Granny flat rent revolution as state government proposes new rules for backyard buildings to help tackle housing crisis

Sweeping changes to allow renters access to “granny flats” are part of new measures to tackle the state’s housing crisis. Do you agree? Take our poll.

Imogen Deller-Evans, 24, loves living in a granny flat with her partner, which his grandfather owns. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Hundreds more “granny flats” will be available to any South Australian to rent while development rules would be relaxed for backyard buildings, under official plans to tackle the housing crisis.

The state government will on Monday unveil proposed sweeping changes to planning and rental laws for “ancillary” accommodation, such as units, flats and other smaller residences.

Ministers are also investigating new development rules, to be published next year, which would relax the criteria for backyard sites, which would specifically allow new “self-contained” so-called granny flats.

Senior government sources say investigations centre on protecting “streetscapes”, and an area’s local character or heritage, especially around a ring of Adelaide’s older inner suburbs.

Authorities believe complex, and obscure rules, has stymied incentives to build smaller units on big blocks while protecting a home’s frontage and allowing alternative development from house extensions or swimming pools.

Under the proposed rental reforms, to be approved later this week, unrestricted access to a property's secondary, and usually much smaller, dwelling will be allowed and not just to relatives.

Despite planning rules having no leasing bans for non-family renters, officials have revealed “many councils” routinely slap needless restrictions when approving development applications.

Under state law, an ancillary dwelling shares utility services, such as electricity, sewage, water and phone lines as well as driveways, with the block’s primary residence.

Under the proposed rental reforms, to be approved later this week, unrestricted access to a property's secondary, and usually much smaller, dwelling will be allowed and not just to relatives. Picture: Adelaide Airborne Photography

It can only be a maximum 60 sqm floor area and have no more than two bedrooms.

Official figures show more than 470 “ancillary dwellings” applications were made to Adelaide councils over the past two years but 362 were approved since planning rules changed in 2021.

While precise numbers of available granny flats is unknown, authorities believe hundreds of smaller properties are potentially available to renters if uniform rules are approved.

SA’s vacancy rate’s is currently less than one per cent. Most states have similar laws.

Planning Minister Nick Champion argues changes will increase critical rental stocks, stabilise rental prices and address the state’s dire affordable housing shortages.

Mr Champion, who has received “numerous” letters of concern on the issue, has written to the State Planning Commission, the government’s planning body, seeking support on a new code.

“The current housing situation is driving a change in sentiment,” he wrote to commission chairman Craig Holden.

New rules will be immediate, but not retrospective, if the commission approves it later this week.

Imogen Deller-Evans, in her small garden outside her Kilburn flat. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Consumer and Business Affairs Minister, Andrea Michaels, will also ask parliament to amend the Residential Tenancies Act to “clearly state … granny flats can be rented out to non-family”.

In response to inquiries, Mr Champion said reforms “make it crystal clear” granny flats are an “affordable rental option”.

“This type of accommodation plays an important role in helping families care for relatives,” he said.

“But we want to give property owners the opportunity to offer it to the broader community.”

Ms Michaels said housing insecurity was a real concern for many tenants.

“(This) means a previously untapped source of housing can be made available to those who need it the most,” she said.

Theatre tutor Imogen Deller-Evans, 24, lives in an inner northern suburbs granny flat, which her partner’s grandfather owns, after suffering a “no ground eviction” from a share house last year.

She said her new Kilburn flat, which also has a kitchen/living area – separated by a conveniently placed couch – a bathroom/ laundry and a “sliver” of garden, was considerably cheaper, and more convenient, than her previous accommodation.

Another “lovely” family rent the block’s main house.

She said: “We like it. We’re really lucky. We pay significantly cheaper rent and we don’t have to share with other people.

“We’re able to treat the flat like our home and to have friends and family around for dinner without contending with housemates.”

PLANNING REFORMS

* New “granny flat” rules are part of wider reforms to the state’s planning system, including through the 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide discussion paper.

* More than 85 per cent of the state’s population lives in the “Greater Adelaide Region”, an 11,000km stretch from Cape Jervisto Murray Bridge including the Barossa Valley and Port Wakefield.

* An estimated extra 300,000 homes will be needed by 2050 to support population growth.

* There is currently enough land for an additional 200,000 houses, the paper warns SA will run out of land within 30 years without planning changes.

* Almost three quarters of Adelaide houses are detached and the paper raises a “missing middle” option between single homes on large land blocks and multi-level apartments or other types of housing.

* The State Planning Commission’s “Future Living Code Amendment”, proposes greater choices for people who want to downsize but stay in the same area or enter the property market in a smaller house.

* The paper states general infill needs to focus on locations with better infrastructure but provide greater choice while “preserving valuable heritage and character areas”.

Source: state government