Ancillary Accommodation and Student Accommodation Definitions Review Code Amendment

Adopted by the Minister for Planning on 18 November 2024, the Ancillary Accommodation and Student Accommodation Definitions Review Code Amendment (Code Amendment) approved changes to the Planning and Design Code that are designed to provide more flexible and diverse housing options.

Initiated on 5 December 2023, the Code Amendment was granted early commencement on 29 February 2024 whilst the proposed changes underwent public consultation. The Minister for Planning considered that the immediate application of the Code Amendment was necessary in the interests of orderly and proper development, particularly whilst the South Australian community withstood the difficulties of housing shortages.

The main changes to the existing land use definitions for ‘ancillary accommodation’ and ‘student accommodation’ are summarised below:

• The prohibition for ancillary accommodation and student accommodation to be self-contained has been removed. The option is now available for these accommodation types to be self-contained, with their own bathroom, kitchen and laundry.
• The primary dwelling’s private open space must now be accessible to all occupiers of the site.
• Ancillary accommodation may now maintain some separate utilities and services to the primary dwelling.
• The maximum floor area policy for ancillary accommodation has increased from 60m² to 70m² to support living amenity.
• The references within the above definitions to an ‘allotment’ have been changed to ‘site’ to promote consistency with other land use definitions.

This Code Amendment will take effect on the day that it is deployed into both the electronic Planning and Design Code and the South Australian Property and Planning Atlas.

For more specific information on any of the material contained in this article please contact Gavin Leydon on +61 8 8210 1225 or gleydon@normans.com.au