.

Garages and driveways

Car parking has its own setback. If the house sits 4.5 metres or more back from the street boundary, any garage or carport goes a minimum of 1 metre further back than the building line. On shallower setbacks, the parking has to be no closer than 5.5 metres to the primary road.

Garage door width is capped by lot width as well. On lots 8 to 12 metres wide the limit is 3.2 metres, and once a lot is more than 12 metres wide it rises to 6 metres. On narrower lots this can rule out a double garage door facing the street, which changes the whole front of the design.

Outbuildings, studios and floor area

Floor area limits apply across the lot, not just to the house. As an example, the Housing Code allows a gross floor area of 290 square metres where the lot is 450 square metres. Detached buildings such as sheds and garages have a separate cap, which is 45 square metres for lots sized from 400 to 600 m².

Detached studios have tighter limits again: 20 square metres where the lot is 200 to 350 square metres, and 36 square metres where it is bigger. Measure any outbuildings that will stay, because they can use up part of these allowances before any new floor area is counted.

Corner lots and swimming pools

A corner lot has two road frontages, and the second one brings its own setback. The Housing Code requires a pool on a corner lot to sit behind the secondary road setback. That setback is 2 metres where the lot is 600 m² or smaller, 3 metres where it is larger but no more than 1,500 m², and 5 metres beyond that.

On any lot, a complying pool must be located behind the house's building line, and the waterline needs a clearance of 1 metre or more to every side or rear boundary. A pool holding at least 40,000 litres also needs a BASIX (Building Sustainability Index) certificate.

Privacy screens for windows and decks

The Housing Code can require screening for some habitable room windows that face side or rear boundaries, and for raised outdoor areas such as decks, balconies and terraces. The exact triggers depend on the design, so they are worth checking while windows and decks can still move.

A privacy screen has a defined meaning. It can have no opening wider than 30 millimetres, and its openings can make up no more than 30 per cent of its surface. A fixed translucent window also qualifies. Widely spaced decorative battens do not meet this test.

Proposals exhibited in mid 2026 would relax some of these controls, along with front setbacks and garage doors, but they are not in force. Concept plans should follow the rules that apply today.