# Australian rooming house and small second dwelling rules dataset — Victoria and Queensland

Structured, cited rules for building a rooming house or a small second dwelling in Victoria and Queensland: the Clause 52.23 use and works exemptions with their zone lists and numeric limits, the minimum garden area bands, site coverage, permeability and setback figures from the Building Regulations 2018, car parking including the accessible space, the effect each of 31 Victorian planning overlays has on the exemption, and the Queensland state frame with an explicit statement of what cannot be read from a browser. Every record carries the clause or regulation it was read from and the date it was read.

- **Version:** 1.0.0
- **Verified:** 2026-09-19
- **Publisher:** DollarBuild — Optima Real Estate Pty Ltd — https://dollarbuild.com.au
- **Licence:** Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- **Attribution:** DollarBuild — Optima Real Estate Pty Ltd, Australian rooming house and small second dwelling rules dataset v1.0.0, https://dollarbuild.com.au/data/rooming-house-rules-au.json
- **Cite as:** Don, J. (2026). Australian rooming house and small second dwelling rules dataset (Version 1.0.0) [Data set]. DollarBuild — Optima Real Estate Pty Ltd. https://dollarbuild.com.au/data/rooming-house-rules-au.json
- **JSON:** https://dollarbuild.com.au/data/rooming-house-rules-au.json
- **Markdown:** https://dollarbuild.com.au/data/rooming-house-rules-au.md
- **Reference page:** https://dollarbuild.com.au/reference/rooming-house-rules-victoria
- **Address screen:** https://dollarbuild.com.au/checker
- **Coverage:** Victoria, Australia; Queensland, Australia

> General information compiled from the primary instruments named on each record, read on the verification date shown. Not legal, planning, building or financial advice. Planning schemes, the Building Regulations and the Queensland Development Code are amended frequently, and a schedule to a zone or overlay can vary a figure for one council — verify the current instrument for the specific lot before relying on it. Where a control could not be read from the issuing body's own document — every Queensland local planning scheme, which is not published as a queryable service — the record says so rather than carrying a guess.

**Sources read:** Victoria Planning Provisions at the VC313 republication of 18 September 2026, read through planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au; Building Regulations 2018; Queensland state spatial layers probed live on 19 September 2026.

## The envelope Clause 52.23 defines

- **Maximum total floor area:** 300 m² across all buildings on the land, excluding outbuildings
- **Maximum bedrooms:** 9
- **Maximum persons accommodated:** 12

**How the floor area is measured.** Clause 52.23-2/-3 counts the total floor area of ALL buildings on the land, measured from the outside of external walls or the centre of party walls, EXCLUDING outbuildings. An attached garage sits inside the external walls and counts; a detached garage, shed or carport is an outbuilding and does not. A retained house on the lot counts. Upper floors count — the measure is floor area, not footprint.

## Victoria — Clause 52.23, the two exemptions

### Use (52.23-2)

- **Clause:** 52.23-2
- **Ordinance:** https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770317
- **Amendment:** VC274, 28 February 2025
- **Zones:** ACZ, CCZ, C1Z, GRZ, HCTZ, MUZ, NRZ, PRZ, RGZ, TZ

Conditions, all of which must hold:

1. Total floor area of all buildings on the land does not exceed 300 m², excluding outbuildings
1. No more than 12 persons accommodated
1. No more than 9 bedrooms provided
1. The zone-table condition for the zone is met

### Buildings and works (52.23-3)

- **Clause:** 52.23-3
- **Ordinance:** https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770318
- **Amendment:** VC257, 25 February 2025
- **Zones:** GRZ, HCTZ, MUZ, NRZ, RGZ, TZ

Conditions, all of which must hold:

1. Every bedroom is accessed only from within the building
1. Shared entry facilities and common areas including a kitchen and living area are provided
1. The zone minimum garden area is kept in the General or Neighbourhood Residential Zone

### Zones

| Code | Zone | Use exemption (52.23-2) | Works exemption (52.23-3) | Minimum garden area applies |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ACZ | Activity Centre Zone | yes | no | no |
| C1Z | Commercial 1 Zone | yes | no | no |
| CCZ | Capital City Zone | yes | no | no |
| GRZ | General Residential Zone | yes | yes | yes |
| HCTZ | Housing Choice and Transport Zone | yes | yes | no |
| MUZ | Mixed Use Zone | yes | yes | no |
| NRZ | Neighbourhood Residential Zone | yes | yes | yes |
| PRZ | Precinct Zone | yes | no | no |
| RGZ | Residential Growth Zone | yes | yes | no |
| TZ | Township Zone | yes | yes | no |

**Zone-code caution.** PRZ is the Precinct Zone (VC274, 28 February 2025). It is NOT 'PZ' — on the Vicmap plan_zone layer PZ is the PORT ZONE, verified 19 September 2026. A rule pack that wrote PZ here would put port land in the use-exemption list.

**Commercial 1 Zone.** The Commercial 1 Zone adds its own zone-table condition: any frontage at ground floor level must not exceed 2 metres. A schedule to any zone can add more.

### Minimum garden area

| Lot size | Minimum garden area |
| --- | --- |
| more than 650 m² | 35 % |
| more than 500 m² | 30 % |
| at least 400 m² | 25 % |

**Reading the bands.** Read top down; the first band that matches wins. `overSqm` is a strict lower bound, `atLeastSqm` is inclusive — the ordinance says 25 per cent of a lot of 400 m² to 500 m², 30 per cent of more than 500 m² to 650 m², 35 per cent of more than 650 m². No match (a lot under 400 m²) means no minimum garden area requirement.

**Definition and source.** Clauses 32.08-4 and 32.09-4 (VC253). Clause 73.01 defines garden area as any area on the lot with a minimum dimension of 1 metre that is not the building (eaves to 600 mm, pergolas, unroofed decks under 800 mm and outbuildings up to 10 m² are forgiven), not a driveway, and not an area set aside for car parking. The requirement applies to lots above 400 m²; Building Regulations 2018 reg 76A repeats the same percentages at building-permit stage.

### Siting — Building Regulations 2018

- **Maximum site coverage:** 60 %
- **Minimum permeable surface:** 20 %
- **Minimum side and rear setback:** 1 m for walls up to 3.6 m high

Building Regulations 2018 reg 76(2) — buildings must not occupy more than 60 per cent of the allotment unless a zone schedule states otherwise; reg 77(2) requires at least 20 per cent permeable surface; Table 79 requires a 1 metre side and rear setback for walls up to 3.6 metres high. Reg 68 applies Part 5 siting wherever no planning permit regulates the matter — which is the whole point of relying on Clause 52.23.

### Car parking

- **Rate:** 0.25 spaces per bedroom, fractions rounded down
- **For a 9-bedroom rooming house:** 2 spaces
- **Of which accessible:** 1

Clause 52.06-5 Table 1 (VC311, 9 June 2026) — 0.25 spaces per bedroom on Category 1 and 2 land, fractions rounded down: 9 bedrooms gives 2 spaces. NCC Volume One D4D6(2) then takes 2 × (1 accessible bedroom ÷ 9) = 0.22 up to the next whole figure, so one of the two must be an accessible space. Building Regulations 2018 reg 78 reaches the same count of two.

## Victoria — what each overlay does to the exemption

Severity for a NEW ROOMING HOUSE. Based on the VIC severity map in e2es/frontend/src/config/checker-rules.json, with the rooming-house column of the overlay article applied on top. Three deliberate departures from the E2ES map, all in the same direction: DDO, NCO and (already) HO are 'permit' here, not 'caution'. The 5-metre / muted-tones carve-out in Clauses 43.01-3, 43.02-2 and 43.05-2 is written for a SMALL SECOND DWELLING and never for a rooming house, so copying the E2ES severity would have understated the permit risk on exactly the lots (Boroondara, Stonnington, Bayside, Glen Eira) where it matters most. Codes enumerated from the live plan_overlay layer on 19 September 2026: 29 distinct prefixes across metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong/Ballarat, Gippsland and western Victoria; ICPO and CLPO are added from the ordinance list. severity: block = a permit is required and this class of land is normally refused or treated as an exclusion; permit = the Clause 52.23-3 exemption is lost, a planning permit pathway remains; caution = may add a condition, a referral or a design constraint without removing the exemption; info = a cost or plan-conformity item with no permit trigger of its own.

Severity vocabulary:

- **block:** Permit required, and ordinarily treated as an exclusion until the responsible authority says otherwise
- **permit:** Planning permit required — this overlay removes the Clause 52.23-3 exemption for a rooming house
- **caution:** May add a condition, a referral or a design constraint without removing the exemption
- **info:** A cost or plan-conformity item, with no permit trigger of its own

| Code | Overlay | Severity | Clause |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FO | Floodway Overlay | block | 44.03 |
| PAO | Public Acquisition Overlay | block | 45.01 |
| RFO | Rural Floodway Overlay | block | 44.09 |
| BAO | Buffer Area Overlay | permit | 44.08 |
| BMO | Bushfire Management Overlay | permit | 44.06 |
| DDO | Design and Development Overlay | permit | 43.02 |
| EAO | Environmental Audit Overlay | permit | 45.03 |
| EMO | Erosion Management Overlay | permit | 44.01 |
| ESO | Environmental Significance Overlay | permit | 42.01 |
| HO | Heritage Overlay | permit | 43.01 |
| LSIO | Land Subject to Inundation Overlay | permit | 44.04 |
| NCO | Neighbourhood Character Overlay | permit | 43.05 |
| RO | Restructure Overlay | permit | 45.05 |
| SBO | Special Building Overlay | permit | 44.05 |
| SCO | Specific Controls Overlay | permit | 45.12 |
| SLO | Significant Landscape Overlay | permit | 42.03 |
| SMO | Salinity Management Overlay | permit | 44.02 |
| AEO | Airport Environs Overlay | caution | 45.02 |
| BFO | Built Form Overlay | caution | 43.06 |
| CLPO | City Link Project Overlay | caution | 45.07 |
| MAEO | Melbourne Airport Environs Overlay | caution | 45.08 |
| PO | Parking Overlay | caution | 45.09 |
| PSB | Protected Settlement Boundary | caution | 45.13 |
| RXO | Road Closure Overlay | caution | 45.04 |
| SRO | State Resource Overlay | caution | 44.07 |
| VPO | Vegetation Protection Overlay | caution | 42.02 |
| DCPO | Development Contributions Plan Overlay | info | 45.06 |
| DPO | Development Plan Overlay | info | 43.04 |
| ICO | Infrastructure Contributions Overlay | info | 45.11 |
| ICPO | Infrastructure Contributions Plan Overlay | info | 45.10 |
| IPO | Incorporated Plan Overlay | info | 43.03 |

## What Clause 52.23 does not remove

Clause 52.23 removes a PLANNING permit only. A building permit and occupancy permit are always required (Building Act 1993 ss 16, 39), the building is NCC Class 1b, the operator needs a Business Licensing Authority licence (Rooming House Operators Act 2016 s 7), the premises must be registered with the council as prescribed accommodation (Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 s 67), no bedroom may be smaller than 7.5 m² (Prescribed Accommodation Regulations 2020 reg 11(2)) and there must be one toilet, one bath or shower and one wash basin per 10 residents (reg 20). A restrictive covenant or a Section 173 agreement on title is checked on the certificate of title, not on the planning map.

## The shared-facilities test

Studio Homes Victoria Pty Ltd v Brimbank CC [2022] VCAT 1371 — nine studios with private kitchenettes met every number in Clause 52.23 and were still held not to be a rooming house, because residents could rely exclusively on private facilities. An ensuite does not have that effect; a per-room kitchenette does.

## Queensland

Queensland has NO statewide equivalent of Clause 52.23. Rooming accommodation is defined by the Planning Regulation 2017 and then assessed against the LOCAL planning scheme, whose zone tables, overlays and acceptable outcomes are not reachable from a browser. This screen therefore never returns an eligible verdict in Queensland: it reports the state layers that did answer and says plainly that the council scheme decides. Never imply a council overlay was checked.

**Council planning schemes are not machine-readable:** `councilOverlaysMachineReadable: false`. Any answer that claims a Queensland council overlay was checked from a spatial service is wrong.

### State layers that do answer

| Code | Layer | Severity | Instrument |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ASS | Acid sulfate soils trigger area (State Planning Policy) | caution | State Planning Policy — acid sulfate soils trigger area |
| HER | Queensland Heritage Register place | permit | Queensland Heritage Register (Queensland Heritage Act 1992) |
| COASTAL | Coastal erosion prone area | permit | Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995 — erosion prone area |

### Queensland source register

- **definition:** Planning Regulation 2017 (Qld) schedule 24 — 'rooming accommodation' is a residential use of premises for accommodation where each resident has a right to occupy one or more rooms and does not have a right to occupy the whole; it is a separate defined use from a dwelling house and a secondary dwelling.
- **assessment:** Whether rooming accommodation is accepted, code assessable or impact assessable, and what it must provide, is set by the LOCAL categorising instrument — the council's planning scheme. It varies by council and by zone, and it is not published as a browser-queryable spatial service.
- **siting:** Queensland Development Code MP 1.2 (lots 450 m² and over) — side and rear setback at least 1.5 m for walls up to 4.5 m mean height, 6 m to the road, site cover 50 per cent. MP 1.1 applies below 450 m². The Queensland Housing Code chapters published 14 August 2026 replace these only in councils that adopt them during the 1 September 2026 – 1 September 2029 transition.
- **building:** Building Act 1975 and the NCC apply as they do in Victoria: a building of this size and occupancy is Class 1b or Class 3 depending on floor area and resident numbers, and the classification is the building certifier's.

## Victorian source register

- **clause5223:** Victoria Planning Provisions Clause 52.23 Rooming house. 52.23-2 removes the zone permit for the USE in ten zones (VC274, 28 February 2025) where the zone-table condition is met, the total floor area of all buildings on the land does not exceed 300 m² excluding outbuildings, no more than 12 persons are accommodated and no more than 9 bedrooms are provided. 52.23-3 removes the permit for BUILDINGS AND WORKS in six of those zones on the same 300 m² and 9-bedroom limits, provided every bedroom is accessed only from within the building, shared entry facilities and common areas including a kitchen and living area are provided, and the zone's minimum garden area is kept in the General or Neighbourhood Residential Zone (VC257, 25 February 2025).
- **sharedKitchen:** Studio Homes Victoria Pty Ltd v Brimbank CC [2022] VCAT 1371 — nine studios with private kitchenettes met every number in Clause 52.23 and were still held not to be a rooming house, because residents could rely exclusively on private facilities. An ensuite does not have that effect; a per-room kitchenette does.
- **gardenArea:** Clauses 32.08-4 and 32.09-4 (minimum garden area 25 / 30 / 35 per cent) with the Clause 73.01 definition; Building Regulations 2018 reg 76A repeats it at building-permit stage.
- **siteCoverage:** Building Regulations 2018 reg 76(2) — buildings must not occupy more than 60 per cent of the allotment unless a zone schedule states otherwise; reg 77(2) requires at least 20 per cent permeable surface; Table 79 requires a 1 metre side and rear setback for walls up to 3.6 metres high. Reg 68 applies Part 5 siting wherever no planning permit regulates the matter — which is the whole point of relying on Clause 52.23.
- **overlays:** An overlay is a separate control with its own permit trigger and Clause 52.23 does not touch it. The 5-metre, muted-tones carve-out in Clauses 43.01-3 (Heritage), 43.02-2 (Design and Development) and 43.05-2 (Neighbourhood Character) is written for a small second dwelling only and never applies to a rooming house.
- **carParking:** Clause 52.06-5 Table 1 (VC311, 9 June 2026) — 0.25 spaces per bedroom on Category 1 and 2 land, fractions rounded down: 9 bedrooms gives 2 spaces. NCC Volume One D4D6(2) then takes 2 × (1 accessible bedroom ÷ 9) = 0.22 up to the next whole figure, so one of the two must be an accessible space. Building Regulations 2018 reg 78 reaches the same count of two.
- **notPlanning:** Clause 52.23 removes a PLANNING permit only. A building permit and occupancy permit are always required (Building Act 1993 ss 16, 39), the building is NCC Class 1b, the operator needs a Business Licensing Authority licence (Rooming House Operators Act 2016 s 7), the premises must be registered with the council as prescribed accommodation (Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 s 67), no bedroom may be smaller than 7.5 m² (Prescribed Accommodation Regulations 2020 reg 11(2)) and there must be one toilet, one bath or shower and one wash basin per 10 residents (reg 20). A restrictive covenant or a Section 173 agreement on title is checked on the certificate of title, not on the planning map.

### Ordinance identifiers

| Clause | Ordinance ID | URL |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 3203 | 20769560 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20769560 |
| 5206 | 20770190 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770190 |
| 5223 | 20770315 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770315 |
| 7301 | 20770858 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770858 |
| 7303 | 20770860 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770860 |
| 5223-2 | 20770317 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770317 |
| 5223-3 | 20770318 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20770318 |
| 3208-2 | 20769620 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20769620 |
| 3208-4 | 20769622 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20769622 |
| 3209-4 | 20769639 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20769639 |
| 3208-7 | 20769625 | https://planning-schemes.app.planning.vic.gov.au/Victoria%20Planning%20Provisions/ordinance/20769625 |

Current VC313-republication ordinance IDs, read 19 September 2026. The 20468xxx IDs used on the group's older pages are stale and the viewer answers 'Ordinance was not found'.

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Cite as: Don, J. (2026). Australian rooming house and small second dwelling rules dataset (Version 1.0.0) [Data set]. DollarBuild — Optima Real Estate Pty Ltd. https://dollarbuild.com.au/data/rooming-house-rules-au.json