# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  Side and street setback of extensions in Bayside, Melbourne

## ifhaun

I'm thinking of adding a garage next (attached) to my house.  Our neighbour has a 12m long garage on the boundary there so I can butt up against it on the boundary. 
The issue I am unclear about is street and side setback.  My house is 7.8m from the street.  Our neighbours front setbacks are 7.7m and 8.6m[4].  According to the rules, my street setback would be then 8.6m [1].
Does that mean my garage must be setback 8.6m or can it be 7.8m?  I'd like it to be say 8.1m so the garage is a bit stepped back from the house. 
Similarly my side setback on the south side is 1.2m and I'd like to extend the back of the house by about 5m in length.  According to the rules, side setback must be 2m.  Do I get to keep the 1.2m side setback for the extension?  Our block is 12.2m wide so side setback is a big issue. [3] 
The rules for setbacks make no mention of any existing building on your lot - it only talks about neighbours - as though nobody considered extensions when framing the rules. 
------- Optional background: 
My block is over 500 sqm so doesn't require a planning permit.  I know I can apply for a dispensation [2].  I'd prefer to have a plan that a building surveyor will approve without requiring a dispensation, so not involving the council. 
Many of the houses in our street are on 350-450 sqm blocks, most have no garage or carport, and a lot have no off-street parking and nearly all don't meet the current setback rules.  We just happen to be between two of the larger blocks in the street. 
[1] I'm in the Bayside Council area so the setback rules are a little more stringent than the default Victorian ones.  Bayside seemingly hasn't had it's amendments due to the 2013 "Reformed residential zones" approved by the minister but I am not expecting any setback rules to be relaxed. 
Current rules Report and Consent - Bayside City Council 
New amendment draft (we're in NRZ2 by the look of it) - setback rules look identical to above http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/docume...6_7_and__8.pdf 
[2] A dispensation is somewhat like a planning permit application but council response is quicker (3 weeks).  I'd guess that the step getting the neighbours' views and hopefully consent would take a lot longer though.  Requires submitting a "report and consent" application. 
[3] If we met all the setback rules as written, they'd use up more than 50% of our 506 sqm block. 
[4] We had a site survey done when we had a quote done for a new build, and it says our neighbours with the 8.6m setback have a 9.1m setback, but it appears to be disregarding the 0.5m bay window on the front.  That seems incorrect to me because a bay window is not an allowable encroachment into front setback.

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## barney118

If you are looking at a variation to the rules then planning will be required, the council DCP usually have setbacks in their documents, it doesnt cost anything to discuss with council your ideas and usually some compromise is given. If other setbacks are closer some councils also take into consideration the streetscape and current setbacks inside the plan.

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## ifhaun

[S]Don't know what happened there.  Went to make a minor edit on the first post in the thread and it deleted it...[/S] 
Was just going to clarify that the garage will be attached to the house and abut the neighbour's garage.  There is a nice space about 6.8m x 5.3m to put a garage or carport.

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## ifhaun

I see what is happening.  I edited the original post and it requires moderator approval so it becomes invisible.  Sheesh.

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## Bedford

Not any more!

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## shannon_t

Hi, 
The maximum amount you can build on the boundary is 10m plus 25% of the remainder of the boundary. Any existing structures in and on your boundary are included in this calculation. 
The maximum height is 3.6 at an average of 3.2m. 
If your garage is connecting to the boundary and directly to your house there is a fire rating consideration. Basically a brick wall will cover this. A garage itself doesn't have to be fire rated but when it is attached to the bounday and then attached to the house dwelling it does.  
You should also consider when you build directly on he boundary you need to know you are building on the title boundary as opposed to where ever the palings have been constructed (which is normally around 100mm off) so you will require the services of a land surveyor. Feel free to contact me if you would like contact info for the bayside area. In addition to building accurately on your title boundary this will be a building permit requirement.  
Building outside this regulations requires a "dispensation" which is separate from a Town Planning permit. The report and consent form to your local council normally takes approx 2-3 weeks

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## ifhaun

Hey thanks Shannon.  Sounds like we'll have to replace our old front door with a fire-rated one (it will lead to the new garage).  I presume fire-rated cement sheet could be used over the existing timber windows that open onto where the garage will be.  We had a site survey done when we had a quote done for a new build (which came out too expensive).  The surveyor was picked by the design/build firm, and I'm not impressed by the result.  For example, it shows some neighbours' windows but not all and doesn't identify habitable room windows, and shows the most important neighbours' set back as 9.1m instead of 8.6m.  He also put the age of the paling fences on the survey and one is labelled as 10-25 years old which was in fact about 2 years old.  I have seen other site surveys which look much more complete. 
I expect to have the boundaries surveyed again when building any extensions. 
To inform others:
I did in the end call the Council.  They confirmed that my allowed street setback depends on my neighbours and not on my existing house.  Council confirmed the setback for my purposes is to the further neighbour minimum setback i.e. to their bay window at 8.6m (not 9.1m to the front wall shown on the survey) and that is what I am allowed to build to, unless I get a dispensation.  It does not matter that the front of my house is 7.8m from the street. 
Also our allowed side setback is 2m (without a dispensation) unless on a boundary (or within 150mm) subject to other siting requirements.  It does not matter that our existing side setback is 1.2m. 
The council also told me that to get a dispensation, you don't need a full set of construction drawings (which is not what an inner city architect told me, perhaps they only ever deal with small blocks). The plans just need to show enough for the council to determine where it does and does not comply with the siting requirements, location of walls, boundaries, wall heights etc.  All of Victoria is due to get the new building zones announced on 1 July last year, which the council have max of 12 months to adopt (which hasn't happened yet for Bayside).  I have a design in mind that caters for the allowed setbacks, without a dispensation, and without adversely affecting the floor plan.  I see that, amongst other things, masonry chimney backs, flues, and heating equipment can encroach into the setback so I can put my fireplace there. 
My neighbour obtained a dispensation for a new build.  He found the slowest part was getting comments from the closest neighbours (2 on either side and 3 opposite).  It seems you don't have to get their comments but it helps the application.  So the council may take a few weeks to decide, but the neighbours may take much longer.

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## dave062014

Hi, Im planning for an extension of my house in the easternsuburb of Melbourne. The house is tenanted by a family. Im planning to add aself-contained extension in the backyard that consists of 2 bedrooms, abathroom/toilet, kitchen, living area & internal laundry. My objective isto have 2 families occupying the house, yet have enough privacy. Wondering ifanyone has done similar extension that offers dual occupancy without anysubdivision. Thanks. Dave

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