A compact secondary dwelling beside your main house, called a granny flat, provides several benefits to property owners. You can use it as additional accommodation for your distant relatives or to earn rental income and pay off your investment.
If you’re looking to start your granny flat project in the foreseeable future, you must know about the standard granny flat council requirements in NSW. Knowing these requisites will save you time, effort, and money because you won’t have to go through specific processes repeatedly.
Council Approval is Not Required in Building Granny Flat
Before we discuss the nitty-gritty of NSW council requirements for granny flats, it’s important to note that you don’t need council approval to construct a granny flat on your residential property.
The State Environmental Planning Policy (Affordable Rental Housing) (AHSEPP), which was introduced in July 2009, permits the building of granny flats even without council approval. The NSW Government acknowledges a granny flat as an actual home, an accessory apartment, or an accessory dwelling unit.
Because council approval is not required, the entire planning and construction process can now be completed in about 12 weeks. Your property and design plans must still adhere to specific NSW construction requirements.
What are the Minimum Site Requirements to Build a Granny Flat?
Here are some of the minimum requirements when building granny flats:
- You cannot exceed the maximum internal space of 60 square metres.
- You ought to have a minimum lot area of 450 square metres.
- You can only build a maximum of one granny flat per lot.
- Your granny flat must maintain a height of 8.5 metres maximum.
- You must have a courtyard space of 24 square metres for your granny flat.
- You must maintain a 12-metre width at the building line of your current main house. You may want to consider attaching the granny flat on your main house if your property doesn’t meet this requirement.
- You must keep a setback of three metres from the rear of the main house and 0.9 metre from its side boundaries.
- You must keep a distance of three metres from any existing trees that have a height of more than six metres.
For more details about the minimum complying requirements for developing granny flats, click here. You’ll see a detailed table with specific size requirements for lots, landscaped areas, minimum frontage, site coverage, building height, front setback, side setback, and rear setback.
FAQ
Is it legal to build a granny flat instead of a house on empty land?
No, you cannot build granny flats on unoccupied lots according to the current guidelines of the AHSEPP. You can only build them on a property with an existing building or house.
Can you build a two-storey granny flat on your property?
You may build a two-storey granny flat on your property according to AHSEPP. However, it must adhere to the rear and front setback requirements of the NSW policy.
Contact Granny Flat Builders Sydney
Reach out to us at Granny Flat Builders Sydney if you need qualified builders who can help you with your granny project. Our company has more than 30 years of construction experience. Give us a call at 1300 830 176 for more information about how we can help you.