What you need to know before getting a Granny Flat

No, it’s not a flat for your granny…

Although it can be if you would like your granny to come live with you!

A granny flat is really just an extra home that you can have built on your property. Now, it is much smaller than your family home, but in Sydney granny flat builders ensure that it has all the essentials; kitchen, bathroom, living area, and bedroom. You can even get a patio and a carport attached to it. So it is really just a mini-house that you can have on the same property as your main house.

Why would you want one, you ask?

Well, there are plenty of reasons to get a granny flat because there are plenty of uses for it. Here are a few:

• ‘Home’ office – If you can’t really work inside your main house, your granny flat could serve as your office while still ensuring that you are at home. If you want it attached to the house you can talk to any granny flat builder Sydney has about how to go about it.
• Adult children residence – Rather than having your adult kids waste money on rent, they could stay in your granny flat as they make arrangements to buy their own homes. You will be doing them a huge favor and they will always be thankful.
• Granny flat – Yes, you can have the grandparents come live with you rather than take them to a retirement home. This way, you can take care of them (like no one else can) and they get to be part of their grandkids’ lives (which is always a beautiful thing) while maintaining some sense of autonomy since they’ll be in their own house.
• Extra cash – When you are done with all the above, you can have rent out your granny flat and make some extra cash. You can even build one just for the extra cash which can help pay off the mortgage on the main house.

But before you go get one…

Make sure you have the following in order:

1. You legally own the property.
2. Your property is at least 450m²
3. Your property is located in a residential zone. Check with your local council.
4. Someone lives on the property. You cannot build a granny flat on unoccupied land.

All these are to ensure that you can get a permit from the local council to start construction of the granny flat. You should note, however, that no matter how large your property is, you can only have one granny flat.

Now, if you intend to rent out the granny flat, you should make sure that there is demand for rental properties in your area. Talk to real estate agents, look through your local dailies, and check out other granny flats in your area, to see if there is a demand, what your potential tenants may be looking for, and how much they are willing to pay for it.

Once all this is done, it is time to talk to some of the best granny flat builders Sydney has to offer. Have fun!