Main page › Guides › Tiny home rules ACT and NT

Tiny home rules in the ACT and the Northern Territory

From Modular Living Australia — the independent knowledge base Last updated: 8 Oct 2026

In the ACT a fixed tiny home can be built as a secondary residence of up to 90 m², one per block, on blocks over 500 m², and it needs development approval.^[1][2][3] In the Northern Territory, Caravan Accommodation is a Permitted use in Zone LR (Low Density Residential) under the NT Planning Scheme 2020; the detailed conditions are not covered by the sources compiled here.^[5]

The ACT and the Northern Territory are the two Australian jurisdictions where published guidance on tiny homes is thinnest. Neither has issued a tiny-house-specific fact sheet of the kind Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia now publish. What exists has to be read out of the general planning instruments.

This guide sets out what those instruments do say, and is explicit about where the published record runs out. Where a question cannot be answered from a source that can be cited, it is marked as not covered rather than inferred from another jurisdiction.

Australian Capital Territory §

The fixed pathway: a secondary residence

The ACT's equivalent of a granny flat is a secondary residence — a second dwelling on a block that is subordinate to the principal dwelling.^[2][6] The Territory Plan 2023 sets two hard numbers:

• The maximum dwelling size of a secondary residence is 90 m², measured as floor area.^[1]
• A maximum of one secondary residence is permitted per block.^[1]

Departmental guidance adds that a secondary residence is permitted on blocks over 500 m².^[2]

The 90 m² cap is the largest secondary dwelling allowance of any Australian jurisdiction covered on this site — larger than the 60 m² that applies in New South Wales and Tasmania. See granny flat rules by state.

A secondary residence is not exempt development

The ACT's exempt development framework covers a range of minor building work, but adding a secondary residence is explicitly not exempt development and requires development approval.^[3]

This matters for tiny home buyers because it removes the shortcut that exists elsewhere. There is no ACT equivalent of Tasmania's No Permit Required pathway or the NSW Complying Development Certificate for a secondary dwelling — a development application is the route.

The Territory Plan's residential zones table lists which uses are permitted; uses listed require development approval unless they meet the exempt development definition under the Planning Act 2023, and uses not listed in the table are prohibited.^[1] Applicants are directed to identify the zone applying to their block using the Territory Plan layer on ACTMapi, then check the applicable District Policy.^[6]

Unit titling a tiny home

The ACT guidance addresses one question directly that other jurisdictions do not: whether a secondary residence can be separately titled.

Before an existing secondary residence — and the guidance says "including a tiny home" — can be unit titled, approval must first be sought for the dwellings on the block to be a dual occupancy, and the block must be at least 800 m².^[2]

So there are three thresholds stacked on each other: 500 m² to have a secondary residence at all, 800 m² to convert it to a dual occupancy, and then a separate unit titling application after that.

Tiny homes on wheels in the ACT

Not covered by the sources compiled here. No ACT Government publication setting out how long a caravan or tiny house on wheels may be occupied on a residential block was located. What can be said from the sources above is that the Territory Plan's residential zones table operates on the basis that uses not listed are prohibited,^[1] and that a secondary residence requires development approval.^[3] Anyone considering long-term occupation of a mobile dwelling in the ACT should put the question to the Territory Planning Authority in writing before committing.

Northern Territory §

The planning instrument

The Northern Territory Planning Scheme 2020 is the rule book for land use and development in the NT and covers the whole Territory except Jabiru, which has its own town plan.^[4] Unlike most states, there is no layer of local council planning schemes underneath it.

One transitional point matters: specific use zones created under the earlier NT Planning Scheme 2007 are being progressively reviewed, and land subject to such a zone continues to be assessed under the 2007 scheme until that review is complete.^[4] Check which scheme applies to the land before relying on the 2020 provisions.

Caravan accommodation is a defined use

The NT scheme takes an approach not used elsewhere: it defines Caravan Accommodation as a land use in its own right, with its own specific development requirement at clause 5.4.11 of Part 5.^[7]

In the assessment table for Zone LR (Low Density Residential), Caravan Accommodation is categorised as Permitted.^[5]

That is a structurally different starting point from most states, where occupying a caravan on residential land is handled as an exemption from something else. In the NT it is a use with a category.

What is not covered

The detailed requirements of clause 5.4.11 — including any conditions, occupancy limits or time limits attached to Caravan Accommodation — are not covered by the sources compiled here, and are not reproduced or paraphrased on this page. Nor is the assessment category for Caravan Accommodation in zones other than Zone LR.

This site does not infer NT rules from other jurisdictions. Anyone planning a tiny home in the Northern Territory should obtain the current text of clause 5.4.11 and the assessment table for the relevant zone, and contact NT Development Assessment Services.

The NT is also the jurisdiction where this site has been unable to source secondary dwelling rules — see granny flat rules in Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory.

Road limits apply in both §

Whatever the planning position, a tiny home on wheels must be able to travel. Published guidance puts standard road limits at about 4.3 m in height, 2.5 m in width and roughly 9 m in length for travel without special permits.^[8] Beyond those dimensions an oversize permit is required for each move — see delivery, transport and craneage.

Comparison §

Related guides §

• Granny flat rules in Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory
• Granny flat rules and approvals by state
• Can you live in a tiny house full time in Australia?
• Glossary

References §