Does a duplex need a Section 73 certificate from Sydney Water?

What a Section 73 certificate is

A Section 73 Compliance Certificate is Sydney Water's confirmation that a development or subdivision has adequate water, wastewater and stormwater services. Your council or certifier tells you whether you need one, usually through a condition of your approval. Sydney Water's guidelines for consent authorities name dual occupancy development, subdivided or not, as a type to refer. Torrens, community and strata subdivisions are on the same list.

A duplex differs from a granny flat here. Sydney Water says a secondary dwelling approved as complying development under the Housing SEPP does not need a Section 73 certificate, although it still needs building plan approval. Our guide to what dual occupancy means explains how the two housing types differ.

How the application works

You can apply through an accredited water servicing coordinator or through Sydney Water Developer Direct, which handles minor works for small developments, including dual occupancies. Sydney Water describes four milestones:

• Sydney Water assesses the development against its servicing requirements.
• If work is needed, it issues a Notice of Requirements, which stays valid for 12 months.
• A constructor listed with Sydney Water carries out and supervises the required works.
• Once the works are built and inspected and the fees are paid, Sydney Water issues the certificate and building plan approval for you to take to council.

For coordinator applications, Sydney Water says it sends the Notice of Requirements within 60 days. Through Developer Direct it lists a fixed application fee of $1,202.92 including GST and asks applicants to be ready to start any required works within four months.

What the Notice of Requirements can ask for

For a small development where water and sewer services already exist, Sydney Water expects mostly minor changes. Typical examples are a sewer connection for each new lot or a sewer main extension of less than 25 metres. Others are a new water service from the main to the meter and concrete encasement of a sewer pipe that sits too close to the new building. The notice can also include developer fees and infrastructure contributions. Where a sewer runs through the block, our guide to building over a sewer line explains how Sydney Water assesses the design.

Several costs sit outside the application fee, such as construction at market rates and road opening permits. A pegout may be needed too, which is a service protection report that locates Sydney Water's pipes on site. Our guide to the cost to build a duplex in Sydney shows where they belong in a complete budget.

Why it is worth starting early

Sydney Water also has to give building plan approval before a new home is built, because the work may sit near its pipes. Any servicing works in the Notice of Requirements must then be built and inspected before the certificate is issued, which means a late start can hold up the occupation certificate. That makes the servicing requirements worth understanding at design stage, while pipes, meters and connection points can still shape the plan.

The certificate matters again if you plan to sell the homes separately, because subdivisions are referred for one too. Our guide to whether a dual occupancy can be sold separately explains the title options.

How we approach servicing on a duplex

We survey the block and read its zoning, frontage and access before the brief is set. We then coordinate the consultants and prepare the application for complying development or a council assessment. Where the lot and controls allow separate titles, we manage the Torrens title subdivision in house alongside the build. That runs from the subdivision plans and admin documents to the section 88B and 88E instruments and lodgement with NSW Land Registry Services. To see how a duplex moves from one site to two finished homes, explore our duplex builders in Sydney.