Creating two duplexes from large House

[Sam_H]

Hi Guys

Wondering if anyone has any advice on the following.

I am looking into the feasibility of purchasing a large 2 storey (6 bedder) house in Sydney's northern beaches, with the aim of creating 2 self-contained living spaces.

We would probably live upstairs and rent out the downstairs - or if rental returns are good - rent both out.

Just wondering if there is more I should be thinking about apart from:

# Ensuring each space has kitchen/bathroom/living area/ x no of bedrooms
# Ensuring the flooring between upstairs and downstairs is adequately insulated from a soundproofing perspective
# Removal of any staircase between floors
# Separate water/electricity for each space

Also – how can you officially create these areas into two duplexes (assuming land size adequate for units)


Any help appreciated!

Cheers


Sam

 

[Jindaro]

Just wondering if there is more I should be thinking about apart from:

# Ensuring each space has kitchen/bathroom/living area/ x no of bedrooms
# Ensuring the flooring between upstairs and downstairs is adequately insulated from a soundproofing perspective
# Removal of any staircase between floors
# Separate water/electricity for each space

Also – how can you officially create these areas into two duplexes (assuming land size adequate for units)

Firstly, you can officially create a duplex by applying for a Development Application to your Council. Preliminary work to see if this is possible is ringing Council's townplanner and explaining what you want to do. Also download their DCP (development control plan) off their website and read it to see what you have to achieve.

Other items to legally convert a house into a dual occ are:
* ensuring adequate private open space to comply with dcp
* ensuring adequate fire proofing between units to comply with building code of australia (BCA)
* ensuring enough car spaces to comply with dcp
* ensuring solar access to comply with dcp
* ensuring dual occ complies with BASIX (http://www.basix.nsw.gov.au) which means things like water tanks, energy commitments etc.
* council generally require landscape plan as well
* if you are going to subdivide as well, does it comply with council req.

Have a good read of the dcp as it will outline all of the above.

 

[Sam_H]

Thanks!

Hmmm....yeah, maybe I will just stick with the idea of renovating the house so that we can live upstairs and rent out downstairs as a self-contained apartment

Cheers

 

[djones]

Sam,

But you will still need to ensure that each has seperate utilities meters and insulation between the floors. How is this achieved?