GO THE GLAM GRANNY – COMING TO A BACKYARD NEAR YOU.
Gone are the times of the Hills Hoist in the garden, these days everyone from glitzy grannies to 1st homies are getting in on the action & whipping up a glam granny flat out the back.
Yes! The chic version of the Granny Flat is invading backyards across Sydney as a low-budget start for struggling first home buyers or property investments.
New figures show a 76 per cent jump in the number of granny flats approved across the state last year.
The previous state government changed the law four years ago to enable 10-day approvals for secondary dwellings, with the aim of creating affordable housing.
The Department of Planning’s Local Development Performance Monitoring report – released on Saturday – showed the number of granny flats approved across the state under the new law rose from 487 in 2010-11 to 858 last year. That followed a doubling of the number approved in the previous year.
Some granny flats may serve their purpose well but do not look glamorous.
However, James Brennan, sales manager for a new designer model called Module Plus, says glam flats are attracting interest from grandmothers wanting a retirement home, renovators needing temporary digs through to first home buyers.
One couple is even qualifying for the $15,000 first home owners’ grant.
”We’ve just taken a deposit from a young couple in Avalon who plan to build a new home on a block they’ve bought for $530,000,” Mr Brennan said.
”They’re going to live in it until they can afford to erect their principal property.
”The module came in at just under $120,000 and because they’re under the $650,000 threshold they’ve qualified for the $15,000 grant.”
A spokeswoman for the Office of State Revenue confirmed that such a case would be eligible. ”The circumstances described meet the requirements of an eligible transaction for the first home owner grant,” she said.
Most councils will allow the granny flats to be built as a secondary home on a property, provided the block is bigger than 450 square metres and the residences do not take up more than 60 per cent of the land. The cost for the council permit varies from nothing in Randwick, Pittwater and Sydney to $20,000 in Botany.