Granny Flat Proposal, ideas/comments?

[jaime]

Hi all
I am considering building a Granny Flat on my property for my mother. She is getting older and can no longer afford the high rents in the city since my sister has decided to move out. She would assist with around 60% of the building costs.
I have attached a rough plan of my property and a proposed location for the granny flat.
Do you think this looks about right? Would you guys have any suggestions on how to improve the design?
The sewer main runs along the west edge side of the site, unfortunately where it looks like the best spot for the flat. (the part marked in red) I am assuming there is no way around the $1k per m cost for sewer encasement if I was building the granny flat in this location.

Anyway, I would be very interested to hear any thoughts on the design/layout and any ideas you would care to share.

How close can I get realistically to the boundary fence and existing residence building?


Best Regards
Jaime

 

[devank]

Nice diagram

What is the red line? If it is the Sewer Main then why the property's sewer isn't connected directly?

Generally you may need to leave some area near any gov owned 'pipes'. That means that you won't be able to build so close like you have shown.

I'm not sure if you can build on top of your own property's sewer line either.

I built one 5 x12m but the front was 12m and also it was against the back fence. Your 4.4m wide is really pushing. You are going to waste a lot of walking space. Windows are going to face the neighbour's property.

I have moved the GF to the back. Can this work?

 

[Coconutwheels]

Could you build it as an attached GF I wonder?

The space between the house and GF is useless anyway, it may give you enough space away from the sewer main.

Just a thought, Brazen will know!

 

[neK]

Your block size is 680sqm. Therefore the granny flat needs to be a MINIMUM of 3m away from the secondary street.

Assuming where the green (which i assume is grass) ends is the boundary, you will not be able to put a granny flat where you have drawn it.

Unfortunately devank's design won't fit either due to it breaching the rear setback (unless you make the building slimmer.

Is converting the garage into a contained room + bath be an option? Not sure if needs to be converted to a proper granny flat given you are only housing your mother and not rented out to a 3rd party.

 

[devank]

Unfortunately devank's design won't fit either due to it breaching the rear setback (unless you make the building slimmer.

neK is right. My picture shows that I was overstepping the 3m mark.
I looks like you need to chop about 0.4 m (or less) so the GF would be 4 x 15 sqm.

It is not all bad. You still need some room for the entrance, cloths rack and space for bins. You can make use of the 3m for that.

I have attached the 5x12 design. I was really happy with how we minimised the walking space. Brazen needs to get a bit creative with Bath & kitchen if it is 4 x 16m.

 

[nhg]

May be better to do this as an attached granny flat, some councils even let you build bigger than 60sqm in those instances. Eg Ashfield Council allows 80sqm for attached granny flats.

I couldn't really tell how close that granny flat was, but looks too close to main residence. There are minimum restrictions for this.

You can build over your OWN sewer, however best practice would be to protect it either by concrete encasement or digging piers below the zone of influence on the pipe.

 

[neK]

May be better to do this as an attached granny flat, some councils even let you build bigger than 60sqm in those instances. Eg Ashfield Council allows 80sqm for attached granny flats.

Navid, do you have any more information regarding granny flats larger than 60sqm for Ashfield council (and any other council for that matter?)

 

[jaime]

Thanks for the suggestions and thoughts so far guys. I have some further homework to do now.

-devank thanks for the input, as others have said need to have a 3m setback from the rear.
- Coconutwheels, maybe attached could be an option I hadn?t considered, will look into the details of it.
-neK, your comment about being 3m from the Secondary St.. I took that to mean from the edge of the road initially which might be wrong. My understanding was it only needs to be 900mm from the boundary. The definition of ? 3m from the secondary st?, makes me ask from which part of the secondary st? Is the question I will have to find an answer to.
- Nhg, that is the next thing I need to find out is what is the closest I can build to the main residence. I know you will need a fire rated wall when you start getting close which is fine. But even with the secondary wall, how close can you get is the question?

 

[neK]

-neK, your comment about being 3m from the Secondary St.. I took that to mean from the edge of the road initially which might be wrong. My understanding was it only needs to be 900mm from the boundary. The definition of ? 3m from the secondary st?, makes me ask from which part of the secondary st? Is the question I will have to find an answer to.

Its 3m from your boundary.
The 900mm from the boundary is for blocks that DO NOT have a secondary st (ie non corner blocks).

As for the secondary st question... its the entire secondary street. So draw a parallel line that is 3m in. The building can touch that line, but it cannot be over that line in anyway.

 

[neK]

From your diagram I see 5.607m from boundary to the wall of the house.
Therefore if the granny flat was attached, the maximum width of the granny flat could be 2.607m.

Now if you want it separated, the minimum would have to 1.8m if you didnt want to do a fire rated wall.

Therefore 5.607 - 3 - 1.8 = 0.807. This leaves a house that is 0.807m wide.

Bottom line, it won't fit.

 

[jaime]

I dont mind doing a fire rated wall, its not a large cost. my question is if i do fire rate the wall, how close could I get in theory?

 

[neK]

It could attached, meaning no gap to 1.8m.
Obviously if you make it more than 1.8m you don't need a fire rated wall.

This doesn't change the 3m side / secondary street setback though.
That remains regardless.

 

[jaime]

This doesn't change the 3m side / secondary street setback though.That remains regardless.

Thanks for this. I think this a key barrier to the whole thing that I was missing.

I will have to investigate attached granny flat options.

 

[brazen]

Navid, do you have any more information regarding granny flats larger than 60sqm for Ashfield council (and any other council for that matter?)

Hi nek,

I just had a look and Ashfield Council only allow detached granny flats at 40 sq. m maximum.

If seeking an attached dual occupancy, it must be setup as a semi-detached dwelling and NOT located in the backyard like a classic granny flat. The property needs to be split in half (longitudinally) and the 2x dwellings are mirrors of each other. They each need their own front yard etc - a semi-detached dwelling like you see in Ashfield a lot.

Read Section 3 on page 21.

Ashfield Council does not allow an attached granny flats in the classic sense at all. The SEPP is your friend for that and the maximum size is 60 sq m. With half of Ashfield being in a conservation area though, pickings are definitely slim.

This is under their Dual Occupancy DCP: http://www.ashfield.nsw.gov.au/files/dcps/2009/c15_houses_and_dual_occupancies.pdf

I've attached an image of what they will support.


Brazen.