Duplex in Baulkham Hills - a few sqm short of minimum!

[scientist]

I have a property that's 696 sqm and the minimum for Hills District for Dual Occupancy is 700sqm.

What are my options and how hopeful should I be in being able to realise my plans for a duplex build? Can I ask (beg) the council to let me do it anyway? Can I ask the neighbours to sell me a few square metres (for a pound of flesh I presume)?

Not looking to sell after build, so I don't care about subdivision requirements (my land is too small for subdivide), so I just want a side by side duplex to rent out at the end of the day.

Incidentally, can anyone tell me the minimum street frontage required for a side by side duplex in Baulko?

 

[Rolf Latham]

As an aside...........


du u really want a dual occ ?

Unless u can get this puppy onto separate titles the vals are going to be quite yucko

ta
rolf

 

[scientist]

Sorry I'm inexperienced so correct my reasoning if you disagree:

Given the minimum lot sizes are 700 in Baulko, I need a 1400 sqm block to be able to subdivide into separate Torrens title, right?

For my modest block, if I can get a side by side duplex on it, that would be a dream. I don't care about selling for profit, my cashflow is good and I'm not greedy (yet) because I'm inexperienced etc. Just keen on getting a build done for learning and an extra rental source.

And after all is done, strata subdivision is a possibility in these situations, right?

 

[Rolf Latham]

no need to be sorry

Im often wrong, but never in doubt : )

Unless you have oodles of spare equity, building a dual occ in that sort of "value location" will usually cost you more than the end product is valued at IF you include the cost of the land.


if you can get the thing strata, great no probs, in the end close to the same val as a new torrens title.

 

[RetireRich101]

a duplex or dual occupancy?

dual occ has 2 dwellings (could be attached or detached) on ONE title. You can not sell each dwelling individually.

Dual Occ could look exactly the same as a duplex configuration. However duplex are generally on TWO separate titled such as community or strata titled which you can sell each dwelling separately.

I think it would be council specific if they will accept the 4m2 shortage. I am inclined that Baulkham to say No because there are large number of blocks sitting a tad under 700m2 and they will set expectations if they made that exception to you. At least if I was your fuzzy neighbor I would object to Council's decisions

 

[scientist]

Unless you have oodles of spare equity, building a dual occ in that sort of "value location" will usually cost you more than the end product is valued at IF you include the cost of the land.

Well the cost of the land is a sunk cost - I bought this property a while back for a lower price and currently it's yielding very low because the condition of the house is bad. The house has some permanent issues that are quite annoying and discourages me to invest money in a renovation - I much rather knock it down.

So currently I'm not looking at total cost but rather marginal cost - i.e. the total cost from today till end of build, vs the gain in value and rental income. I think the numbers should make sense. Roughly how much would a dual occ cost today, including all incidentals? 400k?

 

[scientist]

a duplex or dual occupancy?

dual occ has 2 dwellings (could be attached or detached) on ONE title. You can not sell each dwelling individually.

Dual Occ could look exactly the same as a duplex configuration. However duplex are generally on TWO separate titled such as community or strata titled which you can sell each dwelling separately.

I think it would be council specific if they will accept the 4m2 shortage. I am inclined that Baulkham to say No because there are large number of blocks sitting a tad under 700m2 and they will set expectations if they made that exception to you. At least if I was your fuzzy neighbor I would object to Council's decisions

That is extremely disappointing!! What's the likelihood of the neighbouring plot owners selling me a bit of land? What's the process like, assuming we agree on price? Is it a full DA process just for the transfer of a few sqm? Do I need to redo the fences during the build? The lot depth is 38m so for 4sqm we're talking about 10cm shift!

Both left and right neighbours are rented out, so the owners should be 'commercially minded' - does that increase the odds of them saying yes at a non-extortionist price?

 

[scientist]

bumping this thread hoping I can get an answer to my last reply, thanks

 

[building design]

we can do some prelim. work & have a council Pre-DA meeting to see the possible outcome. Unless we show commitment at our end, council generally will not commit to anything in writing. A Pre-Da is a means of getting the ball rolling, hopefully in the right direction. Also with Dual Occ. there are always stormwater/OSD issues to deal with... just informing that we have had some very good success rates with very difficult council... maybe we can catch up 7 chat ....