Often not. A small shed, carport or deck can be exempt development: it needs no approval at all, and no certifier, as long as it meets every standard NSW sets for it. Miss one and it needs approval, either a complying development certificate (CDC) or a development application (DA).
The standards are in the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, usually called the Codes SEPP. The main ones, as NSW’s own pages set them out, are below.
Carports
- Size: up to 20 square metres on a lot of 300 square metres or less; up to 25 square metres on a larger lot; up to 50 square metres on a lot over 300 square metres in a rural zone or zone R5.
- Height: no more than 3 metres above the ground. Attached to a single-storey house, no higher than its gutter line.
- Open sides: at least two sides open, and at least a third of the perimeter.
- Boundaries: at least 900 millimetres from any boundary (5 metres in zones RU1, RU2, RU3, RU4, RU6 and R5), and at least a metre behind the building line facing the street.
- How many: one per house, or two where there is also a granny flat.
- Where not: not in a foreshore area or on a heritage item; in a heritage conservation area, only in the back yard.
Decks, balconies and patios
- Size: no more than 25 square metres each. Together they can cover no more than 15% of the house’s ground floor area on a lot over 300 square metres, or 25 square metres on a smaller lot.
- Height: the floor no more than a metre above the ground, the whole structure no more than 3 metres, and no enclosing wall over 1.4 metres.
- Boundaries: not in front of the building line, and at least 900 millimetres from side and rear boundaries (5 metres in zones RU1, RU2, RU3, RU4, RU6 and R5).
- Pergolas come under the same part of the Codes SEPP as decks and patios.
Sheds
A garden shed can be exempt development if it meets the size, height and boundary standards in clauses 2.17 and 2.18 of the Codes SEPP. Two things catch people out: a shed cannot be used as living space, and on bushfire-prone land it has to be built of materials that do not burn. A shed that does not fit the exempt standards can often be approved as complying development instead.
Anywhere
Exempt development generally cannot be built on a State heritage item, in critical habitat or in a wilderness area, and on bushfire-prone land a carport or deck within 5 metres of a house has to be built of materials that do not burn.
When one does need approval
Work that misses the exempt standards can often be approved as complying development, which is far quicker than a development application: how long a CDC takes.
The standards above are from NSW’s pages on carports and garages and balconies, decks and patios. They are a summary: check the full standards for your lot with the council or a certifier before you build.