Council guide · NSW

Inner West Council

What a house block can carry in Inner West Council's area — the dual-occupancy minimums, the granny-flat rule and the C4 controls, read from the Inner West Local Environmental Plan 2022 on legislation.nsw.gov.au, and whether the state Low and Mid-Rise rules reach here.

no minimumlot size for a dual occupancy

no minimumfrontage

60 m² or 35%granny flat (the greater)

Dual occupancy (two homes on one lot)

Inner West LEP sets no minimum lot size or frontage for a dual occupancy — in R2 the land use table permits anything it does not expressly prohibit, and dual occupancies are not prohibited there, so it is judged on Council's DCP; the Lot Size Map governs any split into two titles.

Secondary dwelling (granny flat)

Inner West LEP cl 5.4(9) — the greater of 60 m² or 35% of the house’s total floor area, parking excluded. Under the state Housing SEPP a granny flat of up to 60 m² can also go through the ten-day complying-development route on a lot of 450 m² or more, with a 12 m frontage, where the land is not flood, bushfire or heritage constrained.

C4 Environmental Living

This LEP has no C4 Environmental Living zone, or it is not read here.

Low and Mid-Rise

Inside the state Low and Mid-Rise area — within about an 800 m walk of a listed town centre or station — the Housing SEPP overrides the LEP minimums above: a dual occupancy on 450 m² with a 12 m frontage, terraces on 500 m² / 18 m, townhouses on 600 m² / 12 m and a manor house on 500 m² / 12 m, up to 9.5 m high. Block Checker reads the centre layer on the Planning Portal and tells you which side of the line your lot sits. Bushfire-prone, flood-control and heritage land is carved out and falls back to the LEP.

Constraints that change the answer

Bushfire-prone land (RFS map), flood-control lots, heritage items and conservation areas, and landslip risk all take a lot out of the fast-track routes and into a full DA. Easements, covenants and sewer mains are not on the public maps — a title search and a Sydney Water or council water check are always needed.

Approval routes

Complying development (CDC) — a private certifier issues it in days where the design meets every state standard; no neighbour notification.
Pattern Book — the NSW pre-approved designs, ten-day approval, subject to survey (slope) and the site tests.
Development application (DA) — lodged with Inner West Council through the NSW Planning Portal; weeks to months, neighbours notified, merit assessment against the LEP and DCP.

Useful links: innerwest.nsw.gov.au · NSW Planning Portal (lodge a DA or CDC, spatial viewer) · legislation.nsw.gov.au (search the LEP by name).

A residential street in Inner West Council's area — **Suburbs** — **Annandale**, Ashfield, **Balmain**, **Balmain East**, **Birchgrove**, **Dulwich Hill**, **Enmore**, **Haberfield**, **Leichhardt**, **Lewisham**, **Lilyfield**, **Marrickville**, Newtown, **Petersham**, **Rozelle**, **St Peters**, **Stanmore**, **Summer Hill**, **Sydenham**, **Tempe**.