A duplex, a row of terraces or a six-storey apartment block might now be legally approvable on a block near you, in circumstances your council's own planning controls alone would not have allowed a few years ago. Since February 2025, a state government policy has been quietly reshaping what can be built across large parts of Sydney, the Central Coast, the Illawarra and the Hunter, and it affects two very different groups of property owners: those hoping to develop their own land, and those living next to a block where someone else now can.
The Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy is not a new Act of Parliament. It is a set of changes to an existing piece of subordinate legislation, the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (the Housing SEPP), and it works by overriding some council planning rules in defined areas rather than replacing them outright. For property owners and landowners trying to work out whether the policy affects a specific block, whether their own or a neighbour's, the practical questions are usually the same: does it apply here, what can now be built, and what can still be done about it.
The policy has rolled out in two stages. Stage 1 started on 1 July 2024 and permitted dual occupancies and semi-detached homes with consent in R2 low-density residential zones across the whole of NSW, regardless of location. Stage 2 started on 28 February 2025 and went further, but only within defined low and mid-rise housing areas: residential land within 800 metres' walking distance of one of 171 nominated town centres or train, metro and light rail stations across metropolitan Sydney, the Central Coast, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region and the Lower Hunter and Newcastle. Within those areas, Stage 2 makes dual occupancies, multi-dwelling housing (terraces and townhouses) and residential flat buildings (apartment buildings) permitted with consent in more zones than before, and introduces a set of new development standards that apply on top of, and can override, the equivalent standard in a council's Local Environmental Plan or Development Control Plan.
Both stages sit within Chapter 6 of the Housing SEPP. Whether a specific property falls inside a mapped low and mid-rise housing area depends on its exact walking distance to a nominated centre or station, which the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure publishes as an indicative map. The department itself is clear that the map cannot account for every site-specific constraint, and that the legislation is the final word on whether a particular property is covered.
Within a low and mid-rise housing area, the Housing SEPP sets non-discretionary development standards, sometimes called non-refusal standards, covering matters such as building height, floor space ratio, lot size and car parking, and the standards differ by dwelling type and zone. For dual occupancies, multi-dwelling housing and terraces, permitted in R1, R2, R3 and R4 zones where the underlying zoning allows that use, the standard height limit is 9.5 metres. Residential flat buildings and shop-top housing carry a lower, 9.5 metre standard in R1 and R2 zones, but a substantially higher one in R3 and R4 zones: within 400 metres of a nominated centre or station (an "inner area"), residential flat buildings can reach 22 metres and shop-top housing 24 metres, both up to six storeys, with no minimum lot size or width applying at all. Between 400 and 800 metres (an "outer area"), both drop to a maximum of 17.5 metres and four storeys.
The word "non-discretionary" describes a specific legal effect. Where a proposed development complies with the Housing SEPP standard and that standard is more generous than the equivalent LEP or DCP standard, a council cannot refuse the application on the basis that it does not comply with the LEP or DCP figure. The Housing SEPP standard does not apply where a council's own LEP is already more generous; in that case, the LEP figure continues to apply instead. And critically, the non-discretionary standards only remove one specific ground of refusal. They do not remove a council's ability to assess a proposal against every other applicable control, including design, privacy, overshadowing, tree canopy and stormwater requirements that sit outside the standard itself, and they do not exempt a proposal from needing consent in the first place.
Worried a proposal next door doesn't comply, or unsure what grounds are actually still open to you?
Non-discretionary standards remove some grounds for refusal, but not all of them. Our Planning and Environment team can review a specific proposal against the Housing SEPP and your council's own controls, and tell you clearly where you stand.
Free consultationMost developments relying on the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy are still lodged as ordinary development applications assessed by the relevant council, rather than proceeding as complying development. That distinction matters, because it determines whether you get a genuine opportunity to have your say. A standard development application generally goes through your council's usual notification and exhibition process, during which a neighbour can lodge a submission. What has changed is not your right to make a submission, but the range of matters a submission can succeed on: an objection based purely on the proposal exceeding your council's ordinary LEP height or floor space limit will not succeed if the proposal complies with the more generous Housing SEPP standard instead. Objections based on matters the standards do not cover, such as privacy, overshadowing of your specific property, or non-compliance with design guidance, remain open.
Separately, some dual occupancies, terraces and manor houses that are now permitted with consent for the first time under the policy may instead be able to proceed as complying development under the Low-Rise Housing Diversity Code, assessed by an accredited certifier rather than council. Complying development pathways do not carry the same neighbour notification and objection rights as a standard development application, which is worth knowing if a project seems to have appeared with little or no warning.
For an owner in a low and mid-rise housing area, the practical effect can run the other way: a block that could not previously support a second dwelling, a row of terraces or a small apartment building under the council's own controls may now be able to, provided the site is not affected by one of the policy's exclusions. Before relying on the non-discretionary standards, it is worth checking the indicative mapping against the actual legislation, confirming which zone and which standards apply to your specific site, and getting clarity on how the Housing SEPP standard interacts with your council's LEP and DCP, since only the more generous of the two figures for a given control actually applies.
The Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy does not apply everywhere, and it is worth being clear about where it stops. It does not apply to land affected by certain hazards and constraints, including bushfire-prone land, some flood-prone land, coastal wetlands and littoral rainforest, land near dangerous goods pipelines, land subject to high aircraft noise, or land that contains a heritage item. It also does not apply within mapped Transport Oriented Development areas, which sit under a separate program, and it does not apply at all in the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Wollondilly local government areas because of bushfire, flooding and evacuation risk, or in the Bathurst local government area, which has no land in the relevant zone. Because Stage 2 is limited to Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region and the Lower Hunter and Newcastle, it also simply does not apply across most of regional NSW, a point covered further below.
Because the policy is defined by walking distance to specific mapped centres and stations rather than by local government area, its effect varies block by block rather than council by council. The pattern below reflects where the policy's mapped town centre and station catchments are concentrated, not a claim that every property in a named suburb is covered; that always needs checking against the mapping and the legislation for a specific site.
Mapped catchments in the Eastern Suburbs include the Bondi Junction, Double Bay, Edgecliff and Rose Bay town centres and stations in Woollahra, and the Randwick and Maroubra Junction precincts. On streets close to these centres, the policy can support a scale of development well beyond what the area's heritage-dense, low-rise character has traditionally allowed, which is exactly the setting where a neighbour is most likely to be caught out by a proposal that complies with the Housing SEPP standard but not the council's own controls. Learn more about our work in the Eastern Suburbs.
The North Shore has one of the largest concentrations of mapped catchments anywhere in the policy, running from North Sydney, Crows Nest and Chatswood through the Ku-ring-gai corridor (Gordon, Killara, Lindfield, Pymble, Roseville, St Ives and Turramurra) to Hornsby and Lane Cove. Much of this area combines high property values with established, low-density streets, so the gap between what a council's existing controls allowed and what the Housing SEPP now permits can be significant. Learn more about our work on the North Shore.
Blacktown, Parramatta (including the Epping and Westmead precincts), The Hills (Castle Hill, Norwest, Kellyville and Bella Vista), Penrith and Campbelltown all have mapped town centre or station catchments under the policy. These are already among NSW's most active new-housing corridors, so the policy adds a further layer of development capacity on top of growth that was already underway. See our Blacktown, The Hills, Campbelltown and Penrith location pages.
Liverpool station sits within a mapped catchment, adding to the area's already high development and construction approval volumes at the core of the Western Sydney Aerotropolis. Sutherland Shire also has multiple mapped catchments, including Sutherland, Miranda, Cronulla, Caringbah and Gymea, giving the Shire's already dense strata base a further avenue for new low-rise development near its town centres and stations. See our Liverpool and Sutherland location pages.
Wollongong has several mapped catchments, including Corrimal, Dapto, Fairy Meadow and Warrawong, adding to a local government area already carrying strong medium-density and infill construction activity. Nowra town centre, in the Shoalhaven, is also mapped, extending the policy into the South Coast's principal service centre. See our Wollongong and Nowra location pages.
The Central Coast has mapped catchments at Gosford, Woy Woy, Wyong and several shopping centre precincts, and Newcastle has several more, including Hamilton, Wallsend, Mayfield and Kotara, alongside further catchments in Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Cessnock. This region combines a large and growing housing base with comparatively limited access to specialist planning and property advice locally, which makes understanding a new development right, wherever it sits, particularly worthwhile. See our Central Coast and Newcastle location pages.
Outside these four regions, the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy simply does not apply. Areas such as the Southern Highlands, the Riverina, the Central West, New England and the Mid North Coast fall outside the mapped Stage 2 area entirely, and ordinary council planning controls continue to govern development there without the Housing SEPP's non-discretionary standards coming into play. If you own property in one of these areas and have heard about the policy, it is worth knowing plainly that it does not change what can be built on your land.
If a development proposal near you relies on the Housing SEPP, or you are weighing up what your own land might now support, our Planning and Environment team can review the specific standards that apply to your site and advise on what avenues remain open to you. Our Property and Development team can also assist where a proposal raises boundary, easement or amenity issues the Housing SEPP standards do not resolve. Get in touch for a free consultation.
This publication is intended as general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Please seek independent legal advice before acting on anything contained in it.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
It is a set of changes to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 that permit more dual occupancies, terraces, townhouses and apartment buildings, and introduce new non-discretionary development standards, on residential land within 800 metres of 171 nominated town centres and stations across Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region and the Lower Hunter.
It depends on your property's exact walking distance from a nominated town centre or station, and whether the land is affected by an exclusion such as bushfire risk, flooding, heritage listing or location within a Transport Oriented Development area. The department's indicative map is a starting point, but the legislation itself determines whether a specific site is covered.
Not on the ground that it exceeds the council's own, more restrictive LEP or DCP standard for height, floor space ratio or lot size, where the Housing SEPP standard is met instead. Council can still refuse or condition a proposal on other grounds the standards do not cover, such as privacy, overshadowing or design.
If it proceeds as a standard development application, yes, through your council's usual notification and submission process, though an objection cannot succeed purely on non-compliance with an LEP or DCP standard the Housing SEPP overrides. If it proceeds as complying development instead, there is generally no neighbour notification or objection process at all.
The inner area covers land within 400 metres walking distance of a nominated town centre or station, where residential flat buildings can reach 22 metres and shop-top housing 24 metres, both up to six storeys. The outer area covers land between 400 and 800 metres, where both drop to a maximum of 17.5 metres and four storeys.
No. Stage 2 of the policy, which introduced the non-discretionary standards for terraces, multi-dwelling housing and apartment buildings, is limited to those four regions. Areas such as the Southern Highlands, the Riverina, the Central West, New England and the Mid North Coast fall outside the mapped area entirely.
The policy specifically excludes land affected by bushfire-prone land, certain flood-prone land, coastal hazards, dangerous goods pipelines, high aircraft noise and heritage items, along with the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains, Wollondilly and Bathurst local government areas entirely. Where an exclusion applies, ordinary council planning controls continue to govern the site instead.
Start by confirming your site's zone, its walking distance to the nearest nominated centre or station, and whether any exclusion applies, then check how the relevant Housing SEPP standard interacts with your council's own LEP and DCP controls, since only the more generous figure for each control actually applies.
