Granny Flat Rules NSW 2026 - Get Free Quotes

Granny Flat Rules in New South Wales

Establishing whether a property satisfies the secondary dwelling criteria costs very little. A title search and deposited plan run $20 to $60, a planning certificate from the council $60 to $180, a call to the duty planner nothing at all, and a written planning assessment $500 to $2,500 where the position looks marginal. A site survey at $800 to $2,500 is needed for any application anyway. Those figures are the whole cost of finding out, against a build measured in six figures. Households who spend nothing on verification and several thousand on concept plans have the sequence exactly backwards. The documents come first because they determine whether the plans are worth commissioning.

This page does not publish current numbers for lot size, width, floor area or setbacks, and that is deliberate rather than unhelpful. The figures attached to these criteria have been amended more than once in recent years and remain under review, and a page repeating a figure that has since changed causes real harm to someone who relies on it. A minimum lot area in the order of four hundred and fifty square metres has been commonly cited historically, and even that should be treated as background rather than as the answer for your land. Figures published anywhere were accurate on the day they were typed, and nothing on the page tells you whether that day has passed. Anyone quoting you a figure should be able to say where it comes from and when it was last confirmed.

What is stable, and what this page covers, is the structure of the criteria and how they are applied. Which standards exist, what each one controls, how each is measured and where the measurement catches people out change far more slowly than the numbers do. Understanding that structure lets you have a useful conversation with a certifier rather than an argument about a figure you read somewhere. Costs of the resulting build sit under granny flat costs. A certifier will answer a precise question quickly and an imprecise one slowly, so knowing what to ask is worth something in itself.

What the Criteria Are Actually For

The criteria exist to allow a second dwelling on a suburban block without degrading the amenity of the property, the neighbours or the street. Each standard addresses a specific consequence, and reading them that way makes them considerably easier to work with than treating them as an arbitrary list. Lot size and floor area together control density, setbacks control privacy and building bulk at boundaries, and landscaped area controls drainage and the character of the block. Neighbours' amenity is the thread running through most of them, which is why setbacks, height and privacy provisions feature so heavily. Understanding that makes the framework coherent rather than arbitrary. Read as a set they describe a reasonable second dwelling on a reasonable block rather than a hostile obstacle course.

The trade off underlying the whole framework is that a proposal meeting every standard can be certified rather than assessed, which is what makes the process fast. That speed is the reward for compliance, and it is why the criteria operate as a threshold rather than as a guideline. A proposal is either inside the standards or it is not, and there is no partial credit for being close on one of them. Certifiers cannot vary a standard however reasonable the case, since their function is to certify compliance rather than to assess merit. That distinction is the whole basis of the system.

Councils and neighbours have limited scope to object to a proposal that satisfies every criterion, which is the practical effect households care about most. That is not the same as no scrutiny, since the certifier still checks the proposal properly and construction standards still apply in full. It does mean the outcome is predictable, which is worth a great deal when you are committing to a project of this size. Predictability is worth real money on a project of this size, because it removes the risk of spending months on an application that fails.

Understanding the purpose behind a standard also helps when a design is being adjusted to fit. Where a proposal is marginally over on floor area, knowing that the standard exists to control density tells you that reducing the footprint is the answer rather than arguing the point. A designer who works with these criteria regularly will shape a proposal to sit comfortably inside them rather than at their edge, which is worth paying for. Designers who work at the edge of the standards produce proposals that are fragile to any measurement disagreement, which is a poor trade for a few extra square metres.

None of this replaces verification for your specific property. The framework applies across the state and councils apply their own controls alongside it, so two properties with identical dimensions in different local government areas can reach different outcomes. The routes available once this assessment is done sit under granny flat approval. Two adjoining properties can also differ where one carries a constraint the other does not, so even a next door comparison proves nothing.

The Standards a Proposal Must Satisfy

Minimum lot area is the first gate and the one that excludes most properties outright. The standard sets a floor below which a secondary dwelling is not available through the fast pathway, and it is assessed against the registered area of the lot rather than any informal understanding of the block. Households on smaller lots frequently discover they are excluded here before any other criterion is reached, which is why this is the first thing to check. There is no discretion available on this standard through the fast pathway, so a lot below the threshold needs a different approach entirely. Check it before anything else, because a failure here makes every other question academic.

Minimum lot width sits alongside it and catches a different set of properties. Long narrow blocks common across older inner suburbs can satisfy the area requirement comfortably while failing on width, and irregular blocks that taper toward the rear can fail at the point where the measurement is taken. Where the standard is measured matters enormously here and is covered in the next section. Corner blocks and battle axe lots raise their own questions about which boundary is treated as the frontage.

Maximum floor area limits the size of the secondary dwelling itself, and it is the standard that shapes the design more than any other. What counts toward that area is where households get caught, since covered outdoor areas, porches, storage and similar spaces may or may not be included depending on how they are configured. Ask specifically what counts rather than assuming the figure applies only to enclosed living space. Example plans are collected at granny flat floor plans. Designers work to this constraint routinely and will tell you what a given figure delivers in practice, which is usually less than owners expect once circulation and storage are allowed for. A well planned smaller dwelling frequently lives better than a poorly planned larger one at the same area.

Setbacks control how close the dwelling may sit to each boundary and to the principal dwelling. They exist to protect privacy, light and the neighbours' amenity, and they typically differ between the front, side and rear boundaries. On a modest block, setbacks frequently determine where the building can go far more tightly than the lot area suggests, which is why marking them out on the ground is such a useful exercise before falling for a design. Existing structures near a boundary can also affect what is possible, since separation between buildings is controlled as well as separation from boundaries. Pegging the setbacks out with string on a Saturday morning is the single most clarifying exercise available.

Site coverage and landscaped area work as a pair and together limit how much of the block can be built on and hard surfaced. Everything already on the property counts toward coverage, including the house, the garage, any shed and often the driveway and paving, so a block that would qualify if empty may not qualify as it stands. Landscaped area requirements also frequently carry minimum dimensions, meaning a narrow strip of garden may not count toward the total at all. Pools, pool surrounds and large paved entertaining areas are the common culprits on established properties.

Several further standards apply and are easy to overlook. Building height and the number of storeys are controlled, only one secondary dwelling is permitted per lot under the standard arrangements, the dwelling must sit on the same lot as the principal dwelling and cannot be subdivided off, and parking provision may be required. Each of these has ended a proposal that satisfied everything else, so treat the list as complete rather than working through the headline items only. Work through the full list with a certifier rather than assuming the headline standards are the whole test.

How These Things Are Actually Measured

Lot area means the registered area shown on your title and deposited plan, not the area you pace out or estimate from an online map. Battle axe blocks raise a specific question about whether the access handle counts toward the area used for assessment, and the answer affects a great many properties in older subdivisions. Order the deposited plan for your lot and work from that document rather than from any other source. Online mapping tools are useful for orientation and unreliable for measurement, since boundaries shown on them are approximate. The deposited plan number appears on your rates notice if you cannot find the title.

Lot width is the measurement that catches the most people and it is rarely what owners assume. The width is assessed at a defined point rather than at the widest part of the block, and on a tapered, irregular or curved frontage that point may be considerably narrower than the street boundary. Blocks on the outside of a curve are the classic case, appearing generous at the street and pinching at the building line. Confirm where the measurement is taken before concluding you comply. This standard alone accounts for a large share of proposals that fail on paperwork rather than on design.

Floor area calculations turn on what is enclosed and how, which is why two dwellings of apparently identical size can be treated differently. Covered outdoor areas, verandahs, porches, external storage and carports may be included, excluded or partly counted depending on their configuration and how open they are. This is the single most common source of a design being reworked, and it is entirely avoidable by asking the question at concept stage. Getting this confirmed in writing before plans are drawn is worth the email it takes to ask. Ask about roofed but unenclosed areas specifically, since they are the ambiguous case.

Site coverage is measured against everything on the land rather than against the new dwelling alone. The house footprint, an existing garage, a shed, a covered pergola and in many cases paved and hard surfaces all contribute, and owners consistently underestimate the total. Measuring what already exists before designing anything tells you how much coverage remains available, and it occasionally reveals that removing a redundant structure unlocks the project. An old shed or a redundant carport occupying coverage is worth identifying early, since removing it may be cheaper than shrinking the dwelling. An aerial view from an online map is a reasonable place to begin adding up what is already built.

Landscaped area is the standard most often misunderstood, because it is not simply the space that is not built on. Impervious surfaces such as paving, concrete and often the driveway do not count as landscaped area, and minimum dimensions frequently apply so that a narrow strip along a boundary contributes nothing. A property with a large paved entertaining area can fail this standard despite looking green from the street. Swapping hard paving for something permeable occasionally solves it, subject to confirmation. The width a strip must reach before it counts is the detail people skip, and the controls spell it out.

Levels and slope affect how height is measured and can change the answer on a sloping block. Height is generally assessed from natural ground level rather than from the finished floor, and on a site with a fall the point of measurement matters. This is one of several reasons a site survey by a registered surveyor is worth having early rather than relying on approximations, and survey work informs everything that follows. Cut and fill also interact with height measurement, so a design that lowers the building into the ground may be treated differently, and earthworks sit under excavation.

How to Check Your Own Position

Start with the title search and the deposited plan, which cost $20 to $60 and take minutes to obtain. Between them they give you the registered lot area, the boundary dimensions as surveyed, the lot and plan numbers you will need for every subsequent enquiry, and any easements or restrictions burdening the land. An easement running through the only viable building area is a genuine project ending discovery and it is far better made at this point. Both documents are obtainable online in minutes, so there is no reason to delay this step before looking at granny flat costs. Keep the documents somewhere you can find them, since every professional you engage will ask for the same items.

A planning certificate issued by your council is the next document and it is the most informative single item on the list. It sets out the zoning applying to the land and the notations covering matters such as bushfire prone land, flood affected land, heritage, contamination and other constraints. At $60 to $180 it tells you whether the straightforward pathway is even on the table, and the relevant property and planning services sit with Service NSW. Read every notation rather than only the ones you recognise, since some of the less familiar entries carry significant consequences. Certificates have a currency period, so a very old one may not reflect the present position.

Your council's duty planner is a free resource that households underuse. Most councils make a planner available by phone or at a counter to answer general questions about how the controls apply to a specific address, and a ten minute conversation with your lot and plan numbers to hand will resolve most uncertainty. Ask specifically about local controls alongside the state framework, because that is where the differences between councils appear. Note the name and date of the conversation, since a documented enquiry is more useful later than a vague recollection. Have your questions written down before you call, since the conversation is short.

A registered certifier can give a view on whether a proposal would satisfy the criteria, and many offer preliminary advice at no cost or a modest fee. This is the person who would certify the proposal, so their assessment is the one that matters in practice. Certifiers are regulated in this state and their conduct and registration sit under the oversight of NSW Fair Trading, so verifying registration is straightforward. Their commercial interest lies in certifying proposals that comply, which aligns their advice with your interest reasonably well.

A written planning assessment at $500 to $2,500 is worth commissioning where the position is marginal or where several constraints apply. It documents which criteria are satisfied and on what basis, identifies what would need to change, and gives you something to show builders rather than a recollection of a phone call. Where the outcome will need to be argued on merit, a fuller planning report forms part of the application itself. It also prevents a builder from proceeding on an assumption that later proves wrong, which matters most where modular granny flats are ordered from a fixed range.

Do not rely on what a neighbour built, and treat this as the firmest advice on the page. A dwelling approved three years ago was approved under the criteria applying then, on that lot, with those constraints, possibly through a different pathway. The framework has changed more than once in recent years, and a proposal identical to one approved down the street can fail today. Verify against your own documents and your own council. The same applies to display homes and to a builder's portfolio, since those were built on other properties under other conditions. Their block may also be a different size from yours despite appearing similar from the street.

Council Controls Sitting Alongside the State Framework

Councils maintain their own planning instruments that operate alongside the state provisions, and understanding that both apply prevents a good deal of confusion. A local environmental plan sets zoning and development standards for the area, while a development control plan adds more detailed guidance on matters such as building design, landscaping, privacy and streetscape. Which of these bind a compliant proposal and which guide a merit assessment differs, which is exactly what a duty planner can clarify. Both are public documents, written in a register aimed at planners rather than at owners.

Zoning determines whether a secondary dwelling is permissible on the land at all, and this is logically prior to every other criterion. Most standard residential zones permit them, while some zones do not, and rural and environmental zones handle them differently again. Your planning certificate states the zoning, which is one of several reasons to obtain it before anything else. Rural situations are covered further down this page. Zone boundaries do not always follow street lines, so a property can sit in a different zone from its neighbours. Rezoning is not a practical option for a household project, so the zoning you have is the zoning you work with.

Heritage controls are applied by councils and affect substantial parts of New South Wales. A property that is individually heritage listed or that sits within a heritage conservation area is subject to additional considerations covering what may be built and how it appears, particularly where the new work is visible from the street. Large parts of inner Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Newcastle and many regional towns are affected, and information on heritage in this state is published by the NSW environment department. Conservation area controls apply to the whole area rather than only to listed buildings, which surprises owners of ordinary houses within them. Heritage advice from the council's heritage officer is usually available and worth seeking early.

Tree protection provisions apply locally and regularly affect where a secondary dwelling can be positioned. Councils control the removal of and works near trees above defined thresholds, and the root zone of a protected tree can restrict where footings, trenches and paving may go even when the tree itself is not being touched. An arborist report is frequently required, and that work sits under arborist reports. Neighbouring trees matter as well, since a protected tree over the fence can restrict works on your side of it.

Some councils apply additional local requirements around matters such as parking provision, waste storage, private open space dimensions and stormwater management. None of these is onerous individually and each can affect a design, particularly on a tight block. Asking the duty planner what local requirements apply to secondary dwellings in that council area is a single question that surfaces all of them at once. Waste collection arrangements for a second dwelling are worth asking about at the same time.

Hazards and Overlays That Change the Answer

Bushfire prone land affects a great deal of the state including much of the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands, the south coast, the Hunter, the northern beaches and Sydney's fringes. Land identified as bushfire prone triggers additional assessment and construction requirements, with the dwelling built to a standard corresponding to its assessed bushfire attack level. Whether a property is affected appears on the planning certificate, and general fire safety information for households is published by Fire and Rescue NSW. What grows on adjoining land counts toward the assessment, so a property can be affected by a neighbour's trees entirely. Ratings can change as vegetation and mapping are updated, so an old assessment may not stand.

Flood affected land brings its own controls and they can be decisive. Councils apply flood planning provisions that may set minimum floor levels, restrict where habitable space can sit, require particular construction materials or prevent additional dwellings on the most affected land. Properties along the Hawkesbury Nepean, the Hunter, the Northern Rivers and numerous inland river towns are affected, and the constraint is identified on the planning certificate. Flood information for a specific property is available from the council and is worth obtaining before any design work.

Easements are recorded on the title and regularly determine where a building can go. A sewer easement, a drainage easement or a right of carriageway across the rear of a block frequently occupies the exact area a secondary dwelling would use, and building over or near a main generally requires specific approval and engineering from the relevant authority. This is why the title search comes first, since an easement can end the project before any other consideration. Building near rather than over a main can also trigger requirements, so proximity matters as well as position. The relevant authority for a sewer easement is the water utility rather than the council.

Contamination, acid sulfate soils, mine subsidence and biodiversity notations all appear on planning certificates in the areas where they apply. Each triggers additional assessment rather than an automatic refusal, and each adds cost and time to a project. Properties in former industrial areas, coastal lowlands and parts of the Hunter and Illawarra are the common cases. The certificate tells you which apply, which is the argument for obtaining it early. Mine subsidence districts in the Hunter and parts of the Illawarra carry their own approval requirements alongside the council process.

Steep and unstable land is controlled in several council areas and affects a great deal of the north shore, the northern beaches, the Illawarra escarpment and the Blue Mountains. Geotechnical assessment is commonly required, and the engineering consequences flow through to footing design and cost. Site conditions of this kind are covered from a construction perspective under granny flat construction. Landslip risk assessment is a specialist exercise and its findings shape the design rather than merely adding a cost.

What Happens If You Miss One Criterion

Failing a single criterion removes the fast pathway entirely rather than reducing it, and understanding that binary quality saves a lot of wasted effort. There is no partial compliance and no discretion available to a certifier, because certification depends on the proposal satisfying every applicable standard. A proposal marginally outside on one measurement is in the same position as one substantially outside on several. Some households discover this only when a certifier declines to issue, having already committed to a builder. Certifiers will tell you which standard fails, which is the information you need to decide what to do next.

The first response is usually to adjust the proposal rather than the pathway. Where a setback is tight, moving the building solves it. Where site coverage is exceeded, removing a redundant structure sometimes solves it. A designer familiar with the criteria will identify these adjustments quickly, and most proposals that initially fail can be brought inside the standards with modest changes. A day of a designer's time spent finding those adjustments is far cheaper than the alternative route.

Where the criterion cannot be met by adjustment, a development application assessed by the council on merit is the alternative. That process considers the proposal against the local planning framework, takes months rather than weeks, costs more in fees and consultants, and involves notification of neighbours in many cases. It is a genuine pathway rather than a last resort, and a great many secondary dwellings are approved this way. That process is set out under granny flat approval.

Some failures cannot be resolved by either route. A lot below the minimum area, a zoning that does not permit secondary dwellings, or land constrained to the point where no dwelling can be positioned all end the proposal in its current form. In those cases price an attached addition, a conversion of existing structures or adapting space inside the house, all weighed up at granny flats in NSW. Accepting that early and redirecting the budget is better than pursuing an application with poor prospects.

Where a decision is refused and you believe the assessment was wrong, review and appeal rights exist. Councils offer review processes and there is a formal appeal path for planning decisions in this state, with matters heard in the appropriate jurisdiction. Disputes between an owner and their builder run on a separate track through NCAT. Take advice before embarking on either, since both take time and cost money. Most disputes are better resolved through discussion with the assessing officer than through a formal process.

What Checking Your Position Costs

The document costs are trivial relative to the build and there is no sensible reason to skip them. A title search and deposited plan at $20 to $60 and a planning certificate at $60 to $180 together cost less than a tank of fuel and answer the questions that determine whether a project is viable. Households who skip this step and pay for concept plans first are the ones who occasionally discover the block was never eligible. Ordering them takes an afternoon and the information stays useful for years. There is no scenario in which obtaining them turns out to have been a waste of money.

Professional advice scales with how marginal your position is. A straightforward block clearly inside every criterion needs little more than a duty planner conversation and a certifier's confirmation. A block that is tight on one or two standards, or that carries a constraint notation, justifies a written assessment at $500 to $2,500 because the answer is not obvious and you will be relying on it. Paying for certainty on a marginal block is cheap relative to the risk of proceeding on an assumption.

Survey costs depend on the size and complexity of the property. A standard suburban block runs toward the lower end at $800 to $1,500, while a large, steep, heavily vegetated or irregular property costs more because the work takes longer. The survey is required for any application, so the money is not additional, and having it early gives every builder the same information to price from. Ask what the survey includes, since a detail survey showing levels, trees and services is more useful than a boundary identification alone.

Where a development application is needed, the consultant costs step up considerably. A planning report at $2,000 to $6,000, plus specialist reports for bushfire, flooding, heritage or arboriculture where they apply, together with council application fees, form a meaningful sum before construction begins. That is one argument for adjusting a design to fit the criteria rather than proceeding to a merit assessment where adjustment is possible. Council application fees are calculated on the value of the works and are published on council websites.

The cost of not checking is the one that matters. Concept plans, a design deposit or a builder's engagement fee committed to a property that turns out to be ineligible are all recoverable in theory and rarely in practice. Against that, the entire verification exercise costs a few hundred dollars in most cases. Design work that follows a positive assessment sits under granny flat designs. Design deposits are frequently non refundable, which makes the sequence of steps a financial decision as much as a practical one.

Rules Considerations Across Sydney

The criteria are applied statewide while the properties they are applied to differ enormously across Sydney, which is why eligibility varies so much by area. Subdivision patterns are the underlying reason, since the era in which an area was carved up determines lot sizes and widths, and those two standards exclude more Sydney properties than every other criterion combined. Certifiers and planners who work one area constantly know the local controls well, which is a real argument for engaging someone local before commissioning granny flat designs. Council amalgamations mean some areas still carry different controls in different parts of the same council.

Inner and eastern Sydney, along with parts of the inner west and lower north shore, contain the highest proportion of ineligible properties in the state. Terrace and semi blocks subdivided in the nineteenth century are frequently well below the lot area threshold and narrower still on width, and heritage conservation areas cover large parts of the same suburbs. Households in these areas should check eligibility before anything else, because the answer is often no. Attached additions and conversions are frequently the workable answer in those suburbs instead, and both sit under granny flat additions.

Western, south western and north western Sydney contain the properties most likely to qualify comfortably. Post war and more recent subdivisions produced larger, more regular blocks that satisfy area and width without difficulty, which is why the great majority of secondary dwellings in the state are built there. Site coverage becomes the operative constraint on those blocks instead, since many already carry a large house, a double garage and substantial paving. Newer estates may also carry covenants, being restrictions registered on the title by the original developer, which operate separately from council controls.

Rules Considerations in Regional NSW

Zoning rather than lot size is what changes the analysis once you move beyond the metropolitan area. Regional towns commonly have generous residential blocks that satisfy area and width comfortably, while properties on the edges of those towns sit in rural or environmental zones where secondary dwellings are treated quite differently. Establishing your zoning from the planning certificate matters more here than anywhere else. Amalgamated councils cover large and varied areas, so controls can differ markedly within one local government area. Properties on town fringes are the most likely to be misread by their owners.

Rural zoned land is the most common source of confusion in regional New South Wales. Rural zones carry their own provisions for a second dwelling, thresholds sit at a wholly different scale, and further questions arise about placement relative to the house and to working land. Owners routinely assume a house on the land means residential provisions, and that assumption is costly. Advice from a planner familiar with rural provisions is worth more here than a general enquiry, particularly before pricing granny flat kit homes for a remote property.

Onsite wastewater capacity operates as a practical constraint even where planning permits the dwelling. Where a property is not connected to sewer, the council decides whether the existing arrangement can carry a second dwelling, and a system sized for one house frequently cannot. Upgrading or replacing it is a substantial cost, and the assessment belongs early in the process rather than at construction stage. A wastewater report from a suitably qualified consultant is the document councils generally want, alongside any stormwater drainage design.

Flood planning affects a great many regional towns and the controls are frequently more restrictive than people expect. Minimum floor levels set above a flood planning level can require substantial fill or a suspended floor, restrictions may apply to habitable space in the most affected areas, and some land will not support an additional dwelling at all. Towns along the major inland and coastal river systems are the affected cases. Recent flood events have prompted several councils to revise their controls, so older advice may be out of date.

What to Look Out For

Do not rely on any published figure, including the one mentioned on this page. The criteria have been amended more than once in recent years and remain under review, so a number that was correct when an article was written may not be correct now. Confirm the current standards with your council or a registered certifier against your specific property, and get the answer in writing where the position is marginal. Asking when a quoted standard was last changed tends to slow people down and improve the answer. Written confirmation from a certifier is the standard worth holding out for on a marginal block.

What went up next door two years ago proves nothing about your own entitlement. Their approval was granted under the criteria applying at that time, on their lot, with their constraints, and possibly through a pathway that is no longer available or that never applied to your land. This is the single most common source of misplaced confidence in this area, and it costs households real money in design fees for proposals that cannot be approved. If their build was recent and you know the builder, asking which pathway was used is more useful than assuming.

Check how each standard is measured rather than assuming. Lot width is assessed at a defined point rather than at the widest part of the block, floor area may include covered outdoor spaces depending on configuration, site coverage counts everything already on the land, and landscaped area excludes paving and often carries minimum dimensions. Owners who fail on a criterion usually fail on the measurement rather than on the number. Ask the certifier to identify the measurement points on your survey plan rather than describing them generally, then work those figures into whichever granny flat design you settle on. Measurement disputes are resolvable with a survey, which is why the survey earns its cost.

That certificate is the first document to buy, ahead of any drawing or consultant. It identifies zoning and the hazard notations covering bushfire, flooding, heritage, contamination and other constraints, any one of which changes the pathway or the requirements. At $60 to $180 it is the highest value document in the process and households routinely skip it in favour of talking to builders first. Certificates are issued by the council for the specific property and are ordered online in most areas.

Read the title for easements before choosing where the dwelling goes. Rights registered over the back of a block have a habit of sitting precisely where you wanted to build, and going over a main brings the authority and its engineers into the conversation. Discovering it after a design is drawn wastes the design fee entirely. Restrictions on use and positive covenants appear on the same document and are worth reading at the same time.

What to Look for in a Quote in NSW

What you are buying at this stage is an answer rather than a design, and the quote should reflect that. A useful planning assessment quote states which criteria will be assessed against your property, confirms it covers both the state framework and the council's local controls, says whether it identifies constraints from the title and planning certificate, states whether a site inspection is included, and confirms you receive a written document rather than a verbal opinion. Local controls and written output are what separate an assessment from a sales conversation. Most planners will quote a fixed sum for work of this kind, which is preferable to an hourly rate. Scope the engagement narrowly and the fee stays small.

Give each of them your lot details in the same form. Quote the lot and deposited plan references shown on your title, together with the full property address, a copy of the planning certificate if you have obtained it, a description of what already sits on the block including the house, garage, shed, pool and paving, and any survey plan in your possession. Those items let a planner or certifier answer properly rather than generally. Consistency matters because a planner working from different information will reach a different conclusion.

Someone who asks for your deposited plan number before answering is doing the work properly. A planner or certifier who wants the registered lot details, asks whether you have a planning certificate and declines to give a figure until they have looked at your specific land is behaving correctly. One who quotes standards off the top of their head from a phone description is giving you something you cannot rely on, however confident it sounds. The willingness to say that a figure needs checking is a sign of competence rather than uncertainty.

Settle the documents, the zoning and the constraints before commissioning any design. Obtain the title search and deposited plan, get the planning certificate, speak to the duty planner about local controls, and have a certifier confirm whether the pathway is available for what you have in mind. Only once those answers are in hand is it worth briefing a designer. Related material sits under granny flat complying development, with builder selection under granny flat builders nationally. Keep everything together in one file, since each subsequent professional will ask for the same items.