What the checker is reading
| State | What triggers approval | Read from |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Floor more than 1 m above existing ground, more than 3 m at the highest point, or more than 25 m² | Codes SEPP 2008, via the NSW Planning Portal |
| VIC | No exemption exists. A building permit is required for a deck | Building Regulations 2018 Schedule 3 |
| QLD | Roofed at all, more than 1 m above natural ground, more than 10 m² plan area, or anywhere in Wind Region C | Building Regulation 2021 Schedule 1 s 13 |
| WA | No exemption exists. A building permit is required, unless your rural district is exempt outside townsites | Building Regulations 2012 Schedule 4 |
| SA, TAS, ACT, NT | Not confirmed. We could not read these at their own authority, so we publish no figure | — |
Planning approval and building approval are two different things
People lose money on this one. Building approval asks whether the structure is sound. Planning approval asks whether it is allowed on that land at all. Passing one does not clear the other.
- NSW is the simple case. Meet the exempt development standards and you need neither planning nor building approval.
- Victoria and Queensland split them. Victoria’s Schedule 3 carries a note saying work exempt from a building permit may still need a planning permit. Business Queensland says the same thing in its own words: minor building work may still need approval under the local planning scheme.
- Western Australia splits them too — the building permit is under the Building Regulations, and planning runs through your local planning scheme and the R-Codes.
The Victorian 800 mm deck myth
Search for this and you will be told a freestanding deck under 800 mm high needs no permit in Victoria. It is a misreading of the regulation.
The 800 mm figure lives in regulation 74(3), which lists things that may encroach into a setback: “decks, steps or landings less than 800 mm in height”. A setback allowance and a permit exemption are different instruments doing different jobs. Schedule 3 is the permit exemption list, and no item in it is a deck.
What kills the exemption even when the numbers pass
Every state hangs conditions off the thresholds. The ones that catch people:
- Heritage. Victoria’s Schedule 3 excludes work on a building on the Heritage Register outright. NSW pushes structures in a heritage conservation area to the rear yard.
- Bushfire-prone land. NSW requires non-combustible walls within 5 m of a dwelling. In WA the bushfire performance requirement expressly reaches a deck attached to a house.
- Setbacks and the building line. NSW wants 900 mm from each boundary, 5 m in the rural and large-lot zones, and the structure behind the building line of any road frontage.
- Easements. Build over one and you need the service authority’s consent, whatever the deck measures.
- Cyclone country. Queensland switches the whole exemption off in Wind Region C.
How to read a government source without getting caught
A consolidated view of a regulation is usually headed “Current as at” a date. That is the date the text was last consolidated, not proof it is the law today. The Queensland reprint behind this page is headed 14 August 2026; that tells you when the reprint was compiled and nothing about what commenced afterwards. Where a state authority publishes its own plain-English page, we have read that too, and both links are in the answer above.
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General information for Australian homeowners and trades — not legal, planning or building advice, and not a substitute for your council or a building surveyor. Building and planning rules change, and your council can be stricter than the state rule. Every figure on this page carries the source it was read from and the date it was read; check it against that source before you rely on it. No regulator has reviewed this page. Yamate does not issue, lodge or approve anything.