Subdivision rules in Australia

It depends on the minimum lot size your council's Local Environmental Plan maps for your particular parcel. As a working rule the block needs to be at least twice that mapped figure (a battle-axe access handle is usually excluded from the calculation), with adequate frontage and services, and subdivision must be permitted in your zone.

Usually possible in principle, but you need a planning permit and each new lot must satisfy the subdivision requirements of your zone and the schedule to that zone in your council's planning scheme. Victoria has no statewide minimum subdivision lot size - a minimum only applies where a Neighbourhood Residential or Low Density Residential Zone schedule specifies one, and those figures are often 800 m² or larger.

In Queensland subdivision is called reconfiguring a lot, and whether you can do it turns on the minimum lot size, frontage and lot shape your council's planning scheme sets for your zone and precinct. In Brisbane's Low Density Residential zone that is commonly 400 m² for a standard lot and 600 m² for a rear (battle-axe) lot, but each of Queensland's councils sets its own figures.

Subdivision in South Australia is called land division, and it requires development approval including land division consent. Whether your block qualifies depends on the minimum site area and minimum frontage the state-wide Planning and Design Code sets for your zone, which is often adjusted for your specific area by a Technical and Numeric Variation.

Whether you can subdivide depends on the R-Code density coded to your lot in the local planning scheme and on the minimum and average site areas that code allows. The distinctive feature of Western Australia is who decides: subdivision approval is granted by the Western Australian Planning Commission, a state body, not by your local council.

It depends on your zone and the lot design standards in the Tasmanian Planning Scheme, as applied to your land by your council's Local Provisions Schedule. In the General Residential Zone the acceptable solution is 450 m² per lot with a 10 m x 15 m building area. Tasmania also uses performance criteria, so a smaller lot can still be approved as a discretionary application if the design meets the performance outcomes.

All ACT land is held on a long-term Crown lease, so subdividing means changing the lease as well as the land. Whether you can do it depends on your residential zone (RZ1 to RZ5), the size of your block and whether the Crown lease purpose clause allows the number of dwellings you want - and the Missing Middle Housing reforms that commenced on 1 July 2026 widened what is possible in RZ1 and RZ2.

You need a development permit to subdivide land in the Northern Territory unless the proposal is exempt. Whether your block qualifies depends on the minimum lot size and lot configuration the NT Planning Scheme 2020 sets for your zone, plus land suitability and the ability to service the new lots.