If you are thinking of having a granny flat built on your property, there are a lot of important factors to consider. You cannot simply entrust everything to a company that specialises in granny flat solutions and hope for the best outcomes. Instead, you have to carefully study various aspects, including relevant laws and regulations, which can affect the outcome of your investment. One particular area that prospective investors need to figure out is whether they can subdivide their property and lease their granny flats to people who are not their relatives. In recent years, state authorities have modified their stance with regards to building granny flats, with many relaxing previous rules while others encourage property owners to proceed with building granny flats. For example, the WA R-Code introduced a few changes since it came into effect in August 2013. With the introduction of the code, residents of Western Australia were permitted to subdivide their lots, which was not allowed before. The code also modified the minimum lot size for homes. Today, that would be 450 square metres. Furthermore, the code permits ancillary space, including granny flats, to be leased out to non-relatives. The R-Code now allows lots as small as 260 square metres to be submitted for development and be approved as a single house. The question that you need to determine now is whether your lot can be subdivided. The first thing that you need to do is check the R-Code of your property and check with the local council if the changes affect your property. Next, you need to determine the average area that is required for a dwelling. In order to determine this, you will need to divide the total area of your property by the average area. This will help you determine how many lots you can subdivide your property into. Next, you will also need to find out the minimum area. This is particularly important if you cannot divide your lot into equal areas. It is possible to have unequal blocks but each should be larger than the allowed minimum area. Finally, you have to ensure that your property has access to utilities including electricity, water, gas and phone. If your property does not have access to these, you will need to consult with a builder to help you figure out the best solutions as well as the associated costs. What all of these boil down to is that if you have a lot that can be subdivided, you can take advantage of the current situation by having granny flats built on your property or selling the blocks.