Alternative Housing Australia
Updated October 2026 | AHA Research Team
Tiny house rules in Australia depend on where you live and whether your home is on wheels or on foundations. Each state and territory sets its own planning rules, and in some states councils add their own, such as how long guests can stay in a tiny home on wheels. That’s why the same setup can need no planning permit in one state and a full application in another. For example, a fixed backyard tiny home can need no planning permit in Tasmania’s main residential zones if it meets the rules, but it needs development approval in the ACT.
Having wheels doesn’t take a tiny home outside the rules. Living in a tiny house on wheels can still need planning approval, and in some states building approval as well.
This page compares the key rules in two tables, one for tiny houses on wheels and one for tiny houses on foundations. Tap a state’s name to read its full guide. Before you start, check the rules for your property with your local council. In the ACT, that’s the Territory Planning Authority. In the NT, planning decisions are made by the Development Consent Authority.
This table compares where you can live in a tiny house on wheels, how long guests can stay without approval, renting it to a long-term tenant, and connecting it to water and sewer. In most states and territories, living in one on a vacant block needs approval. Towing, registration and size limits are covered in our buying guide.
| State (tap for full guide) | Living on a vacant block | Living in a backyard beside a house | Guest stays without approval | Renting to a long-term tenant | Connecting to water and sewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Only with council approval. You need approval to install it under the Local Government Act 1993, plus development consent. | Yes, if they’re part of your household. One caravan on land with a house can be lived in by the owner or their household without council approval. You may still need development consent to use it. | Up to 2 days in a row, and no more than 60 days in any 12-month period. Up to two caravans, campervans or tents are allowed on this basis. | Check first. It depends on how your council interprets “member of your household”. | Usually only with approval. Connecting to council sewer generally needs Section 68 approval under the Local Government Act 1993, as do greywater and on-site sewage systems. Rules vary between councils. |
| VIC | Only with approval. We found no council that allows long-term living in one on a vacant block without a permit. | Depends on your council. Some allow one beside an existing house with no permit, if it’s for private use and not connected to the house’s services. Others require a permit, set day limits, or say it needs a building permit. | Set by your council’s local law. The councils we checked range from 21 days a year to no time limit. | Check first. The no-permit exemption we found is for private use only, with no rent charged, and the pilot we found is limited to affordable and key worker housing. | Check first. We found no state rule written specifically for this. Some councils say connecting to mains plumbing means it’s no longer treated as movable, and the no-permit exemption we found doesn’t cover connected homes. |
| QLD | Apart from very short stays, usually only while you build a house, with a council temporary home permit. Living in one permanently needs building and plumbing approval as a home. | Short stays often yes, depending on your council. Longer stays need council approval. Living in one permanently needs building and plumbing approval as a secondary dwelling. | Set by council. Usually about four to six weeks a year in councils that allow it. Some don’t allow any stays without approval. | Check first. The Queensland Government says leasing a tiny home to a tenant may need planning approval. | Check first. The Queensland Government describes a tiny home on wheels treated as a caravan as one that isn’t connected to services such as town water and sewer. Living in a tiny home permanently may need building approval and plumbing and drainage approval. |
| WA | Only with written local government approval for stays beyond 5 nights in any 28 days. Approval is given for up to 24 months at a time. | Only with written local government approval, apart from stays of up to 5 nights in any 28 days. Approval is given for up to 24 months at a time. | Up to 5 nights in any 28 consecutive days, with the landowner’s permission. | Only with written local government approval for stays beyond 5 nights in any 28 days. Check whether the approval conditions cover a tenant. | Only if your council allows. When it approves a longer stay, it can require services. The home must still be able to be moved within 24 hours of the services being disconnected. |
| SA | Only with development approval. That means planning consent and building consent through PlanSA. | Usually only with development approval. Living in it doesn’t need approval if it goes with your main house and there’s no building work, but PlanSA says placing it on land usually needs approval each time. | Check first. We found no state-wide time limit. Approval depends on whether there’s building work, not on how long the guest stays. | Yes, but usually only with approval. Renting doesn’t change the approval rules. Placing it on land usually needs development approval, and so does any building work. | Only with approval. Connecting pipes to services is building work, so it needs development approval. On a block with no sewer, an on-site system needs wastewater works approval. |
| TAS | Only with council approval. It’s assessed as a residential use under the planning scheme, and the rules depend on your zone. | Only with council approval, whoever lives in it, including family. Approval is under the planning scheme or your council’s caravan by-laws. | Check first. We found no state rule that allows any stay without approval. Some councils have by-laws for the temporary use of caravans. | Only with council approval, the same as for anyone else living in it. | Not directly. Fixed plumbing can’t be connected to it. It can be parked next to plumbed facilities, such as an approved dump point, which need council approval. |
| ACT | Check first. It doesn’t need development approval only if your Crown lease authorises the use and no works needing approval go with it. | Check first. The same Crown lease test applies as on a vacant block. | Check first. We found no ACT law setting a number of days. | Check first. The Crown lease test still applies, and long-term living can stop it being excluded from the Building Act. | Check first. We found no ACT rule written specifically for this. Plumbers notify Access Canberra, and changes to a sewer or water main connection go to Icon Water for approval. |
| NT | Only temporarily without consent (planning approval). This covers the owner or occupier in some residential and rural zones, if it’s the only caravan on the site. The scheme doesn’t say how long “temporary” is. | Yes, in some cases: the owner or occupier temporarily, a dependant of someone living in the house, or a genuine visitor for up to 6 months. Anyone else, such as a tenant, needs consent (planning approval). | Up to 6 months for a genuine visitor, if it’s the only caravan on the site, the zone permits caravan accommodation and no overlay requires consent. | Only with consent (planning approval). A tenant isn’t one of the people allowed to live in it without planning approval. | Check first. The work must be done by a registered plumber and drainer. We found no NT rule written specifically for this. |
| State (tap for full guide) | What it’s called | Maximum size, and how it’s measured | Minimum block size | Skipping the planning application | Building approval | Renting to a long-term tenant | Selling or titling separately |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Secondary dwelling (granny flat), under the Housing SEPP. | 60 m² for complying development, not counting attached decks, verandahs or carports. On rural land, size caps are set by each council’s LEP. | 450 m² for complying development. Smaller lots need a development application. | Often yes. A granny flat up to 60 m² on a lot of at least 450 m² can be approved as complying development (a CDC) by a council or private certifier, if it meets all the Housing SEPP standards. A CDC isn’t available on rural land or in zone R5. Otherwise you need a development application. | Yes. You get it through a CDC (from a private certifier or council) or a development application (from council). | Yes. Anyone can live in it, including private tenants. Check for any conditions on your approval. | No. It can’t be subdivided from the main house, so the two can only be sold together. |
| VIC | Small second dwelling. | 60 m², including all roofed areas such as verandahs and carports. | No planning permit needed on residential lots of 300 m² or more. Lots under 300 m² need a planning permit. | Usually yes. No planning permit is needed on a residential lot of 300 m² or more, as long as it isn’t connected to mains gas and no flooding, environmental or other special planning control requires one. This also applies in the Farming, Rural Activity and Rural Living zones if set requirements are met. | Building permit from a registered building surveyor. | Yes, to anyone. As a rental, it must meet Victoria’s rental minimum standards. | No. It can’t be subdivided from the main house onto its own title. |
| QLD | Secondary dwelling (granny flat). | Set by your council’s planning scheme. Under the Queensland Housing Code, the default is 50 m² internal floor area, or 60 m² on lots of 1,000 m² or more. | We found no state minimum. Check your council’s planning scheme. | Often yes, but it depends on your council. A secondary dwelling that meets the Planning Regulation 2017 criteria and your council’s planning scheme often doesn’t need planning approval. An overlay such as flood or bushfire can change that. | Building approval (Queensland’s term for a building permit) from a licensed building certifier, private or council. Plumbing and drainage approval comes from your council. | Yes, in most cases, unless your planning approval has conditions about who can live there. | Not on its own. You’d need to subdivide (“reconfiguring a lot”), which usually needs development approval from your council. |
| WA | Ancillary dwelling (granny flat), under the R-Codes. | 70 m² internal floor area to meet the deemed-to-comply standards. A larger design can still be approved, but needs development approval. | No minimum since April 2024. | Yes, if it meets the deemed-to-comply standards, goes with a single house or grouped dwelling, and the property isn’t heritage-protected. Some bushfire prone areas and special control areas still need approval. | Building permit from the permit authority, usually your local government, unless the work is exempt. | Yes. The R-Codes don’t limit who can live in an ancillary dwelling. | Not without subdividing. Subdividing needs Western Australian Planning Commission approval, and each new lot must meet the R-Codes lot size for its density code. |
| SA | Ancillary accommodation (the same category as a granny flat), under the Planning and Design Code. | 70 m² or less for deemed-to-satisfy. A bigger one can still be approved through the performance assessed pathway. | We found no minimum in the deemed-to-satisfy rules. | No. You still need planning consent and building consent. If it meets the deemed-to-satisfy rules, planning consent must be granted and neighbours aren’t notified. | Building consent from your council or a private accredited building professional (often called a building certifier). | Yes. Anyone can live in it, including a paying tenant, and an approval can’t include a condition stopping it from being rented. | Not as it is. You’d need to divide the land, which needs its own development approval. It would then no longer count as ancillary accommodation. |
| TAS | Secondary residence (often called a granny flat), under the Tasmanian Planning Scheme. | 60 m² gross floor area, measured from the outside of the walls. A proposal to raise this to 90 m² hasn’t been decided. | We found no minimum. | Yes, in the main residential zones, if it’s 60 m² or less and shares the main house’s driveway, parking, connections and meters. It must also meet your zone’s rules and any planning codes. | Usually not a building permit. It’s normally notifiable work, which needs a Certificate of Likely Compliance from a licensed building surveyor. It needs a council building permit if it needs a planning permit or you’re an owner builder. | Yes. The State Planning Office says secondary residences can be used for smaller household rentals. | Not as a secondary residence. Separate homes with their own owners are treated as multiple dwellings, which have different planning rules. |
| ACT | Secondary residence, under the Territory Plan. | 90 m², measured to the outside face of the external walls, not counting a garage. Up to 2 storeys. | No minimum. The old 500 m² minimum was removed. | No. Adding a secondary residence needs development approval, and we found no other pathway. | Building approval from a certifier you appoint, unless the building work is exempt. | Check first. We found no Territory Plan rule limiting who can live in an approved secondary residence. Check your Crown lease as well. | No. It can’t have its own separate title in any zone, including unit titling, and stays on the same title as the main house. |
| NT | Dwelling-independent (also called an independent unit or granny flat). | 75 m², or 100 m² in Zones H, A, RL and R. This includes the external wall thickness but not verandahs or balconies. The consent authority can approve a larger one. | We found no minimum in the dwelling-independent rules. | Yes, if it meets the rules. In the zones where it’s a permitted use, no development permit is needed if no overlay requires consent and it meets all the relevant Part 5 requirements. | Building permit from a registered building certifier, but only in building control areas. | Yes. We found nothing in the NT Planning Scheme 2020 that limits who can live in a dwelling-independent. | Only with approval. Subdividing needs consent, and minimum lot sizes apply. On its own lot, it would no longer be a dwelling-independent. |
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