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Canterbury-Bankstown is one of the largest councils in Sydney. The suburbs we build in most often are Bankstown, Padstow, Panania, Revesby, Milperra, East Hills, Yagoona, Chester Hill, Campsie and Belfield.
Five more suburbs sit partly in Canterbury-Bankstown and partly in a neighbouring council: Beverly Hills, Kingsgrove, Narwee, Riverwood and Greenacre. On those, which council you deal with depends on your actual address, not the suburb name. Worth checking before you assume.
Our office is in Padstow.
This decides which of the rules below apply to you, and most granny flat pages never tell you.
About 9 out of 10 granny flats are built on the fast pathway, called complying development. A private certifier checks your plans against a fixed state checklist and issues the approval. Council is not involved in the decision.
The other 1 in 10 goes to Council as a development application, usually because something about the block fails the checklist.
Read the DCP row again, because it is the one that catches people. Every setback, roof pitch, private open space and sunlight control further down this page comes from Canterbury-Bankstown’s development control plan. None of it binds a private certifier. If you are on the fast pathway, a builder quoting you council DCP setbacks is quoting the wrong rulebook.
What does apply on the fast pathway is the state checklist, and that is the same in Padstow as it is in Penrith. The council specific rules on this page matter most if you end up at Council.
A note on flood. We have deliberately not claimed this suburb is clear. The state planning maps carry flood data for only a small number of councils, so an empty result proves nothing. Your Section 10.7 certificate is the document that answers it.
Everywhere in NSW the default cap on a granny flat is 60 m². Canterbury-Bankstown is one of the councils where that is not always the final word.
Clause 5.4(9) of the Canterbury-Bankstown Local Environmental Plan 2023 says the floor area, not counting parking, must not exceed whichever is the greater of:
60 m²
10%
of the total floor area of your existing house
The second option only beats the first if your house is larger than 600 m². That is a very large home, so on the overwhelming majority of blocks the working number is still 60 m².
Which pathway can use it. This clause is confirmed for a development application to Council. It has not been confirmed on the fast complying development pathway for Canterbury-Bankstown, and a private certifier may well not accept it.
Since about 9 in 10 granny flats here go the fast way, the practical answer for most people is that 60 m² is the number. If you have a house over 600 m² and you want the extra space badly enough to accept a council application and the months that add, it is worth asking a certifier and Council before you design around it.
It is still worth knowing the clause exists. On a large property it is the difference between 60 m² and something bigger, and it is not something most builders will raise with you.
A section 7.11 developer contribution applies. Secondary dwellings are already discounted by half under the contributions plan, on the basis that they often house extended family.
The amount is set by bedroom count, not floor area.
Figures published by Canterbury-Bankstown Council for the June 2026 quarter. They are indexed every quarter against Sydney CPI, so confirm the current rate before you budget. Payable before your construction certificate is issued on the council pathway, or before work starts on the fast pathway.
The practical consequence: going from a one bedroom to a 2-bedroom granny flat adds about $3,400 in contributions before you have added a single dollar of building cost. Worth factoring in when you are deciding on size.
This is the quirk that catches people, and it is worth understanding before you start.
Canterbury-Bankstown was formed by merging the former Bankstown and Canterbury councils. The LEP is now one document, but the development control plan is still 2 separate chapters, and they treat granny flats very differently.
Padstow, Panania, Revesby, Milperra, East Hills, Bankstown, Yagoona and Chester Hill are in the former Bankstown area. Campsie and Belfield are in the former Canterbury area.
If you are in the former Canterbury area, expect more case-by-case assessment, particularly on frontage. The policy the council still refers back to was written in 2009 and sets no numeric frontage figure.
Everything in this section comes from Canterbury-Bankstown’s development control plan, which means it applies only if you go to Council. A private certifier issuing a complying development certificate does not apply any of it. If you are among the 9 in 10 going the fast way, read this for context rather than as your rulebook.
These controls apply in the former Bankstown area.
Your house has a floor area budget, and the granny flat comes out of it. The council will not consent unless the combined floor area of the house plus the granny flat stays within the maximum allowed for a dwelling house on that land. If your house already uses most of its allowance, a 60 m² granny flat may not fit even on a large block.
This one blocks projects that look fine on paper.
Single storey and 3 m wall height for a detached granny flat.
No attic, no basement, and a maximum roof pitch of 25 degrees.
Setbacks for the council pathway: 5.5 m from the primary street
3 m from a secondary street, 0.9 m to side and rear where wall height
is 7 m or less.
The existing house has to keep its own private open space and parking. A granny flat that leaves the main house short of either
will not be approved.
Sunlight. At least one living area in the granny flat needs 3 hours of sun between 8am and 4pm at midwinter. Half of the main house’s private open space and half of the neighbour’s must keep 3 hours between 9am and 5pm at the equinox.
Trees are not automatically removable. Council’s tree rules normally exempt trees within 3 m of an approved dwelling. That exemption specifically excludes secondary dwellings, so being close to your new granny flat does not give you a free removal. Significant trees may also force the granny flat to be redesigned or made smaller
Heritage conservation areas have their own dedicated section.
A detached granny flat must be single storey, behind the house,
not visible from the street, and at least 6 m from the main dwelling. Dormer windows are not permitted.
No. There is no bedroom cap in the Canterbury-Bankstown development control plan.
Several granny flat websites state a 2-bedroom maximum applies in this council area. We could not match that claim to any control in either DCP chapter.
Bedrooms do matter for one thing though, and that is the contribution table above.
Nine completed granny flats wholly inside Canterbury-Bankstown, all photographed on this site: Bankstown, Belfield, Campsie, Chester Hill, East Hills, Padstow, Panania (2) and Yagoona.
We have built 8 more in Beverly Hills, Kingsgrove, Narwee and Greenacre. Those 4 suburbs straddle a council boundary, so which council assessed each job comes down to the individual address. We would rather say that than count them all as Canterbury-Bankstown work.
Seventeen builds in and around this council area either way, and the approval process is the one your block will go through.
Only if your existing house is larger than 600 m² of floor area. Clause 5.4(9) of the LEP allows the greater of 60 m² or 10% of the principal dwelling, so the 10% option only wins on a very large home. For most blocks the answer is no, and 60 m² is the cap.
For most of the LGA, $5,638.72 for a studio or one bedroom, $9,030.12 for 2 bedrooms and $12,236.45 for 3 or more, as at the June 2026 quarter. Bankstown City Centre and Campsie Town Centre are slightly higher. The rates are indexed quarterly.
Because the council was formed by a merger and still runs 2 development control plan chapters, one for the former Bankstown area and one for the former Canterbury area. The former Bankstown chapter is much more prescriptive.
No. We could not find any bedroom limit in either DCP chapter. The claim appears on several granny flat websites and does not match the council’s own controls
Both routes exist. If your block meets every standard in the state Housing SEPP, a private certifier can issue a complying development certificate without going to council. If it does not, you lodge a development application with Canterbury-Bankstown, which is assessed on merit.
Usually yes, with more constraints. A detached granny flat must be single storey, sit behind the house, not be visible from the street, and keep at least 6 m separation from the main dwelling.
The rules above are the council layer. The state rules on setbacks, frontage and landscaped area sit underneath them and are tiered by lot size.
Working out which combination applies to your block takes your survey, your title and your planning certificate.
Or call our team on 1300 060 651
Building granny flats since
Since 2012
Builder licence
247388C, verifiable through NSW Fair Trading
Industry body
Housing Industry Association member
MBA NSW Excellence in Housing Awards
Winner 2021, Winner 2023, Finalist 2020
Completed granny flats documented on this site
70+
Approvals
CDC and DA, both managed in-house
Pricing
Fixed price after a site assessment, 2-bedroom from $134,990
Building granny flats since
Since 2012
Builder licence
247388C, verifiable through NSW Fair Trading
Industry body
Housing Industry Association member
MBA NSW Excellence in Housing Awards
Winner 2021, Winner 2023, Finalist 2020
Completed granny flats documented on this site
70+
Approvals
CDC and DA, both managed in-house
Pricing
Fixed price after a site assessment, 2-bedroom from $134,990
