29 October 2026

New building controls to manage flood risk

Victoria is updating flood risk information, planning controls and building controls to support safer, more climate-resilient homes in the right places.

As a first step in introducing new building controls, the Building Legislation and Treasury Legislation (Tax Relief) Amendment Act 2026 introduced new ministerial powers to determine flood‑prone land and require flood‑related designations to be included in land sale reports. These changes will operate in parallel with new planning controls to establish a new state-led approach to providing developers and residents with better flood risk information. The updated approach to flood information will operate in similarly to the existing bushfire prone area declarations.

Minor amendments have now been made to the Building Regulations 2018 to replace references to an ‘area liable to flooding’ to the new ‘flood prone area’. This will enable the Minister administering the Building Act 1993 to make flood-prone area declarations in 2027.

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Emergency orders, building notices and building orders

The Building Legislation and Treasury Legislation (Tax Relief) Amendment Act 2026 also introduced expanded powers for Relevant Building Surveyors to issue emergency orders, building notices and building orders where land has been altered by natural or human-caused events and poses a risk to life, safety or property (known as condition-altered land).

These changes were introduced in response to recommendations from the Inquiry into the McCrae Landslide.

Minor amendments have been made to the Building Regulations 2018 to ensure that ‘condition-altered land’ can be specified as the subject of an emergency order, building notice or building order.

Small second dwellings

On 15 October 2026 the Minister for Planning introduced Amendment VC306 to the Victorian Planning Provisions to introduce improvements to small second dwelling provisions.

The changes:

  • Increase the maximum floor area of a small second dwelling from 60 square metres to 80 square metres.
  • Specify that the calculated floor area of a small second dwelling does not include attached roofed or unroofed structures (e.g. a patio, pergola, porch, terrace, verandah or deck).
  • Remove the requirement for a small second dwelling to have an access path as it duplicates access requirements in the National Construction Code.

Following the introduction of these provisions, the Building Regulations 2018 have been updated to align building permit requirements with new planning requirements.

This ensures the same siting and design requirements apply to a small second dwelling regardless of whether a development is assessed through a planning permit or a building permit process.

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Single home code

Clause 54 of all planning schemes contains the residential development provisions that apply to the development of single dwellings and small second dwellings, including alterations, extensions and specified front fences, where a planning permit is required.

In most cases, Clause 54 does not apply to the development of a single dwelling or small second dwelling on an allotment greater than 300 square metres in a residential zone. The residential development provisions that apply to these proposals are applied and assessed as part of the building permit application process.

The Building Regulations 2018 have been amended to align with the Victorian Planning Provisions. The changes:

  • Introduce less onerous requirements for minimum street setbacks, site coverage, overshadowing of recreational private open space, overlooking, and private open space;
  • Remove the ability for the regulations relating to permeability, side and rear setbacks, and walls and carports on boundaries, to be able to be varied by local planning schedules;
  • Introduce a new regulation 79A to manage potential overshadowing of a neighbour’s domestic solar energy facility;
  • Make consequential amendments to Schedules 5 and 6 of the Regulations; and
  • Make a minor clarifying amendment to the setback requirements for a small second dwelling.

Amendments have also been made to Ministerial Guideline 12 – Siting and Design of Single Dwellings to make improvements to the decision guidelines and to introduce decision guidelines for new regulation 79A to manage potential overshadowing of a neighbour’s domestic solar energy facility.

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Page last updated: 04/11/26