Short answer: sometimes, but Moreton Bay works differently to most SEQ councils, and the difference catches people. There is no single minimum lot size for subdivision in the City of Moreton Bay's General residential zone. What decides your block's fate is its precinct, and in the Next generation neighbourhood precinct the test is a density band, not the fixed minimum lot size many owners expect.
One thing is constant: every subdivision in the General residential zone needs a development application. Table 5.6.1 of the operative planning scheme lists reconfiguring a lot in this zone as "Assessable development - Code assessment - If not otherwise specified", and there is no accepted development tier for it at all. Code assessment means the application is decided against the scheme's technical benchmarks rather than through public notification, but it is a real application every time.
The density rule that replaces the minimum lot size
In the Next generation neighbourhood precinct, the Reconfiguring a lot code sets the test as a net residential density band. The scheme's own words (Performance outcome PO1, Table 9.4.1.6.3.1 of the Reconfiguring a lot code, verified against the operative scheme text):
"Reconfiguring of a lot achieves a minimum net residential density of 10 lots per hectare, whilst not exceeding 25 lots per hectare, creating a diverse low-medium density neighbourhood character."
Twenty-five lots per hectare works out to one lot per 400 m² (10,000 divided by 25). So a one-into-two split needs a parent lot of roughly 800 m² or more. We screened a 632 m² lot in this precinct where the arithmetic came out at 1.58 compliant lots, which rounds down to one: no second lot, regardless of the lot's shape or frontage. The band cuts the other way too. Because the code also sets a minimum of 10 lots per hectare, splitting a very large parcel into just two oversized lots can also fall outside the outcome, which surprises acreage owners expecting a simple two-lot split.
On top of the density band sits a lot geometry layer: Table 9.4.1.6.3.3 defines lot types by frontage band (from Lot Type A at 7.5 m of frontage up to Lot Type F at 32 m and above, with lot depths of 25 to 35 m across the types) and carries its own rear-lot rules. A split that clears the density arithmetic still has to land each new lot inside a workable lot type.
Outside the Next generation neighbourhood precinct, the other precincts of the General residential zone (Suburban neighbourhood, Coastal communities and others) carry their own reconfiguration tests, and localised instruments in parts of the city (temporary local planning instruments, priority development areas and local plans) can override the scheme. Which test applies to your parcel is a mapping question, read per lot.
The State shortcut that usually is not one
Queensland's Planning Regulation 2017 (Schedule 12) provides a state code-assessment pathway for a clean one-into-two split in residential zones (other than park residential and rural residential). Two things about it are widely misunderstood. First, it sets no lot sizes of its own: each created lot must still meet "the minimum lot size for the relevant zone stated in a local instrument", so the council's own numbers govern either way. Second, the schedule does not apply at all if the lot sits in a mapped erosion prone, flood hazard, bushfire hazard, landslide hazard or storm tide area, or if "an overlay in a local instrument applies to all or part of the premises". Any overlay, on any part of the lot. In practice that sends most Moreton Bay subdivisions back to the council's own Reconfiguring a lot code.
The overlays that actually matter here
Under the current scheme, only two overlays can change an assessment category in Moreton Bay: flood hazard and coastal hazard (Part 5.10). For subdivision specifically:
- Flood hazard: in the Balance, Medium and High risk areas, a reconfiguration's category generally does not change (it is code assessable anyway), though the flood code becomes an assessment benchmark. The trap is the Drainage investigation area: land mapped there makes reconfiguring a lot impact assessable, which means public notification and a materially harder application.
- Coastal hazard: the other category-changing overlay; its storm tide and erosion prone tiers must be read on the parcel.
- Bushfire and landslide: under the current scheme these are planning scheme policies rather than overlay codes, so they do not change the subdivision's assessment category; they bite at building stage (construction standards, siting) and as practical feasibility factors on the new lots.
If the block cannot be split, the two-dwellings pathway often survives
Here is the distinction that matters most on sub-800 m² lots in the Next generation neighbourhood precinct: the 25 lots per hectare cap applies to subdividing land into freehold lots. Dwellings are governed by a separate, much more generous dwelling density (up to 75 dwellings per hectare in this precinct). So a lot that cannot produce a second freehold lot can often still host a dual occupancy: accepted development without an application on lots that meet the precinct's frontage, area or centre-proximity tests with all the code's requirements satisfied, and a code assessable development application otherwise. The two dwellings can then be sold separately under a building format (community title) plan while the land stays one lot. And because Queensland's standard definition of dual occupancy covers two dwellings "whether attached or detached", one common configuration is keeping the existing house and adding a second detached dwelling behind it, subject to the design fitting the lot's setbacks, access and services. Whether that works on your block is a design and title question for the professionals, but the pathway itself is real.
How to check your own block
- Find your parcel on the City of Moreton Bay's ePlan and identify its zone and precinct. The precinct decides which reconfiguration test applies, and the mapping shows whether a local plan, TLPI or PDA overrides it.
- If you are in the Next generation neighbourhood precinct, run the density arithmetic: lot area in square metres divided by 400 gives the maximum number of lots. Below 2.0, a freehold split does not fit the band.
- Check the overlay maps, especially flood hazard and the Drainage investigation area mapping, then frontage against the lot type bands, and leave room for access if a rear lot is involved.
This page is general information about the City of Moreton Bay planning scheme, not advice about your property. Overlay effects vary lot by lot, planning schemes amend, and the council's current scheme prevails. Do not rely on this page for a specific property. Get a site-specific report or independent professional advice before acting. We work with town planners, not in place of them: where a pathway depends on design or professional judgement, a town planner or the relevant qualified professional confirms it for your specific proposal.
Want the answer for your block? Our $690 site-specific report reads the zone, the precinct, every overlay mapped on the property and the surviving development pathways for one property, with every figure cited to the scheme. Not ready for that? Start with the free development risk checklist, or read our Moreton Bay planning and zoning guide.
Sources: MBRC Planning Scheme 2016 (the council's official ePlan), including the Reconfiguring a lot code (9.4.1.6), Table 5.6.1 and Part 5.10, and the Planning Regulation 2017 (Qld), Schedule 12. Everything on this page comes from the council's and the State's own published planning rules; we explain them in plain English. The scheme text itself is the authority.
Published by LandIntel. How we research: our methodology.
Verified 3 to 14 July 2026 against the MBRC Planning Scheme 2016, Version 7.1 (effective 23 June 2025) and the Planning Regulation 2017 (Qld, current consolidation); schemes amend, and the live scheme prevails.