Short answer: yes, in Redland's residential zones a granny flat (a secondary dwelling attached to or detached from the main house) does not normally need its own planning application (material change of use) to council; it is approved through the building approval instead. But Redland City Plan 2018 is unusual on this point compared with most South East Queensland schemes: its residential zone tables do not mention "secondary dwelling" as a term, and they set no gross floor area limit for one anywhere in the document. The scheme is simply silent in its residential zones. The number that actually controls how big your granny flat can be sits in a separate council guideline, not the City Plan itself, and that distinction is the whole story on this question.
Why the City Plan doesn't set the answer
Under Redland City Plan 2018, Version 14, a secondary dwelling is treated as part of the dwelling house use in the Low density residential, Low-medium density residential and Medium density residential zones, and it is accepted development, no material change of use application required. That conclusion rests on the Planning Regulation 2017's secondary dwelling exemption and the Queensland Development Code, not on Redland's own zone tables: a full-text read of Tables 5.4.1 to 5.4.3 (the LDR, LMDR and MDR use tables) turns up no "secondary dwelling" entry and no floor area figure at all. Where a state exemption already does the work, a scheme has no need to repeat it, and Redland doesn't.
The size tiers that actually control it
Because the scheme is silent, the practical ceiling on a granny flat's size in the Redlands comes from the council's Amenity and Aesthetics Guideline (LUP-001-001-G, Version 9), operative since 1 February 2024. Its own words (Item 4, Probable Solution P1):
"The gross floor area of a secondary dwelling is not to exceed: 85m² where the lot size is less than 1000m²; or 112m² where the lot size is 1000m² or more; or 160m² where the lot is zoned rural and the lot size is 6,000m² or more."
So the working ceilings are up to 85 m² on a lot under 1,000 m² and up to 112 m² on a lot of 1,000 m² or more, with a 160 m² tier only where the lot is zoned rural and is 6,000 m² or more. These are guideline probable solutions, paired with meeting the Queensland Development Code's MP1.1 or MP1.2 acceptable solutions, whichever part applies to the lot size, not a number written into the City Plan's own code.
What happens if the design goes over the tier
The guideline's tiers are not a hard cap in the sense of an automatic refusal; they change which approval track the building takes. A secondary dwelling that fits within its tier and meets the QDC solutions needs no referral to Redland City Council under Schedule 9 of the Planning Regulation 2017, meaning the building certifier can approve it without a council concurrence step. A secondary dwelling that exceeds its tier, or does not meet the QDC solutions, triggers that Schedule 9 referral to council as concurrence agency on the building approval. Whether an infrastructure charge also attaches to an over-tier secondary dwelling is a live question that depends on the council's currently adopted infrastructure charges resolution; that position should be confirmed against the current resolution at the time of lodgement rather than assumed from an earlier one, since charges resolutions are updated on their own schedule.
The proposed scheme amendment, and why it is not the law
Redland has a Major Amendment underway, numbered 02/25 and titled "Residential," that would write these same 85 m², 112 m² and 160 m² tiers directly into the City Plan as a new code (9.2.4.3), rather than leaving them in the guideline alone. As at verification, that amendment had been consulted and was under review by council, with the Minister's consideration, adoption and commencement stages still ahead of it. It is not operative. The current, in-force position remains the one above: the City Plan is silent, and the guideline carries the size control. Anyone relying on this page should check whether 02/25 has since commenced, because an adopted amendment would move these figures into the scheme itself.
The overlays, and what our records do and do not cover
Because a secondary dwelling sits inside the accepted dwelling house pathway rather than as a stand-alone use, its overlay picture follows the dwelling house's. On the evidence currently mapped in our records, Redland's overlay codes mostly do not change that assessment category. The flood and storm tide hazard overlay code states plainly that it does not apply to development that is accepted subject to requirements, and it otherwise only attaches where a use is already assessable under the zone's table in the first place. The one flagged exception in our records is dwelling house building work on land the overlay map shows as "drainage constrained," concentrated on the Southern Moreton Bay Islands, which the scheme pulls into code assessment against the flood overlay code. Because a secondary dwelling is built as part of the dwelling house, whether that mapping touches a mainland lot is read off the overlay map for the parcel, not assumed either way. The landslide hazard overlay follows the same no-change pattern. Beyond flood and landslide, Redland's other overlay layers are not yet fully typed against the table of assessment in our records, so a mapped overlay on your parcel should be checked, not assumed to be neutral.
If you want a second, sellable dwelling instead
A granny flat and a duplex answer different questions, and it is worth being clear about the difference before you design one. A secondary dwelling is not separately saleable; it stays on the one title with the house, whatever the arrangement with whoever lives in it. A dual occupancy is two dwellings that can be sold separately once built, through a building format (community title) plan, while the underlying land stays one lot, its own solicitor and planner-routed process. In Redland's Low density residential zone, a dual occupancy reaches the accepted subject to requirements track only where three conditions are all met: the lot is not in the large-lot LDR1, park residential LDR2 or Kinross Road LDR4 precincts (the use table does not provide for a dual occupancy there at all, dwelling houses only), the building is no taller than 8.5 m, and the site achieves no more than one dwelling per 400 m² of site area. Miss the height or density condition and it is code assessable instead, a full application. In LDR1, LDR2 and LDR4 the use table does not provide for a dual occupancy at all, and what pathway (if any) applies there is a site-specific question, not a code application by default. Separately, the zone code's requirements include a guide of 800 m² or more for the site (PO2, unless the design suits the low-density character of the area), a minimum 20 m frontage (AO2.2) and the QDC MP1.3 design and siting provisions, and missing one of those acceptable outcomes narrows the assessment rather than sinking it. Whether the trade-off, a full application against a sellable second dwelling versus an accepted-development granny flat, suits your block is a design and financial question, not one this page can settle for you.
How to check your own block
- Confirm your parcel's zone (LDR, LMDR or MDR) and, if you are weighing a dual occupancy instead, its LDR precinct, on Redland's planning scheme mapping.
- Measure your lot area and run it against the guideline's tiers: under 1,000 m² caps a secondary dwelling's gross floor area at 85 m², 1,000 m² or more raises it to 112 m², and, only where the lot is zoned rural and is 6,000 m² or more, up to 160 m².
- Check the overlay maps for flood, storm tide and landslide, and confirm with a building certifier or town planner whether your design needs a Schedule 9 referral and what the council's current infrastructure charges resolution says for your case.
This page is general information about the Redland City planning scheme and the council's Amenity and Aesthetics Guideline, not advice about your property. Overlay effects vary lot by lot, planning schemes and guidelines amend, and the council's current versions prevail. Do not rely on this page for a specific property. Get a site-specific report or independent professional advice before acting. We work with town planners, not in place of them: where a pathway depends on design or professional judgement, a town planner or the relevant qualified professional confirms it for your specific proposal.
Want the answer for your block? Our $690 site-specific report reads the zone, every overlay mapped on the property and the surviving development pathways for one property, with every figure cited to the scheme. Not ready for that? Start with the free development risk checklist, or read our Redlands planning and zoning guide. If your block can't produce the granny flat you want, see our companion piece on subdividing land in the Redlands for the freehold-split and dual occupancy alternatives.
Sources: Redland City Plan 2018 (the council's official planning scheme, redland.qld.gov.au), Tables 5.4.1 to 5.4.3 and the Part 5 overlay tables cited above, and the council's Amenity and Aesthetics Guideline (LUP-001-001-G, Version 9). Everything on this page comes from the council's own published planning scheme; we explain it in plain English. The scheme text itself is the authority.
Published by LandIntel. How we research: our methodology.
Verified 3 to 10 July 2026 against Redland City Plan 2018, Version 14; schemes amend, and the live scheme prevails.