Granny flat approval in Canterbury-Bankstown

The state limits the flat's floor area, keeps the house and flat together within what the land allows, and holds the lot to one principal and one secondary dwelling that cannot later be subdivided apart. A detached unit needs a minimum site area and, on the complying path, a road frontage that rises with lot size. A smaller lot can still take an attached or internal unit as complying development.

In the former Bankstown area, a house keeps private open space behind the building line and planting between it and each street frontage, and a flat has to leave those in place. In the former Canterbury area, the footprint and the site coverage of all structures are held by lot size, with a deep soil share as well, and all outbuildings together are limited in floor area. So the same flat can fit on one side of the old boundary and need rework on the other.

An outbuilding here is non-habitable, with one to a site, so it is not a stand-in for a flat. The council maps flood, and the state's mapping adds bushfire, heritage, landslide and vegetation; the highest bushfire ratings close the complying path. The water authority signs off plans near its pipes.

The site plan shows the flat's footprint and floor area, frontage, landscaped and open areas, each boundary and the sewer.

What catches people out in Canterbury-Bankstown

• Find out which former council area the lot sits in first.
• An existing garage is an outbuilding, and living in it is a different question from storing a car.
• On a lot under the state's minimum site area, a detached flat goes to a development application.

What a site plan for a granny flat looks like