Council guide · NSW

City of Sydney

What a house block can carry in City of Sydney's area — the dual-occupancy minimums, the granny-flat rule and the C4 controls, read from the Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 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 30%granny flat (the greater)

Dual occupancy (two homes on one lot)

Sydney LEP sets no minimum lot size or frontage for a dual occupancy — permitted with consent in R2 (and R1 is an open zone), judged on the City's DCP, height and FSR maps.

Secondary dwelling (granny flat)

Sydney LEP cl 5.4(9) — the greater of 60 m² or 30% 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 City of Sydney through the NSW Planning Portal; weeks to months, neighbours notified, merit assessment against the LEP and DCP.

Useful links: cityofsydney.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 City of Sydney's area — **Suburbs** — **Alexandria**, Barangaroo, **Beaconsfield**, Camperdown, **Chippendale**, **Darlinghurst**, **Darlington**, **Dawes Point**, **Elizabeth Bay**, **Erskineville**, **Eveleigh**, **Forest Lodge**, **Glebe**, **Haymarket**, **Millers Point**, Moore Park, Potts Point, **Pyrmont**, **Redfern**, **Rosebery**, **Rushcutters Bay**, **Surry Hills**, Sydney, The Rocks, **Ultimo**, **Waterloo**, **Woolloomooloo**, **Zetland**.