Three numbers in a New South Wales local environmental plan decide much of what can be done with a block: the minimum lot size, the maximum height of buildings and the maximum floor space ratio. Each is drawn on its own map in the plan, and each is a limit, not a promise.
Where a council adopts it, clause 4.1 (in summary) stops a subdivision from creating a lot smaller than the size the plan's Lot Size Map gives for that land. It applies to subdivisions made after the plan began, so it is a control on creating new lots, not a statement about the lot you are buying. A plan can also carry clauses that allow smaller lots in stated cases, which is why the plan and not the map alone settles it.
The clause does not apply to strata subdivision under the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 or to community title subdivision under the Community Land Development Act 2021. A plan may set a separate minimum for community title schemes.
In summary, clause 4.3 caps a building's height at the figure the Height of Buildings Map gives for the land. The Standard Instrument's Dictionary measures height straight up from the ground as it was before the work (existing ground level) to the building's highest point. Lift overruns and rooftop plant are counted; antennae, chimneys and flues are not. That is a summary of the definitions, not their wording.
In summary of the same Dictionary, floor space ratio (FSR) compares the total gross floor area of the buildings on a site with the area of the site. A ratio of 0.5:1 on a 600 m² lot caps gross floor area at 300 m². Gross floor area is measured inside the outer walls, on every floor. It counts mezzanines and habitable rooms in a basement or attic, and leaves out things such as lift and stair cores, plant rooms and basement storage. That is a summary of the definitions, not their wording.
All three are development standards, and the Standard Instrument makes each clause optional, so a council may map none, or map one for only part of its area. Where a figure is mapped it is a ceiling. The council's development control plan can add setbacks, storey limits and building envelopes that stop a design short of it; the Department's practice note says those controls should not exceed the maximums set in the plan.
A standard can also be varied. Clause 4.6, which every plan carries, lets consent be granted for development that breaks a development standard, if the tests in that clause are met. Whether a variation would be approved on a particular site is a question for the council.
The figures are set in the local environmental plan and its maps. A section 10.7(2) planning certificate names the plans that apply to the land and, under its zoning item, says whether a development standard fixes minimum land dimensions for a dwelling house. The Regulation's list does not ask it to state the height limit or the floor space ratio.
For a New South Wales address the report reads the plan's Lot Size, Height of Buildings and Floor Space Ratio maps at the address and prints each figure with its unit, its map code and the map's currency date. A minimum lot size is labelled as not a subdivision entitlement. Where nothing is mapped, it says that.
It does not calculate gross floor area, reproduce the development control plan, say whether a lot can be subdivided, or assess any variation. The lot's area in the report comes from the cadastre and is marked approximate. It is not a survey, so it cannot settle whether a lot clears a minimum by a small margin. The zone sits under all three figures; the hazard map and the council pages show what else is mapped.
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In New South Wales, the minimum lot size, height of buildings and floor space ratio are development standards set by a local environmental plan and shown on its Lot Size, Height of Buildings and Floor Space Ratio Maps.
The minimum lot size is the smallest lot a subdivision may create; under the Standard Instrument it does not apply to strata or community title subdivision. In summary of the Standard Instrument's Dictionary, building height is measured from existing ground level to the building's highest point, and floor space ratio compares the gross floor area of the buildings on a site with the site's area. Each is a limit, not an entitlement, and clause 4.6 of the plan allows a standard to be varied, subject to its tests.
General information about New South Wales registers. Not legal, planning or valuation advice for any particular property.