Tasmanians will soon be able to build granny flats of up to 90 square metres under changes by the state government.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the existing 60-square-metre cap suited a single person or a couple. The larger size would cater for “adult kids at home, grandparents, ageing parents”, he said.
He said the change was about “cutting red tape, making life less expensive and less complex to have a roof over your head”.
Housing Minister Kerry Vincent said the change had been through the Tasmanian Planning Commission and should take effect from November 25.
“We’ve had a regular array of emails coming through where people are waiting for that date so they can plan for the next step,” Vincent said.
Exact numbers were not yet known, but Vincent expected “several hundred enquiries” over the first part of next year.
Granny flats would still need to meet setback rules and connect to power, water and sewerage, Vincent said.
A draft amendment to the state’s planning rules, prepared by the State Planning Office in May, said the 60-square-metre limit “no longer reflects contemporary living needs”.
It said Tasmania had one of the smallest limits in the country.
Under the draft, granny flats would continue to share the driveway, parking and service connections with the main house and no extra parking space would be required.
Master Builders Tasmania’s Jenna Cairney said the state was around 14,000 homes short of its Housing Accord targets and welcomed the change as one measure to help ease the shortage.
Andrew Cripps, from Cripps Building and Carpentry, said the change would be “a game changer”.
One of his clients in Blackmans Bay wants to install a lift in her granny flat, which he said would be “very tight” under the current rules.
