What size shed needs council approval?
In NSW, a shed over 20 m², over 3 m high or closer than 900 mm to a boundary. In Victoria and Queensland, a shed over 10 m². Victoria also caps the height at 3 m, or 2.4 m within 1 m of a boundary, and Queensland at 2.4 m with no side over 5 m. These are the state limits the checker above reads, and your council can add its own.
| 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 | ||
Shed approval by state
The size limits are half of it. The conditions under them are in the same instrument, and every one of them is lost work if you find out late.
Do you need council approval for a shed in NSW?
Not if it fits clause 2.18 of the Codes SEPP, which makes it exempt development with no planning and no building approval. That's no more than 20 m² (50 m² in the rural and large lot zones), no more than 3 m above existing ground, and at least 900 mm from each boundary (5 m in those rural zones). NSW is the only one of the three states here where clearing the standards clears both approvals in one step.
- 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.
- No shipping containers. Named and excluded.
- Behind the building line of any road frontage, and at least 1 m from a registered easement.
- Bushfire prone land within 5 m of a dwelling means non combustible. In a heritage conservation area it goes in the rear yard.
Source: State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 cl 2.18, read 3 September 2026.
Shed building approvals in Victoria
A freestanding shed of no more than 10 m² and no more than 3 m high, or 2.4 m within 1 m of a boundary, needs no building permit. That's Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018.
- Not masonry. A brick or block shed is outside the exemption at any size.
- Not forward of the house. It can't sit further forward than the front wall of the house it belongs to.
- Easements. Building over one needs the service authority’s consent.
- No building permit isn't no planning permit. Schedule 3 says so itself. The planning side is your council’s planning scheme and its overlays.
Source: Building Regulations 2018 (Vic) Schedule 3, read 3 September 2026.
Do you need approval for a shed in Queensland?
Not if its plan area is no more than 10 m², it's no more than 2.4 m high, no side is longer than 5 m and its mean height facing a boundary is no more than 2.1 m. Then it's accepted development under Schedule 1 section 13 of the Building Regulation 2021.
- Wind Region C. In the tropical cyclone area the exemption is simply unavailable. The regulation names Wind Region C and not “C or D”, whatever the shed catalogues say.
- Mean height. Divide the area of the wall facing the boundary by its length. The checker can't measure this one for you.
- The planning scheme. Your council’s scheme can still need an approval for minor building work.
Source: Building Regulation 2021 (Qld) Schedule 1 s 13, read 3 September 2026.
What happens if you build a shed without council approval?
The council can order it altered or pulled down, and ignoring the order costs far more than the approval would have. In NSW the usual fix after the fact is a building information certificate, and Northern Beaches Council warns that applying “does not guarantee approval and Council may issue a Notice/Order for the demolition of the unauthorised building or portion.”
It can get expensive. Northern Beaches issued a development control order over an unapproved carport in Palm Beach, the court substituted an order to demolish its roof, the work wasn’t done, and in August 2024 the Local Court fined the owner $100,000 plus the council’s legal costs.
The rules for what happens next differ by state and by council, and we’ve only read the NSW side at a primary source. Elsewhere, ask your council before you build, not after.
Sources: Northern Beaches Council, Building information certificate, and Owner receives $100,000 penalty for failing to comply with Development Control Order (27 August 2024), both read 26 October 2026.
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. This page does not issue, lodge or approve anything.