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Andrea Goh · Landed homes

The Landed Rules Decoder

Key in your own landed plot. See what the URA, BCA and SCDF rules mean for it, in plain words, with the official page and its date next to every rule. Rules as at 8 Oct 2026.

Step 1: Check your plot

The address you type goes only to OneMap, the government map, to find your plot. It is never saved on this device. You can skip this and fill in the boxes yourself.

Then answer three questions. Every section below fills itself in from this and only asks for what is still missing. Leave blank anything you do not know.

How your information is handled

Everything runs on this page, in your browser. The address or postal code you type goes only to OneMap, the government map, to find your plot. This site is asked only for a small map file named after a square of about 1 km, never your address. Your address and the street name in the WhatsApp box are never saved on this device.

The plot numbers you key in, like plot area, stay on this device only, so you can come back to them. Your text size and colour choice stay here too. Tap "Clear saved entries" at the top to remove them. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you tap the WhatsApp button at the bottom, and then only the street name and plot size you typed there.

Add more detail (optional)

The rules below work without these. Every box you fill makes an answer sharper, and each section tells you what it still needs.

URA's rules are written in sq m. If you key sq ft, I convert it for you (1 sq m = 10.764 sq ft) and show the sq m under each box.
Which road category is mine? (plain words)

URA sorts every road into five categories, plus slip roads. The road category decides how far your house must stay back from the road. Category 1 is 24 m. Category 2 is 12 m. Categories 3, 4 and 5 and slip roads are 7.5 m. Your Qualified Person (QP) or URA can tell you your road's category.

From my own street walks. Check the unit number against the street. A street name can cover a main road and a sub-road that carries the same name, even one that ends in a cul-de-sac. So check which road your house number actually fronts.
Pictures: what the words on this page mean
Top view of a plotA rectangle is the plot. A smaller rectangle inside it is the house footprint. The gap between the footprint and the road edge at the bottom is the front setback. Road House footprint Plot area = the whole land Front setback
Plot area is the land, from boundary to boundary. Site coverage is the footprint divided by the plot area. A setback is the gap the house must keep from the road or the boundary.
Side view of a house with three storeysThree stacked floors. The counted area of each floor is added together to give the gross floor area. 1st storey 2nd storey 3rd storey GFA = the counted area of every floor, added up
GFA (gross floor area) is the floor area URA counts, added up over all the floors. It is not the same as the "built-up area" in an advert.
Front setback by road categoryCategory 1 is 24 metres, Category 2 is 12 metres, Categories 3 and 4 and slip roads are 7.5 metres, and Category 5 is 7.5 metres. Category 124 m Category 212 m Category 3, 4, slip road7.5 m Category 57.5 m
Front setback of the main building by road category. Your QP or URA can tell you your road's category.

Step 2: Your rules, section by section

Do Step 1 first. The sections below fill themselves in from your plot and only ask for what is still missing. Tap a section to open it.

Plain-words glossary
GFA (gross floor area)
The floor area URA counts when it checks how much you can build.
A&A (additions and alterations)
Works on an existing house that stay within URA's limits, so the house is not treated as a new build.
Reconstruction
URA's word for a rebuild: the new house follows the current rules in full.
QP (Qualified Person)
The architect or engineer who files your plans.
Setback
The gap you must leave between the building and the road or boundary.
Green buffer
Part of the front setback kept for planting.
GCB and GCBA
A Good Class Bungalow is a large detached house. It sits in a Good Class Bungalow Area. Only a few named areas are like this, and only such houses are allowed there.
Site coverage
How much of your plot the building covers, as a percentage.
Sub-control
A second, tighter limit on the enclosed building footprint (sun-shading features are left out of it).
Platform level
The level of the ground you build on, from which height is measured.
Envelope
The invisible box URA draws over your plot: the most height and bulk you may build.
Strata landed housing
Landed houses on one shared site with shared facilities and one vehicle entrance (often called cluster housing).
Party wall
The wall shared between the two halves of a semi-detached pair.
Vested
Handed over to the State: the land leaves your title.
Every rule's official source and date
SourcePage last updatedChecked

All checked on 8 Oct 2026. A rule that could not be confirmed on an official page is not in this tool. The page's own wording is what counts: confirm any build decision with your QP and URA.

Want my read of your street and plot?

Send me your street name and plot size and I will send you my read. Keyword: LANDED.

Tapping the button opens WhatsApp with only these two fields and the word LANDED. Nothing is sent until you press send there.

This is general information only. It is not legal, building or money advice. The rules come from public pages of URA, BCA, SCDF and NParks, checked on 8 Oct 2026. They can change. What I say about rebuilding is my own opinion. A rebuild needs the owners to agree and the authorities to approve. The numbers are a guide. Please check with URA and a Qualified Person (QP) before you rely on any figure. If a page does not say, or your facts are not clear, the tool says "ask URA or your QP". It does not guess.

Verify me: search 9693 7787 on the CEA Public Register. If an advert for this property shows a different number, it is not me.

Andrea Goh · PropNex Realty Pte Ltd (L3008022J) · CEA R000289H