Granny flat approval in Sunshine Coast

The floor area limit is modest in most zones and somewhat larger on rural and rural residential land. A freestanding flat stays within a set distance of the house, measured between the outermost parts of each. It shares one water connection and meter, one wastewater system, one street number and letterbox and one driveway with the house, and it adds an on-site car space that cannot sit in tandem with the house's parking.

Building height is read off the council's height overlay map for the site, not from one figure for the whole region. On rural and rural residential land, side and rear setbacks are deeper, and a lot with no reticulated water takes a large rainwater tank for household use. A new planning scheme is expected, so check which one applies when you lodge.

Variations go through the certifier to the council as a concurrence agency response, and building approval itself sits with a private certifier or the council. Sunshine Coast maps bushfire, flood, heritage, landslide and vegetation, and each can add its own assessment.

Unitywater decides build-over. The site plan shows the flat's footprint and floor area, its distance from the house, the car spaces, the shared driveway, each boundary and the sewer.

What catches people out in Sunshine Coast

• An odd shaped lot can miss the shape test even when its area is enough.
• The flat's car space cannot be stacked behind the house's car.
• Separate water or sewer connections miss the shared services requirement.
• Height comes from the overlay map for that site, so check it there.

What a site plan for a granny flat looks like