What the checker is reading
| State | Floor area | Height | Boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 20 m², or 50 m² in the rural and large-lot zones | 3 m above existing ground | 900 mm, or 5 m in those rural zones |
| VIC | 10 m² | 3 m, dropping to 2.4 m within 1 m of a boundary | No fixed setback, but the height limit changes at 1 m |
| QLD | 10 m² plan area, no side over 5 m | 2.4 m, and a mean height of 2.1 m facing a boundary | Measured through the mean-height test |
| WA, SA, TAS, ACT, NT | Not confirmed. We could not read these at their own authority, so we publish no figure | ||
NSW is the only one of the three where clearing the standards clears both planning and building approval in one step. Victoria and Queensland exempt you from the building permit and leave the planning question with your council.
The conditions that matter more than the numbers
Every one of these is in the instrument, and every one of them is lost work if you find out late.
- NSW: two per lot. Clause 2.18 says “there must not be more than 2 developments per lot”. A third shed is a development application however small it is.
- NSW: no shipping containers. Named and excluded.
- Victoria: not masonry. A brick or block shed is outside the exemption at any size, and it cannot sit further forward than the front wall of the house.
- Queensland: Wind Region C. In the tropical cyclone area the exemption is simply unavailable. Note the regulation names Wind Region C and not “C or D”, whatever the shed catalogues say.
- Easements everywhere. NSW wants 1 m clear of a registered easement. Victoria needs the service authority’s consent to build over one.
Why four states are blank, and why that is the honest answer
We could not reach the primary instruments for Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT or the Northern Territory on the day this page was written — several state legislation sites refuse automated reads. We would rather show a gap than a number nobody checked. A shed built to a threshold copied off a retailer’s blog is a shed you may have to move.
The rules we have published each carry the instrument, the URL and the date it was read, in the answer above. If a figure here disagrees with your council, your council wins.
A word on “current as at”
Government consolidations are headed “Current as at” a date. That is when the text was last compiled, not a statement that nothing has commenced since. Where the state also publishes a plain-English page, we read both.
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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.