URA Residential Handbook for Landed Homes: What You Can Build When You Rebuild or Extend
The storey limit on your street, how tall and how big the house can be, when a renovation becomes a rebuild, plot-size minimums, breaking away from a semi-D or terrace, and the rules for Good Class Bungalow Areas.
URA's residential handbook controls landed homes through an 'envelope': a maximum height set by the storey control on URA's Landed Housing Area plan (two or three storeys; 12 m and 15.5 m overall), plus setbacks from the road and boundaries. Plots need minimum sizes (400 sq m for a bungalow, 1,400 sq m in a Good Class Bungalow Area, 200 sq m for a semi-detached house, 150 sq m for an intermediate terrace). Extending by more than half the floor area, or adding a storey, counts as a rebuild. Of 56,482 landed homes in designated areas, 50.3% are capped at two storeys.
URA's residential handbooks decide what you may build on a landed plot: how many storeys, how tall, how far from the road and the neighbours, how much of the plot the house may cover, and whether you can break a semi-detached house or terrace away from its neighbour. The single most important control is set street by street on URA's Master Plan: whether your estate allows two storeys or three. This guide reads the landed chapters of the handbook for a homeowner, in URA's own words, and adds what PropKaki found when it placed 71,888 of the 73,912 landed addresses in its directory on URA's Landed Housing Area map.
What does URA's residential handbook say about rebuilding a landed house?
It fixes an 'envelope' for the house: a height set by your estate's storey control (two or three storeys; 12 m or 15.5 m overall) and setbacks from the road and boundaries, plus minimum plot sizes and, for bungalows and strata landed developments, a cap on how much of the site buildings cover. Floor area is whatever fits inside that envelope.
URA's handbooks for bungalows, semi-detached houses, terrace houses and strata landed housing set the rules for any new or rebuilt landed house. URA describes them as covering "building setbacks, building coverage, intensity and height". For landed homes they boil down to one idea, in place since 2015:
"From 11 May 2015, all landed housing shall follow the envelope control guidelines which define an allowable building envelope based on storey height and building setbacks."
Everything else follows from the envelope:
| Control | What it sets | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Storey control | Two or three storeys (12 m or 15.5 m overall) | The Landed Housing Area plan for your estate |
| Setbacks | How far the house sits from the road and the side and back boundaries | The road's category and the house type |
| Plot size and width | The smallest plot a new house of each type may stand on | The handbook for each type |
| Site coverage | For bungalows and strata landed developments, how much of the site buildings may cover | The bungalow and strata landed handbooks |
| Floor area | Whatever fits inside the envelope | "The allowable Gross Floor Area (GFA) for landed housing is resultant of the allowable building height and envelope." |
Two caveats before you plan anything. URA treats these as guidelines, and "URA may in its discretion decide to depart from these general guidelines" case by case. And the house on your plot today may not meet them: it may have been approved under older rules. The handbook tells you what a new house may be, not what the old one is.
How many storeys can you build on a landed plot in Singapore?
Two or three, depending on your estate. URA's Landed Housing Area plan gives each designated estate a 2-storey or 3-storey envelope; outside those estates the default is three storeys unless a street block plan or conservation rules say otherwise. Of 56,482 landed homes PropKaki placed in designated areas, 28,387 (50.3%) are under a 2-storey envelope and 28,095 (49.7%) under a 3-storey one.
URA's rule: "Landed housing shall not exceed the 2-storey or 3-storey height control, or the prescribed storey height as shown in the designated landed housing plan in the Master Plan, whichever is lower." You find your estate's control on the "Landed Housing Area" layer of URA SPACE, or, for a landed address, in PropKaki's landed house checker. Other height limits can apply on top, such as "Absolute technical height constraints (e.g. Aviation paths restrictions, military and telecommunications installations)".
Outside the designated estates, URA says, "Landed houses outside Designated Landed Housing Areas and not guided by the street block plans are subject to a 3-storey height control." URA also publishes street block plans for particular streets (Thomson Garden Estate, Hong Leong Garden Estate and Jalan Salang among them), and conservation guidelines apply in conserved areas.
What PropKaki found. We placed 71,888 landed addresses from our directory on URA's Master Plan 2025 Landed Housing Area layer. 56,482 (78.6%) sit inside a designated area, and they split almost exactly in half:
| Area type | Storey control | Homes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed Landed | 3-Storey | 25,741 | 45.6% |
| Mixed Landed | 2-Storey | 17,129 | 30.3% |
| Semi-Detached | 2-Storey | 6,202 | 11.0% |
| Bungalows | 2-Storey | 3,855 | 6.8% |
| Semi-Detached | 3-Storey | 2,171 | 3.8% |
| No type on the layer (all in GCB Areas) | 2-Storey | 1,201 | 2.1% |
| Bungalows | 3-Storey | 183 | 0.3% |
Source: PropKaki's landed directory on URA's MP2025 Landed Housing Area layer (data.gov.sg), as of 26 Sep 2026.
The split is not even across the island:
| Region | Homes in designated areas | Under a 3-storey envelope | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Region | 20,148 | 5,264 | 26.1% |
| East Region | 11,200 | 8,048 | 71.9% |
| North-East Region | 16,756 | 7,946 | 47.4% |
| North Region | 3,010 | 3,010 | 100.0% |
| West Region | 5,368 | 3,827 | 71.3% |
All the designated-area homes in the North Region are under a 3-storey envelope; in the Central Region most are under a 2-storey one. The 2,819 addresses in Good Class Bungalow Areas are all under a 2-storey envelope (1,618 of them sit in the "Bungalows, 2-Storey" row above; the rest are the row with no area type).
A further 15,406 addresses sit outside any designated area (URA's default there: three storeys, unless a street block plan or conservation rules apply). Separately, 1,255 of the 71,888 sit in a conservation area (1,090 of them outside any designated area), where URA's conservation guidelines also apply.
The storey limit belongs to the estate, not the house: check the plan before you brief an architect.
How tall can a landed house be, and can you add an attic or mezzanine?
In a 2-storey estate the whole house must fit within 12 m, and within 15.5 m in a 3-storey estate, measured from the site's platform level. An attic may be allowed inside that envelope, and mezzanines no longer have a 50% floor-plate limit, but neither can take the house above the envelope.
Height under envelope control is measured in metres, not just storeys. From URA's clarifications: "The maximum building height is 12m for a 2-storey landed housing area and 15.5m for a 3-storey landed housing area." It is measured from the allowable external platform level of the site, or from the minimum platform level set by PUB where that is higher; sloping sites get a sloping envelope.
Inside those limits, URA has loosened the internal layout:
- Mezzanines. "Mezzanine floors are no longer required to be kept to below 50% of a typical floor plate", but the house must still fit the envelope (URA formally adopted this in July 2021).
- Attics. "An attic is an incidental space that may be allowed within the permissible two-storey and three-storey envelopes respectively." A roof terrace on an attic roof must sit "at least 3m below the top extent of the permissible building envelope".
- What may poke out. Only features such as car porch roofs, roof eaves, ledges, screen walls, parapets and lift overruns may go beyond the envelope; lift overruns and safety barriers "may be considered up to 1m" above the height limit.
An attic buys you space under the roof, not height above it.
What counts as additions and alterations, and when does a renovation become a rebuild?
Works count as additions and alterations (A&A) only if they add no more than 50% to the approved floor area, replace no more than 50% of the external walls, change no more than 50% of the structure, and add no storey. Anything bigger, any extra storey, or a change of house type (semi-D to bungalow, say) is a reconstruction.
URA's criteria for an A&A proposal, all of which must be met:
- "Proposed additional gross floor area shall not exceed 50% of the approved gross floor area";
- "External walls that are to be removed and replaced with new walls shall not exceed 50% of the approved external walls";
- "Structural changes to the existing landed dwelling house ... shall not exceed 50% of existing building";
- "Changes/replacement of entire roof (with/without resultant increase in height) shall not involve an additional storey";
- "Addition of an attic, provided the increase in GFA shall be less than 50%."
"Proposals that do not comply with the criteria for Additions & Alterations shall be considered as Reconstruction proposals." Two outcomes are reconstruction whatever their size: an "Increase in storey height" and a "Change in landed dwelling housing form (for example, from a semi-detached house to a bungalow)."
Why it matters: A&A on an older house must still fit today's envelope ("new Additions and Alterations works shall comply with the permissible building envelope"), and if the house already exceeds it, "the new Additions and Alterations shall not further increase the building bulk". URA may let you keep old structures that no longer conform, provided "At least 25% of the existing floor plate shall be retained" along with an engineer's certificate.
Do you need planning permission to renovate a landed house?
Generally yes if the works add floor area, and URA lists the common cases: enlarging existing rooms, moving rooms and re-roofing in the same form need no planning permission, while enclosing an open balcony, any earthworks, a new pavilion or splitting a plot into more houses do.
URA's rule of thumb for private homes: "Generally, making alterations or additions to your property would require a planning permission if the proposed works involve an increase in Gross Floor Area (GFA)." Its guide for land-titled houses spells out common cases:
| Works | Planning permission? |
|---|---|
| Enlarging the existing rooms | "not required" |
| Moving rooms around, if the use stays residential | "not required" |
| Re-building the roof "in its existing form with no increase in height" | "not required" |
| A boundary wall "not higher than 1.8m" | "not required" |
| Closing up "open balconies" | "required" |
| Any "earthcut and/or earthfill" | "required" |
| A new pavilion | "required" |
| Redeveloping one landed property "into more than one landed property" | "required" |
Source: URA, "Land-titled Residential" renovation guide.
For a first read of what may be allowed, URA's Landed Housing e-Advisor is "an easy-to-use, friendly and convenient interactive visual tool to guide you on what may be allowed if you wish to carry out alterations to your house", with separate guides for detached, semi-detached and terrace houses. Applications themselves are made by the qualified person you appoint (URA's handbooks refer to "the Qualified Person appointed by the owner").
For the plot itself (its Master Plan zone, its Landed Housing Area and storey control, and whether it sits in a conservation or GCB area), PropKaki's landed house checker shows what is on record for each address.
What is the minimum plot size for a bungalow, semi-detached house or terrace?
400 sq m for a bungalow (1,400 sq m in a Good Class Bungalow Area), 200 sq m for a semi-detached house or corner terrace, 150 sq m for an intermediate terrace, and 80 sq m for the smaller Type II terraces, each with a minimum width. The sizes are net of land set aside for roads or drains.
URA's minimum plot sizes and widths for a new landed house:
| House type | Minimum plot | Minimum width | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bungalow in a Good Class Bungalow Area | 1,400 sq m | 18.5 m | 30 m deep |
| Bungalow elsewhere | 400 sq m | 10 m | — |
| Semi-detached (side-to-side) and corner terrace (Type I) | 200 sq m | 8 m | — |
| Semi-detached (back-to-back) | 200 sq m | 10 m | — |
| Intermediate terrace (Type I) | 150 sq m | 6 m | — |
| Type II terrace (intermediate / corner) | 80 sq m | 6 m / 8 m | — |
Source: URA development control handbooks for bungalows, semi-detached houses and terrace houses.
"The plot size and width refers to the net dimension and area of the plot excluding the land required to be set aside for vesting to the State e.g. excluding Drainage Reserve (DR) and/or Road Reserve (RR)." So a plot that looks big enough on its title can fall short once a road or drain reserve is taken off.
These minimums apply to what you build next, not to the house that stands today. For how the sizes play out in the market, see semi-detached vs terrace houses.
Can you turn a semi-detached house or terrace into a bungalow?
Only if both plots work afterwards. URA may consider a semi-D half becoming a bungalow if its plot is at least 400 sq m and 10 m wide and the half left behind could also become a bungalow, and a terrace if it meets the same size and the neighbour left behind qualifies as a corner terrace (200 sq m, 8 m). You also take on the exposed party wall.
URA's tests, inside designated landed areas: "Outside GCBA, the redevelopment of other housing forms to Bungalows may be considered under the following conditions":
- Semi-detached to bungalow. "It complies with the minimum plot size of 400sqm and plot width of 10m, and The left behind (or remaining) semi-detached unit is capable of being redeveloped into a new bungalow in the future (minimum plot size of 400sqm, plot width of 10m)."
- Terrace to bungalow. "It complies with the minimum plot width of 10m and plot size of 400sqm, and The adjoining terrace house qualifies to become a new corner terrace unit in future (minimum plot size of 200sqm and plot width of 8m)".
- Outside designated areas the bar is higher: "the left-behind plot must fulfil the minimum plot size requirement of 1,000 sqm."
Whoever breaks away pays for the wall they expose. URA requires you to "Plaster and paint the exposed blank wall and neaten any exposed roof of the remaining house", "Allow the owner of the adjacent house access ... to maintain or repair the roof and the exposed blank wall", and "Submit to BCA an engineer's certification of the structural stability of the remaining house." URA adds that "The creation of a new blank party wall at the common boundary upon redevelopment is generally not allowed."
There is a cooperative route too: two semi-detached owners can redevelop together, and "A joint redevelopment by both A and B into 4 terrace houses may be allowed" (within designated areas, terraces are allowed only in mixed landed areas: URA says they "can be built in designated mixed landed housing areas").
Breaking away is a decision about two plots, and you only own one of them.
What are Good Class Bungalow Areas, and what are their rules?
They are 39 estates URA reserves for bungalows only, with the strictest plot rules: at least 1,400 sq m, 18.5 m wide and 30 m deep, a 35% sub-control and 45% site-coverage cap, and 3 m setbacks from neighbours. PropKaki counts 2,819 landed addresses inside them.
URA: "The 39 Good Class Bungalow Areas (GCBA) in Singapore are listed in the table below", from Belmont Park and Binjai Park to Nassim Road, Queen Astrid Park and White House Park. "In Good Class Bungalow Areas (GCBA) or in other bungalow areas, only bungalow developments are allowed."
What sets a GCB Area apart from other bungalow areas:
| Rule | In a GCB Area | Other bungalows |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum plot | 1,400 sq m, 18.5 m wide, 30 m deep | 400 sq m, 10 m wide |
| Site coverage (sub-control / overall) | 35% / 45% | 40% / 50% |
| Main building from side and back boundaries | 3 m | 2 m |
| Fully submerged basement | 2 m from the boundary | Up to the boundary, in most cases |
| Storey control on URA's layer | 2-storey (all 2,819 addresses in PropKaki's directory) | 2 or 3, by estate |
Source: URA bungalow handbook (plot size, site coverage, setbacks, envelope control); storey row: PropKaki's directory on URA's MP2025 Landed Housing Area layer.
URA allows limited flexibility: an existing infill plot below 1,400 sq m may still be redeveloped as a bungalow, and a subdivision may leave one plot short by less than 10% where land is taken for a road. Some GCB Areas (White House Park/Nassim Road, Chatsworth Park, Holland Park/Ridout Park) are also conservation areas.
PropKaki's count: 2,819 landed addresses in our directory sit inside the 39 GCB Areas. That is a count of addresses in the areas, not of Good Class Bungalows.
How much of the plot can a landed house cover, and how far back must it sit?
Bungalows and strata landed developments may cover up to 50% of the site (45% in a GCB Area), with a tighter sub-control; terraces have no site-coverage limit. For bungalows, semi-Ds and Type I terraces the standard road buffer for the main house is 7.5 m from a minor road and up to 24 m from a major one (Type II terraces: 2 m).
Site coverage applies to bungalows and to strata landed developments, each on two tiers: "Within GCBA | 35% | 45%" and "Outside GCBA | 40% | 50%" (sub-control and overall maximum). Strata landed developments must also set aside "minimum 45% of the nett site area" as communal open space. For terraces: "There is no site coverage control for either Terrace Type I or Type II houses."
Setbacks from the road depend on the road's category. For the main building of a bungalow, a semi-detached house or a Type I terrace, URA's road buffers are the same:
| Road category | Main building setback |
|---|---|
| Category 1 | 24 m (including a 5 m green buffer) |
| Category 2 | 12 m (including a 5 m green buffer) |
| Category 3, 4 or slip road | 7.5 m (including a 3 m green buffer) |
| Category 5 | 7.5 m (no green buffer needed) |
Type II terraces are the exception: their road buffer is 2 m on every category of road.
Setbacks from neighbours, for bungalows: the main building, car porch columns and terraces sit 2 m from common boundaries outside GCB Areas and 3 m inside them.
On a landed plot, the road decides the front of the house before you do.
Can you build a basement under a landed house?
Yes, within limits. A basement that pokes above ground must respect the road buffer and building setbacks; a fully submerged one can reach the road reserve line (at least 2 m below the green buffer) and, outside GCB Areas, the site boundary if drainage and neighbours are not affected. In GCB Areas it must stay 2 m from the boundary.
From URA's envelope-control guidelines for landed housing:
- Basement with protrusion: "Up to the road buffer" and "Up to the building setback".
- Fully submerged basement: "Up to the road reserve line, provided the portion underneath the green buffer is submerged at least 2m or more below the ground level", and, for plots outside GCB Areas, up to the site boundary provided there are no technical requirements (sewerage, drainage), no adverse impact on the neighbour, and no openings in the basement wall facing the neighbouring site.
- In GCB Areas: "fully submerged basements shall be setback 2m from the boundary lines."
- Low-lying areas: rooms below PUB's minimum platform level count as a basement, not an extra storey, if they are fully sealed.
What is strata landed housing, and where is it allowed?
Strata landed housing is a group of landed houses on one shared site with common facilities and a single vehicle entrance, each unit strata-titled rather than on its own land title. Strata bungalows are allowed in bungalow, semi-detached and mixed landed areas; strata terraces only in mixed landed areas. PropKaki's directory holds 5,058 strata-titled landed addresses.
URA's definition: "A strata landed housing comprises strata-titled landed housing units occupying a common development site with shared communal facilities and a single vehicular access point." Each unit must have "minimum ground contact of 50sqm", the envelope-control rules apply as for any landed house, and at least 45% of the site must be communal open space.
Where each form may be built, in URA's safeguarded landed housing areas:
| Strata form | Allowed in |
|---|---|
| Strata detached (bungalow) | Bungalow areas (including GCB Areas), semi-detached areas, mixed landed areas |
| Strata semi-detached | Semi-detached areas, mixed landed areas |
| Strata terrace | Mixed landed areas |
| Mixed strata landed | Mixed landed areas |
URA also allows strata landed houses inside a flats (condominium) site, but "Such hybrid developments are not accorded condominium status. They are not allowed in designated landed housing areas."
For who may buy each kind of landed home, see can foreigners buy landed property.
What is the biggest mistake landed owners make when planning a rebuild?
Assuming the street's tallest house shows what they may build. The storey limit comes from URA's plan for the estate, a tall-looking neighbour may be two storeys plus an attic or an older approval, and adding a storey is always a reconstruction, never an A&A.
A house that looks three storeys tall on a two-storey street may be a two-storey house with an attic or mezzanine inside the 12 m envelope, or one approved under older rules. Neither is a precedent for a third storey. URA says so directly: where an existing building "already exceeds the permissible building envelope, the new Additions and Alterations shall not further increase the building bulk."
Three checks before you spend on drawings:
- The estate's storey control on URA's Landed Housing Area plan, or in PropKaki's landed house checker.
- Whether your plan is A&A or reconstruction: any extra storey or change of house type makes it a rebuild.
- The net plot, after any road or drain reserve, against the minimum for the house you want.
On landed, the plan sets the ceiling; your neighbour's roof doesn't.
Official sources
URA's development control handbooks and guidance, the pages behind every rule on this page.
Methodology and sources
Where every figure comes from, and what we deliberately did not claim.
What we used.
- The rules: URA's development control handbooks for bungalows, semi-detached houses, terrace houses and strata landed housing, URA's clarifications on the landed housing guidelines, and its guidance on renovating private homes, all read on 26 Sep 2026.
- The counts: PropKaki's landed directory (73,912 landed addresses built from URA caveats and SLA cadastral lots), of which 71,888 were placed by location on URA's layers from data.gov.sg: the Master Plan 2025 Landed Housing Area layer (area type, storey envelope and the Good Class Bungalow Areas it marks) and the Master Plan 2019 conservation area layer. The 1,201 designated-area addresses with no area type on URA's layer all sit in GCB Areas.
What we did not claim. We do not say what any particular house may be rebuilt to, estimate its floor area, or say whether an existing plot meets today's minimums: URA assesses each application on its merits, and the minimums apply to new plots and houses. A count of addresses inside a GCB Area is not a count of Good Class Bungalows. We do not estimate rebuilding costs.
The rules are as of 26 Sep 2026: check URA's handbooks and the e-Advisor before you plan works, and have a qualified person confirm what your plot allows. Read more about how PropKaki works with data on our methodology page. This page is for information only; it is not legal or financial advice.
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