Can I put a granny flat on my property?

Can I put a granny flat on my property? Video

Transcript

Introduction

Hello, my name is Sarah and I am a Planner/ Urban Designer within the Local Planning Team at Coffs Harbour City Council. On this video, I am going to help you find out if you can put a granny flat (also known as a secondary dwelling) on the same block of land as your principle place of residence.

A secondary dwelling, commonly known as a ‘granny flat’ is self-contained accommodation within, attached or separate to the main house (also referred to as the principle dwelling).

Secondary dwellings are permitted by a state policy called State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (‘the Housing SEPP’).

In Coffs Harbour you can build a secondary dwelling in all residential zones except for Zone R4 High Density Residential. This rule applies regardless if there is a lawful dwelling on land within Zone R4.

An approval for a secondary dwelling can be obtained from Council or an accredited certifier as complying development, provided all of the requirements in the Housing SEPP are met.

Accredited certifiers are building and development certifiers that have completed a certification course and registered with NSW Fair Trading. You can find accredited building certifiers by using a common search engine.

If your proposal does not meet the requirements for complying development, approval is required from Council through the development application pathway.

Dwelling houses are prohibited in Zone R4 under Coffs Harbour LEP 2013, hence secondary dwellings cannot be approved on land within Zone R4 under the Housing SEPP.

Step One – Determining the Land Use Zone of Your Property

To determine if you can put a secondary dwelling on your property, first you need to find out what land use zone applies to your property. A land use zone is what the NSW Government uses to classify individual properties and to identify what types of land uses can be carried out in each of the different land use zones.

There are a couple of ways you can work out the land use zone of a property:

1) you can check your rates notice if you own the land; or

2) you can use Council’s Online Mapping Tool. 

To use Council’s online mapping tool, please see our video ‘Determining the Land Use Zone of a Property’.

Step Two – Determining if You Can Build a Secondary Dwelling

The next step is to look at the Housing SEPP to determine if your proposal meets the requirements for either for the complying development pathway or the development application pathway.

To do this, you need to use a search engine (I prefer Google) and type into the search bar NSW Legislation. Click on the NSW Legislation Website prompt which will take you to the NSW legislation page. Click on ‘In force; on the blue banner at the top of the page, then under the heading ‘Environmental Planning Instruments’ click on the letter ‘S’. In the drop down list click on State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing 2021).

If you scroll to the left hand side of the webpage you will see a table of contents for the policy.

Scroll down to Chapter 3 Diverse Housing, Part 1 Secondary Dwellings.

Over on the right hand side of the webpage you will see all of the relevant information relating to secondary dwellings.

The definition of a secondary dwelling is provided and includes alterations and additions to existing secondary dwellings.

PERMISSIBILITY

As mentioned earlier, under the policy, a secondary dwelling can only be approved within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area within zones R1, R2, R3, and R5. Therefore, secondary dwellings are not permitted on land within Zone R4.

SUBDIVISION

Under the policy, secondary dwellings cannot be subdivided from the main house also known as a principle dwelling.

Once there is a secondary dwelling on the lot, this lot cannot be later subdivided even if the secondary dwelling is not subdivided from the main house.

DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION PATHWAY

Where approval is sought from Council for a Secondary Dwelling through the development application pathway the policy requires that:

• no other dwelling is to exist on the land other than the main house (principle dwelling) and the secondary dwelling (i.e. the final development should only result in the main house and secondary dwelling on the same lot – no other dwellings); and

• the total floor area of the secondary dwelling is to be no more than 60m² or 11% of the total floor area of the main house (principal dwelling).

Under the development application pathway, the secondary dwelling can be detached from the main house, provided that the property is at least 450m².

Under the development application pathway, the number of parking spaces on the land immediately before the development is carried out must not be reduced. Additional parking is not required for the secondary dwelling.

All other requirements within Council’s Local Environmental Plan and Development Control Plan that relate to secondary dwellings must also be satisfied where approval for a secondary dwelling is sought through the development application pathway.

To determine the relevant controls, go to Council’s homepage. Click on Building and Planning, then Planning Controls and Guidelines, then click on either Coffs Harbour Local Environmental Plan 2013 or Coffs Harbour Development Control Plan 215.  Some proposals may be complex and assistance from a qualified consultant may be necessary.

COMPLYING DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY

Clauses 54 to 58 of the Housing SEPP apply to secondary dwellings where approval is sought through the complying development pathway. This approval pathway has a shorter assessment period and can be undertaken by either an accredited certifier or Council. This pathway can be complex due to the upfront requirements that need to be met. It is recommended that a qualified consultant and/or accredited certifier is engaged to assist you on this approval pathway.

A summary of the requirements that must be met for the complying development pathway includes the following:

• The proposal must be on land within zone R1, R2 or R3 (i.e. not on land within Zone R5 Large Lot Residential) – approval on land within R5 must be via the development application pathway.
• The proposal must satisfy the general requirements in a State Policy Called State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, otherwise known as the ‘Code SEPP’ which includes matters such as critical habitat, wilderness areas and heritage items.
• The proposal must not include land that is constrained such as:
  • land within a heritage conservation area,
  • land reserved for a public purpose,
  • land containing potential acid sulfate soils,
  • contaminated land,
  • land subject to a biobanking agreement or private land conservation agreement,
  • riparian land,
  • ecologically sensitive areas,
  • environmentally sensitive land,
  • protected areas,
  • land impacted by coastal hazard or erosion,
  • land in a foreshore area,
  • land impacted by certain flightpaths,
  • special areas, and
  • certain unsewered land within a drinking water catchment.

Determining if any of the above constraints are on your property is best done by obtaining a Planning Certificate, which can be done by completing an online form on Council’s website called a ‘Request for Certificates Form’.

For the purpose of a quick enquiry Council’s online mapping tool includes a lot of information in relation to land based constraints and environmental values.

The property for which the secondary dwelling is proposed, needs to be at least 450m².

The proposal must meet the requirements within Schedule 1 of the Housing SEPP.

• Site Requirements
• Building heights and setbacks
• Landscaping
• Earthworks and Drainage

Where the secondary dwelling is proposed within the main house, the following additional requirements also apply:

• The proposal must meet the relevant provisions of the Building Code of Australia;
• The proposal must not be on land that is an environmentally sensitive area;
• The proposal must not be on land that has a heritage item or draft heritage item;
• The proposal must not involve external alterations to the main house other than a new entrance;
• The proposal must not result in a dwelling on the land, other than the main house (principle dwelling) and secondary dwelling; and
• The proposal must not result in the floor area of the secondary dwelling being more than 60m² or more than 11% of the total floor area of the main house (principal dwelling).

Additional requirements apply for where the main house (principle dwelling) and secondary dwelling are being constructed at the same time.

If the land is bushfire prone, there are certain situations where the complying development pathway cannot be utilised due to bushfire hazard. If the requirements under this clause cannot be met, the development application pathway must be utilised.

If the land is impacted by flooding, complying development cannot be carried out in a flood storage area, a floodway area, a flow path, a high hazard area, or a high risk area. There are also a number of other requirements that must be met in relation to flood hazard for the complying development pathway to be utilised, otherwise the development application pathway must be utilised.