Height, setback and site coverage rules in NSW

Clause 4.3 of the Standard Instrument LEP is a one-line control: the height of a building is not to exceed the maximum shown for the land on the Height of Buildings Map. The Direction to the clause tells councils they may show different heights for different zones or for different land in the same zone, and may add local variations for overshadowing, air safety or design excellence. The number is on the map, not in the clause.

Floor space ratio works the same way under clause 4.4: the maximum FSR for a building is not to exceed the ratio shown on the Floor Space Ratio Map. Clause 4.5 defines FSR as the ratio of the gross floor area of all buildings within the site to the site area, and sets rules for what counts as the site. Not every council adopts an FSR control for low density zones, and where it is not adopted there is no LEP floor space cap at all, only DCP guidance.

Both clauses are development standards, so clause 4.6 applies. A DA can exceed the mapped height or FSR only if the applicant demonstrates that compliance is unreasonable or unnecessary and that there are sufficient environmental planning grounds. Councils record every such assessment, and the variation report published with a DA is the place to see how often it happens in your area.

The Standard Instrument defines site coverage as the proportion of a site area covered by buildings, excluding basements, awnings over the boundary, eaves and unenclosed balconies, decks and pergolas. It defines landscaped area as the part of a site used for growing plants, grasses and trees, excluding any building, structure or hard paved area. Those definitions are used by both the LEP and the Codes SEPP.

The Standard Instrument does not contain a site coverage or landscaped area percentage for a house. For a DA those figures come from the council's DCP, which is why they differ from council to council and sometimes from precinct to precinct. A DCP is not a development standard, so clause 4.6 does not apply to it, but the council must consider it and can refuse a DA that departs from it without good reason.

For complying development the Codes SEPP supplies the numbers. Clause 3.13 of the Housing Code sets the minimum landscaped area by lot area: 10% for lots of 200m² to 300m², rising through 15%, 20%, 30% and 40% to 45% for lots over 1,500m². Each landscaped area must be at least 1.5m wide and long, a share must sit forward of the building line and half must be behind it. Secondary dwellings on the fast track use the site coverage table in Schedule 1 of the Housing SEPP instead.

The Housing Code caps a dwelling house and attached development at 8.5m above ground level (existing). The same 8.5m figure applies to a dual occupancy under the Low Rise Housing Diversity Code and to a secondary dwelling under Schedule 1 of the Housing SEPP, so the 8.5m ceiling is the consistent complying development height for low rise housing.

The front setback is contextual first and tabular second. Clause 3.10(1) requires the setback from the primary road to be not less than the average of the 2 nearest dwelling houses on the same side of the road. Only if there are not 2 houses within 40m does the table apply: 3m for lots of 200m² to 300m², 4.5m up to 900m², 6.5m up to 1,500m² and 10m above that.

Side setbacks are keyed to lot width and wall height. For a lot 6m to 10m wide the setback is 900mm for walls up to 5.5m, then grows by a formula as the wall rises toward 8.5m. For lots over 10m to 18m wide the 900mm applies up to 4.5m of wall height with the formula above that. Wider lots have larger base setbacks. Rear setbacks, parallel road setbacks and secondary road setbacks each have their own subclause in clause 3.10, and clause 3.11 lists the elements such as eaves and downpipes that are exempt from the setback.

Start with the pathway. If the work will be complying development, the Codes SEPP tables above are the whole answer on height, setbacks and landscaping, and the parcel's lot width and lot area are the two inputs. If it will be a DA, open the LEP's Height of Buildings Map and Floor Space Ratio Map for the parcel, then the DCP chapter for the housing type.

The LEP maps are binding standards and the DCP is guidance the council must consider. That difference is what decides whether a proposal that departs from a number needs a clause 4.6 request or simply a written justification against the DCP objective. Height and FSR are LEP matters. Setbacks, site coverage, landscaped area and private open space are usually DCP matters unless the LEP has a local clause.

Where a parcel has no mapped height or FSR, the correct statement is that the LEP does not set one, not that the limit is zero or that anything goes. The DCP and the zone objectives then do the work, and a Casa report states that gap explicitly rather than inventing a figure.