The Low Rise Housing Diversity Code

Where the code can be used

The Planning Portal’s page on the code says dual occupancies, manor houses and terraces under it are permitted only in the R1, R2, R3 and RU5 zones, and only where the council already allows them under its local environmental plan. That page was last updated in December 2023.

Since then, the department’s answers on the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy put it slightly differently. They say the code applies where the development is permitted with consent under an environmental planning instrument, such as a local environmental plan or a state policy, and that because the policy makes dual occupancies permitted with consent in more places, the complying development pathway is now available for them in areas where they are newly permitted. One of those places is the R2 low density residential zone, where dual occupancies have been permitted with consent across NSW since 1 July 2024.

The two pages were written at different times, so ask your certifier how they apply to your lot before you design to the code.

Where it cannot be used

The Portal says the State Policy’s existing exclusions continue to apply, and gives these examples of places where complying development cannot be carried out:

• heritage items on a state or local heritage list, and heritage conservation areas;
• land set aside for public purposes;
• environmentally sensitive areas, and areas a council has excluded because of local circumstances.

Bushfire prone land and flood-prone lots are not ruled out on that basis alone: the Portal’s complying development page says complying development can be carried out on them, subject to the requirements of the relevant code. It also says complying development does not override private covenants, giving the example of a covenant that requires a particular construction material or limits building heights.

What the code measures

The code sets its controls as development standards, and a proposal has to meet them before it can be assessed as complying development. The first is the size of the lot. Clause 3B.8 of the code sets a floor: the parent lot must be at least 400 m², or the minimum lot area the council’s planning instrument sets for dual occupancies, whichever is greater. A council minimum below 400 m² does not let a smaller lot through. Where the duplex is built for a registered community housing provider, the Land and Housing Corporation or the Aboriginal Housing Office, or by one of them, the clause sets the minimum at 400 m² instead. That is the clause as it reads in the copy of the code archived on 9 August 2025, which lists amendments made in 2025.

The other standards cover the shape and bulk of the building. In its 2026 consultation on complying development, the department names setbacks, heights, maximum gross floor area and vehicle access as examples of standards where small shortfalls now push proposals out of the pathway.

This guide does not reprint the other figures. The version a certifier assesses against is Part 3B of the code in force on the day. The department’s own summary table for dual occupancies is dated September 2020, although the Portal still links it: development standards summary table, dual occupancies (PDF).

The design half of the test

Meeting the numbers is not enough on its own. The department says a complying development under the code must meet all the development standards and also satisfy the design criteria that the Low-Rise Housing Diversity Design Guide for complying development sets out. The department lists that guide as the 2020 edition.

The code also requires a Design Verification Statement. The Portal says it must be prepared by a qualified designer (registered architect) or a building designer accredited with the Building Designers Association of Australia.

A checklist before a certifier says yes

Drawn from the official pages above, in the order a project usually meets them. Each line is a question for your certifier, not a ruling.

• Is a dual occupancy permitted with consent on the lot, under the local environmental plan or a state policy?
• Is the lot in one of the zones the code names?
• Is the lot clear of the exclusions, such as a heritage item or heritage conservation area?
• Does the lot meet the minimum lot size?
• Does the design meet every development standard in Part 3B, and the criteria in the design guide?
• Is there a Design Verification Statement from a qualified designer?
• Is there a BASIX certificate to submit with the application? See BASIX for a duplex.
• Do any covenants on the title limit the design?
• Are you ready for the neighbour notices complying development needs? See Telling the neighbours.

The other code: pattern book designs

A second code now reaches duplexes. The Pattern Book Development Code 2025 makes the complying development pathway available for low-rise designs from the NSW Housing Pattern Book, provided the development type is permissible with consent, the site meets the eligibility criteria and the proposal complies with the pattern. The pattern book includes side-by-side dual occupancy designs, such as one called Semis 01, a design for two homes arranged side by side. The page on approval pathways sets the two codes beside a development application.

A change on the way

Today a duplex that misses a single standard in the code cannot be complying development, because the department says such a proposal must meet all the development standards in the code. It also says proposals that vary only slightly from the standards are pushed into the much longer development application process, adding on average more than 60 days to assessment.

It has proposed a complying development variations pathway, under which council could approve variations to certain standards by issuing a variation certificate, after which a registered certifier or council could carry on assessing the application. The first stage concentrates on low-rise housing, including Part 3B. The proposal was exhibited from 14 May to 24 June 2026, and the department says it is reviewing the feedback before finalising the changes later this year. Until the changes are made, check the current position with your certifier.