local council and WAPC building regs

[Shali]

Hey everyone!

After months of reading old posts I have finally signed up to post my first thread!

I am at the early stages of finding an investment property. I have a partner who is a builder so we are looking to find an old house (close to knock down) on a big block (700m2+) 15kms within Perth city that has R20- R30 zoning. I have researched the basic path I should follow to do this but there is one main thing that is confusing me.

With the WAPC and local council building acts and regs, plus subdivision development control plans, how are you meant to find a property that meets all of these provisions? I fear buying a property with the intention to subdivide or build triplax/ duplex on, to find out down the track that although it suits the WAPC regs it does not comply with the local council.

Are some councils regs the same as the WAPC's or are they completely different? I am downloading building regs from local council areas but I am finding a lot of the website don't have anything on there. I guess I have to contact the councils directly?!?!

Any advice or tips would be really appreciated!!

 

[thatbum]

Generally the Rcodes are the first starting point, because things like minimum and average lot sizes do not have much scope to be varied.

Most councils around Perth do not change too much of the requirements for subdivision in their local planning schemes, and if they do, it is signaled by split density zoning on the planning maps.

So between studying the Rcodes and then local planning policies, you can get a pretty good idea of what can and can't be developed.

How familiar are you with the Rcodes? There is a big difference between R20 and R30 when we are talking around 700sqm lots.

 

[HD_ACE]

What sort of development are you planning to undertake?


Definatly start with the r codes. familarise yourself with them and then look into the councils planning policy and size that up against the type of development you plan on doing.

cheers

 

[westminster]

Hey everyone!

After months of reading old posts I have finally signed up to post my first thread!

I am at the early stages of finding an investment property. I have a partner who is a builder so we are looking to find an old house (close to knock down) on a big block (700m2+) 15kms within Perth city that has R20- R30 zoning. I have researched the basic path I should follow to do this but there is one main thing that is confusing me.

With the WAPC and local council building acts and regs, plus subdivision development control plans, how are you meant to find a property that meets all of these provisions? I fear buying a property with the intention to subdivide or build triplax/ duplex on, to find out down the track that although it suits the WAPC regs it does not comply with the local council.

Are some councils regs the same as the WAPC's or are they completely different? I am downloading building regs from local council areas but I am finding a lot of the website don't have anything on there. I guess I have to contact the councils directly?!?!

Any advice or tips would be really appreciated!!

Shali,
You need to be VERY careful if you are considering R20 blocks as you need 900m2 minimum to subdivide into a duplex. If you want to triplex an r20 then you need 1350m2

For R30 you will need 300m2 per dwelling so a duplex you need 600 and triplex 900

It is rare for local govt/council to override the lot sizes required by the wapc R codes but they may have further restrictions such as more onerous setbacks etc.

Start with the R Codes to make sure your block meets the minimums then look up the council for any extra limitations they may put on it.

 

[Kent Cliffe]

I have to agree with you in fact I see selling agents getting the zoning wrong all the time.

For example R25 700sqm blocks what are "duplex potential", how do you fit the drive and meet the minimum site area? The new Rcodes may fix this with some sites.

I have to also ask, what is driving you to purchase a development site? If it is for profit, I'll warn you up front that on the small scale profitable projects are like finding a needle in a hay stack.

 

[MRO]

If it is for profit, I'll warn you up front that on the small scale profitable projects are like finding a needle in a hay stack.

This ^ ^

So many people are trying to do the same thing. Have to get in with an REA or BA to have a chance or be prepared to buy and hold until the numbers stack up.