Small second dwelling

The Victorian Government has made it easier to build a small second home in residential and rural areas across Victoria – giving families more housing choice and boosting housing supply.

To make it easier to build a small second home, otherwise known as a small second dwelling, the Victoria Planning Provisions, all planning schemes and the Building Regulations have changed.

Some of the key features of a small second home include:

• Floor area equal to or less than 60 square metres
• Sited on the same lot as an existing dwelling
• One small second dwelling per lot, however there may be more than one and this would be subject to a planning permit
• Is self-contained, i.e. has a kitchen, bathroom, toilet and laundry facilities
• No carparking required
• Anyone can live in it or rent it out
• Cannot be subdivided from the primary dwelling
• Cannot be connected to reticulated gas
• Meets siting requirements, including minimum garden area
• Can be attached, detached or a conversion
• Must have an access path from the front street

In most cases, a small second dwelling will not require a planning permit; however, a building permit is always required.

To support these changes, an updated Minister’s Guideline (MG-12): Siting and Design of Single Dwellings was published here on 14 December 2023.

For more information, including an applicant's guide and details about the planning and building framework, visit the Department of Transport & Planning's website.

Dependent person’s units

A dependent person’s unit is a movable building on the same lot as an existing dwelling and used to provide accommodation for a person dependent on a resident of the existing dwelling.

Changes have been made to the Victoria Planning Provisions and all planning schemes to expand the transitional arrangements for a dependent person’s unit until 28 March 2025.

Any proposal for a dependent person’s unit is subject to the same provisions that applied before these changes were introduced on 28 March 2024.

These changes supersede amendments made to the Victoria Planning Provisions in December 2023, which stated that dependent person’s units would be replaced by small second dwellings (also known as small second homes) and could not be built from mid-March 2024.

With these new changes, dependent person’s units will run alongside small second dwellings for 12 months, until 28 March 2025.

Learn more by visiting the Department of Transport and Planning website.