Changes allowing ‘granny flats’ to be rented to anyone are being explored to bring potentially hundreds of new homes to the rental market, as the Malinauskas Government pulls every lever available to tackle the housing crisis.
Planning Minister Nick Champion has written to the State Planning Commission urging changes to the State Planning Practice Directions to stop councils from limiting the leasing of ancillary dwellings, or granny flats, to only immediate family members.
At the same time, Consumer and Business Affairs Minister Andrea Michaels will seek to amend the Residential Tenancies Act to clearly state that granny flats can be rented out to non-family members.
The changes aim to increase rental stock, place downward pressure on rental prices and provide more affordable housing options.
While current planning rules do not prohibit the leasing of an ancillary dwelling to a tenant outside of the immediate family, many councils have routinely added a condition to development approvals preventing the rental of granny flats to non-family members.
If adopted, this practice direction would stop councils from being able to apply those restrictions and homeowners could rent their granny flats to whoever they want.
The Government would also amend the Planning, Development, and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017 to ensure council-imposed conditions on existing ancillary dwellings that prevent their lease to non-family members could not be enforced.
Since the Planning and Design Code was introduced in 2021, records indicate 362 ancillary dwellings were approved for development in the Greater Adelaide Region.
The current definition of an ancillary dwelling – that the property is not self-contained, has a maximum floor area of 60sqm, contains no more than two bedrooms and shares utilities with the primary home – would remain unchanged by the reform.
However, if adopted, a clear signal would be sent to the market and owners of these dwellings that they could now enter the rental market.
The Commission, an independent planning body overseeing state-wide planning rules, will consider the Minister’s request at their next meeting on Thursday. If approved, the changes would immediately come into effect.
The Planning Minister has also requested the State Planning Commission consider streamlining the approval pathway for ancillary accommodation, while reviewing the existing definition of these dwellings which would enable them to be self-contained as well as any additional policy adjustments that may be required.
Minister Michaels will introduce a bill to Parliament this year to amend the Residential Tenancies Act. In addition to granny flat changes, the Government is making targeted reforms to improve rental affordability and security for tenants including longer tenancies by banning no cause evictions and increasing the minimum notice period to end a tenancy from 28 days to 60 days. A ban on rent bidding came into effect on 1 September.
The changes to the ability to lease ancillary dwellings is the latest initiative in a suite of State Government announcements – A Better Housing Future – designed to address the State’s housing crisis.
This includes fast-tracking the single largest release of residential land in the State’s history, fast-tracking approvals of new homes in key areas, developing more than 130 social and affordable homes at Franklin Street, and the purchase of the former West End Brewery site which will see 1,000 homes built.
Quotes
Attributable to Nick Champion
This type of accommodation plays an important role in helping families care for relatives, but we want to give property owners the opportunity to offer it to the broader community to support more South Australians.
Removing this arbitrary restriction will unlock critical additional supply as the Government pulls every lever at its disposal to confront the housing crisis head-on.
This reform makes it crystal clear that ancillary dwellings can be an affordable rental option with minimum housing standards in place.
Attributable to Andrea Michaels
With a vacancy rate of less than one per cent in South Australia, housing insecurity is a real concern for many South Australian tenants and these reforms will provide another option for people struggling to find a rental home.
The Malinauskas Government is addressing the housing crisis head on and allowing granny flats to be rented out to non-family members means a previously untapped source of housing can be made available to those who need it the most.
