What is the minimum lot size for my block?
Written by Shea Cullen, architect, for Dudils.
The minimum lot size is the smallest lot council can approve when land is subdivided. Type an address and the Site Checker reads the number mapped for your lot on the Lot Size Map in your council's Local Environmental Plan (LEP), and shows the lot's own area and width on the same report, so you can see straight away whether a split is worth asking about.
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Can I subdivide my block?
Only if every new lot would meet the minimum lot size for your land and the other controls allow it. As a first test, a block needs to be at least twice the mapped minimum to make two lots: a 900 square metre block under a 450 square metre minimum can in principle be split, and the same block under a 600 square metre minimum cannot.
After the area test, each new lot still needs legal access to a road, water and sewer, a building area clear of hazards, and whatever frontage and shape the DCP asks for. Subdivision needs development consent, apart from a few simple kinds, such as a boundary adjustment, that the Codes SEPP allows as complying development. A registered surveyor prepares the plan of subdivision, and a subdivision certificate is issued before the new titles are created.
What is the minimum lot size where I live?
It is the number in square metres (or hectares) on the Lot Size Map for your LEP, and the Site Checker shows it for your lot. It applies through clause 4.1 of the LEP. Suburban residential land is often mapped somewhere between 450 and 700 square metres, and rural and large lot land in hectares, but every council draws its own map, and neighbouring suburbs can differ.
If the report says not mapped, the LEP has no number for your lot. That does not mean any size goes: a subdivision still needs consent, and another LEP clause or the DCP can set a minimum.
Does minimum lot size stop a granny flat or a duplex?
It does not decide a granny flat, and it decides a duplex only in some LEPs. Clause 4.1 applies when land is divided into new lots, so building a second home on one lot is a separate question. A granny flat stays on the same title as the house, and the Housing SEPP does not allow a lot to be subdivided around one approved under it. For a granny flat to be complying development, the lot needs to be at least 450 square metres and 12 metres wide.
A duplex can be approved on one lot and later subdivided, by strata or Torrens title. Many LEPs set a separate minimum lot size for building a dual occupancy, often in a clause numbered 4.1A or similar, and treat the later subdivision differently from clause 4.1. Search your LEP's Part 4 for the words dual occupancy before you assume either way. The zoning page covers where duplexes are permitted.
What is a battle axe or hatchet block, and how is it measured?
A battle axe lot sits behind another lot and reaches the street along a long, narrow access handle, the shape that gives it the name. Whether the handle counts towards the lot's area depends on your LEP. Many say that the area of an access corridor or right of carriageway is left out when a battle axe lot is measured against the minimum, so a 600 square metre lot with a 100 square metre handle is treated as a 500 square metre lot. Read clause 4.1 of your own LEP for the exact words.
Battle axe lots also carry their own setback rules in most DCPs, and the Codes SEPP applies different setbacks to them, because the house faces the neighbours' back yards on every side rather than a street.
What else stops a subdivision?
Width, access and hazards stop more subdivisions than area does. Councils usually want a minimum frontage for each new lot, a driveway that works, and a building area outside flood prone, bush fire prone or steep land. A heritage item or conservation area can rule out a split that would change the street's historic subdivision pattern. Each of those is on the same report, so read the flood and bushfire readings with the lot size in mind.
What is the minimum lot size for my block? Check any NSW address, free.
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What else do people ask?
Does the minimum lot size apply to strata subdivision?
Often not. Many LEPs apply clause 4.1 to Torrens title lots and deal with strata subdivision separately, but the wording varies between councils, so check your own LEP before relying on it.
Is the minimum lot size the same as the minimum area for building a house?
Not always. In rural and large lot zones many LEPs have a separate clause setting the minimum area a lot needs before a house can be built on it, which can differ from the subdivision minimum.
Can I get a variation to the minimum lot size?
Sometimes, through a clause 4.6 request on a development application. The Standard Instrument limits how far lot sizes can be varied in rural, large lot residential and environmental zones, so a variation there is much harder to win.
Where does this information come from?
The Site Checker reads public maps. It is not a section 10.7 planning certificate, a flood certificate, a bushfire attack level assessment or a survey, and a map can be out of date for your lot. Confirm anything you rely on with council or the relevant authority before you buy, design or build. Nothing on this page replaces advice from your certifier, engineer, lawyer or your own designer.