New South Wales · Planning guide
Exempt and complying development in NSW
NSW has two fast tracks under the Exempt and Complying Development Codes SEPP. Exempt development is minor work listed in an exempt code that meets its standards and needs no approval at all. Complying development is larger work such as a new 1 or 2 storey house that meets every predetermined standard and is approved by a complying development certificate from a council or private certifier instead of a development application. Both fail on excluded land such as State heritage items.
Sources read on 9 September 2026. Provisions are quoted word for word from the instrument.
Two fast tracks, one instrument
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act sets the frame. Where an instrument says development may be carried out without consent, it can be. Where an instrument requires consent, that consent can be obtained either by a council determination on a development application or, for complying development, by the issue of a complying development certificate. The Act lets an instrument declare that development addressed by predetermined standards is complying development.
The instrument that does this for housing across the state is the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, the Codes SEPP. Its stated aims are to provide exempt and complying codes with statewide application, to identify minimal impact work that needs no consent, and to identify complying development that can proceed on a certificate.
The Planning Portal's summary of the first track is one sentence: exempt development does not need planning or construction approval from a council or private certifier. Complying development still needs a certificate and, for building work, the usual construction stage certificates, but no development application and no council merit assessment.
General If an environmental planning instrument provides that specified development may not be carried out except with development consent, a person must not carry the development out on land to which the provision applies unless— (a) such a consent has been obtained and is in force, and (b) the development is carried out in accordance with the consent and the instrument. Maximum penalty—Tier 1 monetary penalty. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), development consent may be obtained— (a) by the making of a determination by a consent authority to grant development consent, or (b) in the case of complying development, by the issue of a complying development certificate.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
Complying development An environmental planning instrument may provide that development, or a class of development, that can be addressed by specified predetermined development standards is complying development.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
This Policy aims to provide streamlined assessment processes for development that complies with specified development standards by— (a) providing exempt and complying development codes that have State-wide application, and (b) identifying, in the exempt development codes, types of development that are of minimal environmental impact that may be carried out without the need for development consent, and (c) identifying, in the complying development codes, types of complying development that may be carried out in accordance with a complying development certificate as defined in the Act, and
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
Exempt development does not need planning or construction approval from a council or private certifier.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
Exempt development: the test and the exclusions
Clause 1.15 gives the three-part test. The work must be specified in an exempt development code, it must meet the standards specified for it, and it must comply with the general requirements in Division 1. Miss any one and the work is not exempt, however small it is.
Clause 1.16 carries the general requirements. Exempt work must meet the deemed-to-satisfy provisions of the Building Code of Australia or be structurally adequate, must not cause an existing building to contravene the Building Code, and cannot be carried out on a declared area of outstanding biodiversity value, critical habitat, a wilderness area or land with an item on the State Heritage Register or under an interim heritage order. Land shown on the maps in Schedule 4 is also excluded.
The General Exempt Development Code in Part 2 lists dozens of work types with their own standards. A garden shed is a typical example. Clause 2.17 specifies cabanas, cubby houses, ferneries, garden sheds, gazebos and greenhouses, and clause 2.18 limits them to 20m² of floor area in residential zones (50m² in rural and R5 zones), 3m in height above existing ground, and a boundary setback of 900mm in residential zones (5m in rural and R5 zones). Note that the residential zone set-back and size figures differ from the rural ones, and the code adds heritage, bushfire and easement conditions.
Development is exempt development for the purposes of this Policy if the development— (a) is specified in an exempt development code, and (b) meets the standards specified for the development, and (c) complies with the requirements of this Division for exempt development.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
To be exempt development for the purposes of this Policy, the development— (a) must meet the relevant deemed-to-satisfy provisions of the Building Code of Australia, or if there are no such relevant provisions, must be structurally adequate, and (b) must not, if it relates to an existing building, cause the building to contravene the Building Code of Australia, and (b1) must not be carried out on land that is a declared area of outstanding biodiversity value under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 or declared critical habitat under Part 7A of the Fisheries Management Act 1994, and (b2) must not be carried out on land that is, or is part of, a wilderness area (within the meaning of Wilderness Act 1987), and (c) must not be carried out on land that is, or on which there is, an item that is listed on the State Heritage Register under the Heritage Act 1977, or that is subject to an interim heritage order under that Act, and
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
The construction or installation of a cabana, cubby house, fernery, garden shed, gazebo or greenhouse is development specified for this code if it is not constructed or installed on or in a heritage item or a draft heritage item, on land in a foreshore area or in an environmentally sensitive area.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
not have a floor area of more than— (i) on land in Zone RU1, RU2, RU3, RU4, RU6 or R5—50m², or (ii) on land in any other zone—20m², and (c) be not higher than 3m above ground level (existing), and (d) be located at a distance from each lot boundary of at least— (i) for development carried out in Zone RU1, RU2, RU3, RU4, RU6 or R5—5m, or (ii) for development carried out in any other zone—900mm, and
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
Complying development: the general requirements
Clause 1.17 mirrors the exempt test: development specified in a complying development code that meets its standards and the Division's requirements is complying development. Clause 1.18 then lists the general requirements. The development must not be exempt, must be permissible with consent under an instrument applying to the land, must meet the Building Code, must not need an environment protection licence and must not be designated development.
Permissibility is the requirement most people miss. A complying development certificate cannot authorise a use the LEP prohibits. If dual occupancies are not permitted with consent in your zone and Chapter 6 of the Housing SEPP does not reach the land, no Codes SEPP standard can rescue the proposal. The zone table is checked before any built form standard.
Clause 1.19 removes whole categories of land from the housing codes. For the Housing Code, Low Rise Housing Diversity Code and the other listed codes, complying development is not available in a heritage conservation area (except for detached outbuildings, some detached development and pools), on land reserved for a public purpose, on Class 1 or Class 2 acid sulfate soils, and on a further list covering contaminated, conservation, buffer, riverfront, foreshore, coastal hazard and airport noise land. Clause 1.17A adds State heritage items and wilderness for every instrument.
Development that is specified in a complying development code that meets the standards specified for that development and that complies with the requirements of this Division for complying development is complying development for the purposes of this Policy.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
To be complying development for the purposes of this Policy, the development must— (a) not be exempt development under this Policy, and (b) be permissible, with consent, under an environmental planning instrument applying to the land on which the development is carried out, and (c) meet the relevant provisions of the Building Code of Australia, and
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
To be complying development specified for the Housing Code, the Inland Code, the Low Rise Housing Diversity Code, the Pattern Book Development Code, the Rural Housing Code, the Agritourism and Farm Stay Accommodation Code or the Greenfield Housing Code, the development must not be carried out on— (a) land within a heritage conservation area or a draft heritage conservation area, unless the development is a detached outbuilding, detached development (other than a detached studio) or swimming pool, or (b) land that is reserved for a public purpose by an environmental planning instrument, or (c) land identified on an Acid Sulfate Soils Map as being Class 1 or Class 2, or
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
The Housing Code for a new house
Part 3 of the Codes SEPP is the Housing Code. Clause 3.1 lets it approve the erection of a new 1 or 2 storey dwelling house and attached development, alterations and additions to a 1 or 2 storey house, and detached development such as garages and studios. A basement, including a basement garage, counts as a storey.
The lot requirements are precise. The lot must be in Zone R1, R2, R3, R4 or RU5, must be at least 200m², must be at least 6m wide at the building line, must end up with only one dwelling house, and must have lawful access to a public road. A battle-axe lot needs at least 12m by 12m excluding the access handle and a handle at least 3m wide. A secondary dwelling with its own approval does not count as a second dwelling house for this test.
The code then fixes the building. Height is capped at 8.5m above existing ground level. Gross floor area, setbacks, landscaped area, private open space, privacy screens and parking each have their own clause with a table keyed to lot size or lot width. The height and setback guide walks through those numbers. Secondary dwellings have their own complying development standards in Schedule 1 of the Housing SEPP rather than in this code.
The following development is complying development under this code— (a) the erection of a new 1 or 2 storey dwelling house and any attached development, (b) the alteration of, or an addition to, a 1 or 2 storey dwelling house (including any addition that results in a 2 storey dwelling house) and any attached development, (c) the erection of detached development and the alteration of, or an addition to, any detached development.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
Lot requirements Complying development specified for this code may only be carried out on a lot that meets the following requirements— (a) the lot must be in Zone R1, R2, R3, R4 or RU5, (b) the area of the lot must not be less than 200m², (c) the width of the lot must be at least 6m measured at the building line, (d) there must only be 1 dwelling house on the lot at the completion of the development, (e) the lot must have lawful access to a public road at the completion of the development, (f) if the development is on a battle-axe lot—the lot must be at least 12m by 12m (not including the access laneway) and must have an access laneway that is at least 3m wide, (g) if the development is on a corner lot—the width of the primary road boundary of the lot must be at least 6m.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
The maximum height for a dwelling house and any attached development is 8.5m above ground level (existing).
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
What a complying development certificate is
Section 4.27 of the Act defines the certificate. It states that the proposed development is complying development and, if carried out as specified, will comply with all applicable development standards and the regulation's requirements. It also identifies the Building Code classification of any building. Section 4.26 lets the holder carry out the work in accordance with the certificate and the instruments that applied when it was issued.
Certificates are issued by councils and by registered private certifiers. The certifier does not weigh merit or neighbour objections. The only question is whether every standard is met. That is the trade: no discretion to refuse, and no discretion to bend a standard either. Clause 4.6 of the LEP cannot vary a complying development standard.
If a proposal misses one standard by a small margin, the options are to redesign to comply or to lodge a development application with the council. Section 4.26(5) confirms a council can still consider a development application for work that would otherwise be complying development.
Terms of complying development certificate A complying development certificate is a certificate— (a) that states that particular proposed development is complying development and (if carried out as specified in the certificate) will comply with all development standards applicable to the development and with other requirements prescribed by the regulations concerning the issue of a complying development certificate, and
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
A person may carry out complying development on land if— (a) the person has been issued with a complying development certificate for the development, and (b) the development is carried out in accordance with— (i) the complying development certificate, and (ii) any provisions of an environmental planning instrument, development control plan or the regulations that applied to the carrying out of the complying development on that land at the time the complying development certificate was issued.
Read the source · retrieved 9 September 2026
What changes council by council in New South Wales
The state instruments set the frame. These points are set by each council's own instrument or mapping, so the answer for an address depends on which council it sits in.
- Whether the use is permissible with consent in the zone, which the Codes SEPP requires before any complying development certificate can issue (the council's LEP Land Use Table).
- Whether the land is in a heritage conservation area, a flood control lot, an acid sulfate soils class or other land listed in clause 1.19 (the council's LEP maps and, for some hazards, its DCP or adopted policy).
- Any variation to the exempt codes listed in Schedule 2 of the Codes SEPP for particular councils.
- The minimum floor level adopted for flood control lots, which clause 3.5 reads from the council's DCP.
For your address
How the $150 report settles this for one site
A Casa preliminary planning report reads the zone, the mapped controls (lot size, height and floor space ratio) and the state policies that apply at that parcel, then states which pathway the rule set allows and cites the clause behind each answer. Where a control depends on a council map or a DCP the report says so and names the instrument, rather than filling the gap with a guess.
Common questions
What is the difference between exempt and complying development?
Exempt development is specified in an exempt code, meets its standards and needs no approval. Complying development is specified in a complying code, meets every standard and is approved by a complying development certificate from a council or private certifier instead of a development application.
Can I build a garden shed without approval in NSW?
Usually yes. Clause 2.18 of the Codes SEPP allows a shed of up to 20m² in a residential zone, not more than 3m high and at least 900mm from each boundary, behind the building line and not on a heritage item, provided the other conditions are met. In rural and R5 zones the limits are 50m² and 5m from boundaries.
Can a new house be complying development?
Yes. The Housing Code covers a new 1 or 2 storey dwelling house on a lot in Zone R1, R2, R3, R4 or RU5 that is at least 200m², at least 6m wide at the building line and has lawful road access, with a height limit of 8.5m and the other built form standards.
Does complying development work in a heritage conservation area?
Not for a house. Clause 1.19 excludes heritage conservation areas from the Housing Code and the other listed codes except for a detached outbuilding, detached development other than a studio, or a swimming pool. State heritage items are excluded from every fast track.
Can a certifier vary a standard if I am slightly over?
No. A complying development certificate states that the work will comply with all applicable development standards, and clause 4.6 of the LEP does not allow a complying development standard to be varied. The options are to redesign or to lodge a development application.
Sources read for this guide
- State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, current version for 8 July 2026 to date, NSW legislation websiteread 9 September 2026
- Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, current version for 1 September 2026 to date, NSW legislation websiteread 9 September 2026
- Exempt development, NSW Planning Portalread 9 September 2026
Not covered here
- Schedule 4 of the Codes SEPP (maps of land excluded from exempt development) and Schedule 2 (council variations to the exempt codes) were not fetched.
- The Low Rise Housing Diversity Code, Greenfield Housing Code, Inland Code and Pattern Book Development Code each have their own standards that this guide does not reproduce.
More NSW guides
- Granny flat rules in NSW
- Dual occupancy rules in NSW
- Subdivision rules in NSW
- Height, setback and site coverage rules in NSW
- Do I need a DA in NSW?
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