NSW home types: attached dwelling (row homes, each on its own lot)
What is an attached dwelling? In NSW planning, it's three or more homes joined by common walls, each on its own lot of land, with none above another (Standard Instrument Dictionary). Terraces are different: multi dwelling housing on one lot.
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Video transcript
What is an attached dwelling? It sounds like a terrace, but in NSW planning it's a different type.
An attached dwelling is a building with three or more dwellings, where each is attached to another by a common wall, each sits on its own lot of land, and none is above any part of another.
So how is it different from terraces? Terraces are multi dwelling housing: three or more homes on one lot. Attached dwellings each have their own lot. Finished terraces may later be subdivided, one home per lot, but they start as one lot.
Every LEP must permit attached dwellings with consent in R1 and R3. In LMR areas, the Housing SEPP also permits them with consent in R2. But section 172 sets no LMR lot standards for attached dwellings, so any minimum lot size comes from the council's LEP and DCP.
There's no complying development code written for building a new row of attached dwellings. The Housing Code covers a single house, and it excludes building a new common wall. So new attached dwellings generally need a development application, or DA.
So in an LMR area, attached dwellings may be an option for an R2 site, even where the local plan doesn't allow them, subject to a s 10.7 planning certificate and development consent.
Check your site with SN Architects, at snarchitects.com.au.
Key points
In Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy (LMR) areas, attached dwellings are permitted with consent in R2, except on excluded land (Housing SEPP ss 164, 170).
The LMR rules set no lot standards for them (s 172), so lot size comes from the council's LEP and DCP.
In an LMR area, attached dwellings may be an option for an R2 site, subject to a s 10.7 planning certificate and development consent.
Check your site
Check your site with SN Architects
www.snarchitects.com.au | info@snarchitects.com.au
As at and sources
General information only, not planning advice. Current as at October 2026.
Sources: NSW Legislation, https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au
Based on content from the New South Wales Legislation website at 8 October 2026. For the latest information on New South Wales Government legislation please go to https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au.
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Disclaimer
This is general information only, not planning, legal or financial advice, and it is not an assessment of any particular property. Planning rules change and every site is different. Before relying on it, obtain a section 10.7 planning certificate for your property and advice from a qualified town planner or registered certifier. To the extent permitted by law, SN Architects accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this information. Information current as at October 2026. © SN Architects 2026.
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