BCC just bent us over. Need a solicitor.

Interesting Perp - was going to suggest something similar.

How is the costing from bush and beach?

I imagine its suitable for a sloping block as well.
Yes, perfect designs for sloping blocks.

Ours is a custom design - most of their builds are customised to a greater or lesser extent - and one of the larger / more expensive homes they've done, but I think their standard range come in around the $300-400K mark, from memory.

Really professional outfit, who've done a great job of employing people who are not only competent, but very pleasant to deal with. Can't recommend them highly enough. :)
 
Tim86, why not develop the lots using properties on stumps, and avoid the need to build up at all?

That's what we're doing for our new PPOR, which is in a flood zone with a new minimum habitable floor level that's about 2m above ground. :eek:

We're doing a lightweight construction using Bush and Beach - who've been a dream to deal with, and we're nearly to lock-up now - and just used longer steel supports than standard.

thumbs_301-DAINTREE-RENDER.JPG


If you can't afford to build the properties yourselves, you could at least sell them with approved plans for a lightweight construction, so people can see what can be done.

Makes a lot of sense so of course council was absolutely 100% against doing that. That was the first thing we tried. Even offered to pay a substantial bond to council until we did the builds, but no.

That's why everybody hates council :)
 
Makes a lot of sense so of course council was absolutely 100% against doing that. That was the first thing we tried. Even offered to pay a substantial bond to council until we did the builds, but no.

That's why everybody hates council :)
I'm going to admit that I don't hate council, and have found them exceptionally helpful. ONCE you find the right person and poke them in the right way. ;)

Did you offer to do that before or after they rejected the application?

If this proposal was in your application, I'd love to see their grounds for rejecting it, given how much worse our property is (now judged to be) flood-affected. When we bought it, it had a single, nothing-much-to-worry-about overlay saying it was in a waterway corridor. Under the new city plan, we've got more than a dozen overlay warnings, I think. :eek: We got approved under the new plan.

If it wasn't in your application and they've only verbally dismissed the idea, I'd be consulting with RPI as to whether it isn't worth formally applying for same.

They told us no lots of times along the way. The secret seems to be finding the right person and pressing the right button to change it to a yes. And not giving up until you've achieved that.
 
I'm going to admit that I don't hate council, and have found them exceptionally helpful. ONCE you find the right person and poke them in the right way. ;)

Did you offer to do that before or after they rejected the application?

If this proposal was in your application, I'd love to see their grounds for rejecting it, given how much worse our property is (now judged to be) flood-affected. When we bought it, it had a single, nothing-much-to-worry-about overlay saying it was in a waterway corridor. Under the new city plan, we've got more than a dozen overlay warnings, I think. :eek: We got approved under the new plan.

If it wasn't in your application and they've only verbally dismissed the idea, I'd be consulting with RPI as to whether it isn't worth formally applying for same.

They told us no lots of times along the way. The secret seems to be finding the right person and pressing the right button to change it to a yes. And not giving up until you've achieved that.


Asked multiple times. It was the first thing we proposed. Rejected multiple times.

In councils mind you can't subdivide and create a new block that is flood affected. That's why you need to fill them. Council doesn't want more flood affected blocks. Not even if you put a house above the flood level. It's different if it's an existing property.
 
The BCC subdivision guidelines don't contemplate this and that is the issue. If the lots were already subdivided then you can build your house on stilts. To subdivide blocks you need to meet flood immunity for a specific area (think it is 300m2 of each lot or 60-70% from memory)
 
OK, I understand. Seems to me that artificially building up the levels makes things worse for neighbours due to disrupting the flow of water, and the built-up soil is likely to erode in case of flooding anyway. Putting the houses on stilts seems far more sensible. *sigh*
 
OK, I understand. Seems to me that artificially building up the levels makes things worse for neighbours due to disrupting the flow of water, and the built-up soil is likely to erode in case of flooding anyway. Putting the houses on stilts seems far more sensible. *sigh*

Sensible is not a word that gets associated with planning very often.
 
My dad spoke to the council engineer.

Basically no option will remove the increased flood impact the fill creates on the neighbouring properties.

We could try for a 2 lot subdivision but again, that will impact on the neighbours. There is currently someone else that has subdivision approval for a 2 lot subdivision at the other corner of the street. Same situation as us. However council engineer says he still hasn't done his fill report yet so will most likely get knocked back for the same reasons ours is getting knocked back.

SOOOOO no subdivision.

Of course we will wait and see if the other guy applying for subdivision gets approval and put ours through if it does. But I can't see any possibility of that happening. At least we won?t be up for all the fees to see if that option works, as we can just see how it plays out for the other guy.

So what's next?


Now that subdivision isn?t an option, we will most likely leave the little cottage on the block and keeping that as a granny flat as it's less than 60m2.

We will then put an old queenslander on the back half of the block and build in underneath.

I estimate a total cost for the project of $510 000 with a rental yield of $900 per week after bills. I've got 6 months of 3 days a week of diy ahead of me though to do something like that. So it will be a lot of work. The property might be worth $600 000 after all of that work. So half of that capital growth for so much work is pretty rubbish really.

So I'll miss out on $200 000 profit (my half) from the subdivision we had planned. But alas, when life gives you lemons...

In reality having an investment go completely pear shaped and still being able to make a small profit, and have a good rental return isn?t too bad. You can?t win them all unfortunately.
 
Did you end up paying for a planner to go through this in detail instead of your dad?

RPI had a quick look for free. Which was very kind of him. The problem is, which RPI correctly identified, is the impact on the neighbouring properties from the blocks being filled.

Council engineer says there is no solution to this problem.

We could potentially pay for our own engineer to come up with a costly solution, and then have the council engineer say it's not good enough...

Best bet at this time is to just see whether or not the other guy going for a subdivision gets approved, and then copy whatever he did to get it approved. But I can't see that happening.
 
Personally I'd get another report done if the engineer feels the problems can be dealt with.

Waiting to.see if someone else is successful isn't a good plan, he/she could have no idea what they're doing
 
I estimate a total cost for the project of $510 000 with a rental yield of $900 per week after bills.

Is that for the house that is there plus the new one you will move onto the site to build under? And are you allowed to build under if there is potential that the bottom floor will be flooded?

The property might be worth $600 000 after all of that work. So half of that capital growth for so much work is pretty rubbish really.

Is that $600K for the one you will move on and build under? What value would you please on the cottage there now? Can you even do that (have two houses on one block?)

So I'll miss out on $200 000 profit (my half) from the subdivision we had planned. But alas, when life gives you lemons...

In reality having an investment go completely pear shaped and still being able to make a small profit, and have a good rental return isn?t too bad. You can?t win them all unfortunately.

If you can make lemonade out of lemons, that is better than just holding onto the lemons.

What is the block worth "as is" if you cannot do anything with it? What did you pay? Did you pay more in the hope of subdividing or have you pretty much paid what it is worth "as is"?

You seem like a "glass half full" type of person, so fingers crossed you work out how to make something on the deal, even if it isn't what you had planned for this block. I can understand how you feel though, bummer.
 
If you can make lemonade out of lemons, that is better than just holding onto the lemons.

What is the block worth "as is" if you cannot do anything with it? What did you pay? Did you pay more in the hope of subdividing or have you pretty much paid what it is worth "as is"?

You seem like a "glass half full" type of person, so fingers crossed you work out how to make something on the deal, even if it isn't what you had planned for this block. I can understand how you feel though, bummer.

The existing house would be a granny flat. Allowable up to 60m2 in brisbane. The existing house is probably about 50m2

Costs so far: $406 000 purchase. Approx $10 000 stamp duty. $10 000 renovation. $8000 holding costs. Approx $10 000 wasted on subdivision process. Total cost $444 000.

I think if you sold it as is with no subdivision potential, you might get $400 000 - $410 000 for it. Bank val was about $405 000 maybe 12 months ago.

You can build in under a house in a flood zone, just need the bottom floor to be above the flood level. That's what I'm doing currently with my PPOR.

I would build something similar to my PPOR on the block. If you got the removal house for free, and just had to pay transport, you might get away with doing the build for $90 000. I built under mine for about $70 000. But then you'd need about $20 000 for transport costs and reno costs for the house you bring onto the block. May well cost closer to $120 000 depending on what we end up doing.

So total cost could end up being around $564 000. But you wouldn't do the work with the intent to sell it for $600 000. You would hold it and collect the 8% return.
 
The existing house would be a granny flat. Allowable up to 60m2 in brisbane. The existing house is probably about 50m2

Bear in mind that you may not legally be able to lease the two dwellings out separately.

Also check up on the granny flat regs, I know that in NSW the original dwelling cannot become the granny flat.

Good luck with it :)
 
Bear in mind that you may not legally be able to lease the two dwellings out separately.

Also check up on the granny flat regs, I know that in NSW the original dwelling cannot become the granny flat.

Good luck with it :)

I can't find the granny flat regulations in the Brisbane City council city plan to see whether or not the original dwelling can become the granny flat... Anyone else have any luck finding it?
 
Hey beanie girl. I saw that one a while ago. But 140k stumped is a bit steep considering you can get a brand new Queenslander style 4 bed 2 bath house stumped for the same price.
 
Hey beanie girl. I saw that one a while ago. But 140k stumped is a bit steep considering you can get a brand new Queenslander style 4 bed 2 bath house stumped for the same price.

Wow, Tim, that's a great price for a brand new Queenslander style 4/2 house stumped. A freestanding 70m 2 bedroom granny flat in Logan costs 120k to construct. :(
 
Back
Top