General informationThis is not planning or legal advice. Notice rules come from NSW planning law and the statewide Community Participation Plan; check them with your council, your certifier or the NSW Planning Portal.
One plan for the whole state, from 1 September 2026
From 1 September 2026, every planning authority in NSW, councils included, must use a single statewide Community Participation Plan. It replaces the more than 100 separate plans used across the state and standardises consultation and public exhibition timeframes.
Councils still decide how they engage their communities through their own engagement strategies, but the exhibition requirements come from the statewide plan. The City of Canterbury Bankstown, for example, says on its own page that the statewide plan replaces its plan, and that some development types listed in it no longer need public exhibition unless the proposal seeks changes to height or floor space ratio standards through a variation.
Applications lodged before 1 September 2026 and not yet decided stay under the community participation requirements that applied when they were lodged.
A development application: exhibited or not
The plan’s Table 6 lists development types excluded from public exhibition, and “Dual occupancy (up to two storeys)” is on it, along with a dwelling house of up to two storeys and a secondary dwelling. The exclusion holds only where the development does not need a clause 4.6 variation to the height of building or floor space ratio standards.
- The development application is lodged with the council.
- Is it a type listed in Table 6? A dual occupancy of up to two storeys is.
- Does it seek a variation to height or floor space ratio?
No: the application does not require exhibition.Yes: it is exhibited for at least 14 days, and submissions are considered before the decision.
- The council assesses the application, which may include inspecting the site and adjoining properties, and decides it. The final approved plans and supporting documents are published on the planning authority’s website.
The plan’s overview of the process also says that once an application is lodged, adjoining neighbours and relevant authorities may be notified.
A few rules frame those numbers. Exhibition periods are counted in calendar days, weekends included, and the period from 20 December to 10 January is left out of the count. A council may exhibit an application for longer if it is likely to attract significant public interest because of its location, nature or scale.
When an application is not exhibited, the plan says the consent authority is not required to consider submissions. Feedback can still be given at any stage, but it is not treated as a formal submission.
A complying development certificate: two notices
Complying development applications are not publicly exhibited, and the plan says there is no opportunity to give feedback on them; the notice rules are set by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation instead. The Planning Portal describes two notices.
Before approval
In metropolitan areas, the certifier or council must tell neighbours within a 20 metre radius that a complying development certificate has been applied for. The notice must be in writing, and can be handed over, put in a letterbox or posted. Where a neighbouring lot is a dual occupancy or an apartment building, the occupier of each home must be told. Neighbours can ask to see the plans, but the applicant does not have to show them.
There is no formal pre-approval notice in residential release areas and most rural and regional areas.
Before work starts
Once the certificate is issued, the applicant must tell neighbours within 20 metres of the lot’s boundary, in writing, before any work begins: at least 7 days ahead in metropolitan areas, and 2 days in rural and regional areas or a residential release area. This notice is for information only; neighbours cannot make a submission on it.
The Portal offers a template letter for each notice.
The same Portal page gives two different periods for the first notice. Near the top it says approvals can issue in as little as 20 days, or 10 for a pattern book design, provided at least 7 days’ notice of the application has been given to neighbours; further down it says neighbours must be told 14 days before the certificate can be approved. Ask your certifier which applies to your application.
Councils must also publish certain documents about complying development certificates on their websites.
If you are building, and if you live next door
If you are building
- The department recommends talking to your neighbours before you receive an approval and again before construction starts, and encourages doing it as early in the design as you can.
- On a complying development certificate, the pre-construction notice is your job, in writing.
- During the build, the department’s DA guide suggests keeping neighbours informed and passing any complaints to the builder and the principal certifier.
If you live next door
- If you are directly affected by an exhibited proposal, you may receive a notice explaining how to view it and lodge a submission.
- Anyone can make a submission during exhibition, and it does not need to be technical. Submissions are made in writing, online through the authority’s website; for local development, the plan suggests checking with your council whether the Portal, post or email also work.
- The plan points to the DA tracker for viewing exhibited and decided applications.
- On a complying development certificate, you can ask to see the plans, but you cannot make a submission on the notice before work starts.
In Brisbane, the trigger is different
In Brisbane, public notification follows the level of assessment. Brisbane City Council says a dual occupancy is either code assessable or impact assessable: an impact assessable application requires public notification before council decides, and a code assessable one does not. That is one council’s page; check your own council’s planning scheme.