Dual Occupancy IP

[Aardvark]

I know this subject has been raised many times already but I just cant seem to find specific answers on how to do it.

Does anyone own dual occupancy IP which are on single titles? Whether this be a house with 2 areas seperated by a wall, a granny flat, a flat under the house or any other configuration which results in 2 unrelated sets of tennants paying 2 sets of rent.

How do you manage the seperate metering of electricity and water, also 2 sets of garbage disposal and 2 letter boxes (does this get council curious?).

I'm specifically interested in QLD in this instance (though experiences with other states are invited).

Speaking with PM's indicates this is a very common occurance. However, most discussions at SS seem to focus on negatives of insurance and council approvals.
While these concerns are legitimate they are already well discussed and I would really like to hear from people who are actually doing this - especially if they have any thoughts on ways of managing such concerns (eg fire walls for insurance purposes - I've been quoted at $150 p/m2 to erect internally, or www.prepaidmeters.com.au for assistance with metering).

 

[Shahin_Afarin]

Plenty of stock that have multiple dwellings on a single title. In the MB council there are plenty of 3-4 dwellings on a single title because the council allows for the construction of the dwellings but not the subdivision.

You need to look at the council guide and if/where possible the original DA for the construction.

 

[travelbug]

You can separate the electricity and water. You can get 2 sets of bins and have 2 letterboxes. Council will only get curious if you are doing it illegally.

We built the firewall as per SEPP specs. We haven't separated the water or elect as we live in the other side so we included elec in the rent. We were going to get extra bins but thought we'd wait to see if we need them. We haven't needed them as we don't have much rubbish.

 

[jclegg]

I looked into this a great deal under the Logan council in Bris. It can only be "legitimately" done on a 900sqm block with 6m side access and 20m frontage. You can apply for a dual occ dwelling i.e. two houses on the one block. Of course you pay thru the nose to council for this type of application. You can get the Elec and water seperated. Good for yield but not sure how much value building a second house actually adds to the block. You still can't subdivide as Logan is 1200sqm.

Anything else is only a granny flat (much cheaper council appln)and in most of Bris you cannot "legally" rent this out to seperate tenants. I spoke to a few agents and they don't really manage these so you would need to self manage and hope council doesn't find out.

I phoned one insurance Co and so long as the building is habitable they don't care how many tenants there are. But I suspect if you have a claim and you don't have council approval for a habitable dwelling then the insurance will pick up on it and use it as an excuse to get out of the contract.

There is also the possibility of renting out each room seperately which I have come across one agency doing. They target refugee groups of single men and rent by the room, all bills included. Of course the risk of wear and tear and such increases as they do not really look after the property and once you take bills into account it's much the same as a good quality tenant paying market rent.

I don't know if its the same in the Bris council but I think its similar. Hope this helps.

 

[RPI]

I don't know if its the same in the Bris council but I think its similar. Hope this helps.

No chance in Brisbane City Council.

 

[rockDr]

Just wanted to add to the discussion here.

We have a property on a corner block that under the current local govt LEP we can apply for a dual occupancy on one title, but cannot subdivide and create two titles.

I guess the advantages of a dual occ would be that we could fit an attached dual occ, 1 side been 2 bedroom, 2 bath and single garage, the other side been 3 bedroom, 2 bath, double garage.

The estimated rent on these properties would be approx $350 for the 2 br, and $450 for the 3 br.

On the flip side, we could in the future just knock down existing (older home) and rebuild a 4 bedroom which would fetch approx $550 in rent.

Finally there would be the option of a detached dual occ with a a 2 bedroom granny flat on the corner block.

Just wanted to start a discussion on potential impacts limitations these different strategies would have on potential capital gains.

I'm sure there are a few posters on the forums who have gone through this?

 

[SteffanTP]

I know this subject has been raised many times already but I just cant seem to find specific answers on how to do it.

Does anyone own dual occupancy IP which are on single titles? Whether this be a house with 2 areas seperated by a wall, a granny flat, a flat under the house or any other configuration which results in 2 unrelated sets of tennants paying 2 sets of rent.

How do you manage the seperate metering of electricity and water, also 2 sets of garbage disposal and 2 letter boxes (does this get council curious?).

I'm specifically interested in QLD in this instance (though experiences with other states are invited).

Speaking with PM's indicates this is a very common occurance. However, most discussions at SS seem to focus on negatives of insurance and council approvals.
While these concerns are legitimate they are already well discussed and I would really like to hear from people who are actually doing this - especially if they have any thoughts on ways of managing such concerns (eg fire walls for insurance purposes - I've been quoted at $150 p/m2 to erect internally, or www.prepaidmeters.com.au for assistance with metering).

A dual occupancy is essentially a strata-titled development. To my knowledge Council do not dual occupancies to become freehold unless they have enough sqm for a normal subdivision. Brisbane does allow this under a use called a 'Single Unit Dwelling'. I'm sure people have come across them before in this forum but if you are unfamiliar here is the SUD code: https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CEMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brisbane.qld.gov.au%2Fdocuments%2Fbuilding_development%2Fbldg_dev%2520city%2520plan%2Fres_design_single_unit_dwelling_code.doc&ei=KS8IUt6kBYa5iAf2_oG4Ag&usg=AFQjCNH1o6_AiMRuUZ71AGgzJQ1NUlOWTQ&sig2=46-QLrMUU2xDG6fuwKRJdg&bvm=bv.50500085,d.aGc