# Granny flats in Queensland: what can be built, rented and charged
Since 2022 anyone may live in a Queensland granny flat, and a statewide housing code now sets a default size. What councils allow, what they charge and how it is taxed.
---
A second small home in the backyard is the cheapest new dwelling most Queensland owners can add, because the land is already paid for. It is also one of the most misunderstood, and two State decisions have changed the rules. In September 2022 the Queensland Government removed the rule about who may occupy a secondary dwelling, which is the planning term for a granny flat. On 1 September 2026 a statewide housing code began, with a default floor area and siting rules written for secondary dwellings for the first time. This guide sets out what a house block can carry, who may live there or rent it, which approvals are needed, what councils charge, and how tax, pension and building rules treat it.
1 Sep 2029last day the older siting rules can apply
Planning (Secondary Dwellings) Amendment Regulation 2022; Queensland Housing Code, August 2026; Building and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2026.
## What the law calls a granny flat
"Granny flat" is not a legal term. The Planning Regulation 2017 uses "secondary dwelling", which it defines as a dwelling on a lot that is used in conjunction with, but subordinate to, another dwelling on the same lot. It may be attached to the main house, sit under it, or stand alone in the yard.
"Subordinate" means the second dwelling is the lesser one: it cannot exist without a main house, and its size is capped. In planning terms a house with a granny flat is still a "dwelling house", which the regulation defines as either one dwelling, or two dwellings of which one is a secondary dwelling, with their domestic outbuildings.
That is the difference from a dual occupancy. The State's planning department describes a dual occupancy as two dwellings on the same lot, or on separate lots that share common property such as a driveway, where both may be of similar size. A duplex is the usual example.
Secondary dwelling or dual occupancyHow one council sets out the difference
Point
Secondary dwelling
Dual occupancy
Size
Capped by the planning scheme
No size limit; dwellings may be equal
Title
Cannot be subdivided or sold separately
Can be subdivided and sold separately
Services
Shared connections with the main house
May have separate connections or sub-meters
Leasing
Each dwelling may be let to a different household
Each dwelling may be let to a different household
Fraser Coast Regional Council information sheet on dual occupancies and secondary dwellings. Other councils differ in detail.
## The 2022 change: anyone may live there
Until September 2022 the planning definitions tied a house to "a single household", and a household meant people living together on a long-term basis who shared food and other essentials. The REIQ told its members in October 2021 that renting a granny flat to somebody outside the owner's household was, on Brisbane City Council's reading, a dual occupancy that needed a development application.
The Queensland Government announced a change on 23 September 2022, and the Planning (Secondary Dwellings) Amendment Regulation 2022 took effect on 26 September 2022. A household became simply one or more individuals who live together in a dwelling. The words "for a single household" came out of the dwelling house definition, and the secondary dwelling definition gained the words that occupants need not be related to, or associated with, the household in the main house. The regulation's explanatory notes give the purpose as making sure the planning framework is "not regulating living arrangements".
Because the Planning Act 2016 lets a regulation prescribe definitions that override a local planning scheme, the change applied in every council area on the same day.
Is it permanent? Master Builders Queensland wrote on 27 September 2022 that it was for a three-year period, and the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) recorded the Government's "intention of reviewing the legislation changes after three years". The amendment regulation itself contains no expiry date. Three years passed in September 2025 and the definitions were not reversed: the State's page on the changes, last updated on 21 July 2026, still describes them as current, and the Queensland Housing Code published in August 2026 repeats the definition, unrelated occupants included. No published outcome of the promised review was found for this guide. The accurate statement is that the rule has no end date and remains in force, not that a formal decision has declared it permanent. Nor was any official count found of how many secondary dwellings have been approved since: the State's September 2024 consultation paper on the subject gave none.
The change did not remove any approval requirement. Where an older approval carries a condition about who may occupy the flat, the State says the owner may need a change application under the Planning Act before letting it.
## How big, and where on the block
The 2022 regulation changed who may live in a secondary dwelling. It did not touch size, parking or siting, which stayed with each council's planning scheme. The result is a patchwork.
Secondary dwelling size limits in four council schemesGross floor area unless stated
Council
Maximum size
Other limits stated
Brisbane
80 m²
Within 20 m of the main house
Moreton Bay
45 m² on lots of 450 to 800 m²; 55 m² above 800 m²; 100 m² in rural zones
Within 10 m of the main house, 50 m in rural zones; one extra car space
Logan
70 m² on residential lots under 1,000 m²; 100 m² otherwise
Same lot and same owner as the main house
Fraser Coast
70 m², and 100 m² of total use area
One car space
Council web pages and information sheets as read in October 2026. Zone, precinct and overlay rules can change the figure for a given lot.
Moreton Bay also sets a minimum lot: 450 m² with a 10 metre frontage in most places, and 600 m² with a 12.5 metre frontage in two named residential precincts. Its current provisions date from a scheme amendment that commenced on 30 October 2024.
A statewide answer arrived this year. The Queensland Housing Code, which forms parts 1.1 and 1.2 of the Queensland Development Code, was published on 3 August 2026 and commenced on 1 September 2026. It replaces siting rules dating from March 2010, and it covers a house with a secondary dwelling as well as a single house. Its acceptable solutions for a secondary dwelling include:
- a maximum internal floor area of 50 m² on lots under 1,000 m², and 60 m² on lots of 1,000 m² or larger;
- a third parking space on the lot, covered or uncovered, which may sit in tandem with the main house's spaces;
- for a detached single-storey secondary dwelling up to 4.5 metres high, a side setback of 1 metre and a rear setback of 1.5 metres on lots under 450 m², or 1.5 metres and 2 metres on lots of 450 m² and over;
- site cover counted across every building on the lot: 50% on lots of 450 m² and over, 60% on smaller lots and 65% on lots of 250 m² or less.
Internal floor area is the code's own measure: every storey, measured from the outside face of external walls, storage included, vehicle parking excluded. It is not identical to the gross floor area most planning schemes use, so the 50 m² default and a council's 80 m² are not a like-for-like comparison.
Transition period
The statewide code does not yet apply everywhere
Under the Building and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2026, a council's existing rules continue until its planning scheme is amended to say how the Queensland Housing Code applies, or until 1 September 2029, whichever comes first. Councils that adopt the code may set a larger floor area than the default. Until a council acts, its own figures in the table above remain the ones a certifier applies.
## Which approvals are needed
Three different approvals are often confused, and a granny flat may need one, two or all three.
The first is planning approval from the council. Most schemes treat a compliant secondary dwelling as part of a dwelling house, so that no development application is needed. Brisbane City Council says no council approval is required where the flat meets the accepted development criteria of its dwelling house code or small lot code, and that an application is needed where it exceeds 80 m², sits more than 20 metres from the main house or misses another acceptable outcome. Moreton Bay describes a house with a secondary dwelling as generally accepted development needing only building and plumbing approvals; where a requirement cannot be met, the council becomes a referral agency for that point within the building application. Overlays for flood, bushfire, character or heritage can change the answer for a particular lot.
The second is building approval, which is never optional. The State's planning department says any new secondary dwelling requires building approval. It is usually issued by a private building certifier, who checks the design against the National Construction Code, the Queensland Development Code and the siting rules in force for that council. The third is a plumbing and drainage permit from the council for the new fixtures and connections.
The usual path for a compliant granny flat
Check the planning schemeZone, lot size, overlays and the council's size and siting limits decide whether a development application is needed.
Building and plumbing approvalA building certifier assesses the plans. The council issues the plumbing and drainage permit.
Inspections and final certificateThe certifier inspects during construction and signs off before anyone moves in.
The same path applies to a conversion. In an answer to a parliamentary question asked in November 2023, the then housing and planning minister noted that turning a garage or carport into a secondary dwelling may require a change of building classification, and advised owners to consult a certifier.
## Building class, fire separation and services
The National Construction Code sorts buildings into classes, and the class decides what must be built between two dwellings. The 2026 regulation describes the two forms a house with a granny flat takes: two class 1 buildings on the same lot, one of them the secondary dwelling, or a class 2 building containing no more than two dwellings, one of them the secondary dwelling. Which class applies decides how much separation the certifier will require.
Fire and sound separation matters most for existing flats. The State's planning department warns that renting out a secondary dwelling that was not rented before can bring "additional fire and sound transmission requirements" of the building code into play, and that a change in how a flat is occupied may itself trigger a building application. Fraser Coast's sheet makes the same point from the other side: a dual occupancy always needs fire separation and sound insulation between the units, while a secondary dwelling may need them, a question for the certifier.
Services are normally shared. The parliamentary answer describes secondary dwellings as usually sharing the main house's water, electricity and sewer connections and bills, and says nothing stops an owner separating them, at the cost of a connection charge. Some councils take a firmer line: Fraser Coast states that secondary dwellings cannot have separate connections or metering, and Redland City Council says they share the main house's bins and connections.
## Infrastructure charges: it depends on the council
Infrastructure charges are a council's levy on new development for trunk roads, water, sewerage, stormwater and parks. A granny flat adds a dwelling, and whether that draws a charge is decided council by council in each charges resolution.
The parliamentary answer confirms that councils may charge for both the main and the secondary dwelling. It gave the State's maximum at that time as $22,200 for a dwelling with one or two bedrooms and $31,080 for one with three or more. The Government said it had heard that some councils' charges on secondary dwellings were excessive.
How four councils treat a secondary dwellingInfrastructure charges
Council
Position
Date or source
Noosa
No new charge notices for secondary dwellings
From 1 July 2025, by a decision of 15 May 2025
Fraser Coast
Nil charge
Council information sheet, undated
Redland
Charged above a floor area threshold
Council web page, 2026
Logan
Charges apply
Council web page; current resolution began 1 September 2025
Council pages as read in October 2026. Amounts are set in each council's charges resolution and are indexed.
Noosa gave its reason: secondary dwellings provide modest affordable rental housing and supported accommodation for older residents. Charges it had already issued stay payable. Logan moved the other way after the 2022 change. The Jimboomba Times reported in January 2023 that the council had resolved the month before to start levying charges on secondary dwellings, on the reasoning that they could now be let on the open market like the council's separately defined auxiliary units, which already paid.
Logan calculates charges under the resolution in effect when the building approval documents are lodged, and councils will give an estimate on request.
## Renting it out
Once the approvals are in place, a let granny flat is an ordinary rental under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008. The RTA's guidance on secondary dwellings covers the points that differ from a normal house.
- **The agreement.** A self-contained flat whose tenant has no access to the main house is let on a general tenancy agreement, Form 18a. If the occupant shares a kitchen or other facilities with people in the house, a rooming accommodation agreement, Form R18, may apply instead.
- **The address.** The agreement shows the main property's address, unless the council has issued a separate one, and identifies the part being let. Councils control street numbering and letterboxes.
- **Water.** Consumption can be passed on only if the flat is individually metered, is water efficient and the agreement says the tenant pays.
- **Electricity and gas.** Where the flat has no meter of its own, the agreement must state which service is charged, how the tenant's share is worked out and how it is paid. Without those terms the owner cannot charge.
- **Smoke alarms.** The Queensland Fire Department requires interconnected photoelectric alarms in every bedroom, in connecting hallways and on each storey; existing homes have until 1 January 2027, and a lessor must test and clean each alarm within 30 days before a tenancy starts.
- **Condition.** The minimum housing standards apply when the tenant moves in and throughout the tenancy, as they do to every Queensland rental.
The RTA also suggests special terms for what a shared block makes awkward: parking, bins, the clothesline, garden upkeep, mail and use of a pool.
## Rates, land tax and title
A granny flat does not get its own title. Logan City Council states that a secondary dwelling cannot be subdivided or separately titled, and Fraser Coast that it cannot be community titled or sold separately. It is sold with the house, as one lot.
Rates follow each council's rating policy, which is separate from its planning scheme. Redland says a dwelling that includes a secondary dwelling is rated the same as a standard dwelling. Fraser Coast warns that its rating policy may put the property in a multi-residential category, and that the charges depend on the policy in force when the building is finished.
Land tax is charged by the Queensland Revenue Office when an individual's taxable land totals $600,000 or more at 30 June; an owner's home can be exempt, on application. The office says an owner may still qualify for the home exemption while renting out a room or granny flat, under its "allowable letting" conditions, which include a tenancy agreement, rent no higher than market and a let area of no more than 50% of the residential floor area on the land.
## Income tax and capital gains tax
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requires all rental income to be declared, and lists renting part of a home among the cases. In return, the owner can usually claim the share of costs, loan interest included, that relates to the let part.
The larger consequence comes at sale. A home is normally free of capital gains tax (CGT) under the main residence exemption, but the ATO says an owner is "not entitled to the full main residence exemption" after renting out part of the home. The taxable share is generally worked out from the proportion of floor area set aside to earn income and the period it was used that way. Where the income use began after 20 August 1996, the owner is generally treated as having acquired the home at its market value on the day it first earned income, so a valuation at that date matters.
Family use is treated differently. The ATO regards payments from family members for shared household costs as domestic: they are not declared, and no deductions are claimed against them. Rent below the market rate from a relative makes the property mixed use, with deductions limited accordingly.
## Granny flat arrangements for older relatives
A different set of rules applies where an older person pays a relative, or transfers a home or savings, in return for a right to live in a property for life. The ATO calls this a granny flat arrangement.
Since 1 July 2021, CGT does not apply when such an arrangement is created, varied or ended, provided the conditions are met. The property owners must be individuals. The person with the right to live there must have reached pension age or need help with most day-to-day activities because of a disability. The arrangement must be in writing, show an intention to be legally bound, and not be commercial; paying market rent would make it commercial, while contributing to power and water bills generally would not. A later sale of the property is taxed under the ordinary rules, and the ATO says the arrangement itself does not disturb the owner's main residence exemption, because it is a right to occupy and not a share of the property.
Services Australia applies its own test for pensions. It defines a granny flat interest as paying for the right to live in a specific home for life, in a private residence that is the person's principal home and is not owned by them, their partner or an entity they control. The Social Security Guide generally values the interest at the amount paid, with no gift counted. A "reasonableness test" applies in special cases, such as where extra assets are handed over on top of a home or building costs; anything above the test amount is treated as a gift under the deprivation rules. Leaving within five years for a reason that could have been anticipated at the start can also bring those rules into play. Unforeseen events such as sudden illness or a family breakdown do not.
One Queensland detail runs the other way down the generations. The Queensland Revenue Office says a first home buyer may be eligible for the first home owner grant on a detached dwelling, such as a granny flat, built for themselves on a relative's land, where the building contract is in the buyer's name and the total transaction value is under $750,000.
## Builders, home warranty and owner-builders
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) licenses the trade. Master Builders Queensland notes that anyone engaged for building work valued above $3,300 must hold a QBCC licence. The same figure triggers the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme: residential work worth more than $3,300, counting materials, labour and GST, must carry cover. The contractor collects the premium from the owner within the contract price and pays it to the QBCC. The scheme protects the owner if the contractor fails to finish the work or fix defects, and cover for structural defects generally runs for six years and six months from the contract date.
An owner who wants to manage the build needs an owner-builder permit for a project valued at more than $11,000, a figure a new granny flat will normally exceed. The QBCC issues one permit to a person every six years and most applicants must first complete a course. Plumbing, drainage and gas fitting still require the relevant occupational licence. Owner-built work is not covered by the home warranty scheme, and an owner who sells within six years of completion must tell prospective buyers in writing.
> The State now decides who may live in a granny flat. How large it may be, and what it costs in charges and rates, is still mostly a council answer.