Western Sydney/ Granny Flat

[Carl84]

Hi All, hoping you can help.

I'm currently looking at purchasing an IP in Western Sydney around Colyton/ St Marys with the intention to build a granny flat.

Has anyone recently completed a similar purchase/ project?

If so, was there a minimum land size you where looking for?
Is approval for the GF guaranteed in these areas?

Any tips or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all.

 

[Propertunity]

Has anyone recently completed a similar purchase/ project?

Yeah, a couple of times.

If so, was there a minimum land size you where looking for?

The minimum in the SEPP is 450m2 and 12m wide at the building line. But in reality, to make the best job of it, you are better off looking for as big as you can get for the money.

We've done it on 575m2 and on 820m2 and everything in between.

Is approval for the GF guaranteed in these areas?

There are no guranatees in life Carl, however, if you spend the time and choose a block with a house that has a rear yard suitable for a granny flat, that is:
1. Over 450m2.
2. With 12m or more frontage.
3. Sloping to the street for stormwater run-off from the granny flat roof, or if not sloping to the street, then a stormwater easement at the rear that you can tap into.
4. NOT in a flood affected or declared bushfire prone areas or encumbered with a possible aboriginal cultural connection – check the 149 Certificate. (These areas can be built on BUT will require a full DA process rather than the promised 10 day Private Certifier approval).
5. Check position of sewer and drainage easements to make sure they are clear of where granny flat would be constructed – check sewerage & drainage diagram.
6. Zoned as suitable for a complying development.
7. Max size of granny flat to be built is 60m2 (e.g. 6m x 10m).
8. Privacy for house tenant / granny flat tenant. Separate side access? Rear lane access?

Then you give yourself the best chance to get a 10 day Private Certifier approval.

Note: It must comply with: http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/epi+364+2009+sch.1+0+N?tocnav=y

 

[bricman]

Good advice from Propertunity there.

I did a GF project with a relocatable cabin in Penrith, worked out well in the end, but was a big struggle at times.

Drainage and sewer works can be a big problem, like Propertunity said make sure you locate them first. I had to relay 35 metres of sewer pipe (not me personally), big job but got it done for a reasonable price in the end!!
I used Kookaburra plumbing, they were excellent.

Try not to get put off by all the codes, plans, acts and regulations etc in regards to complying development (10 day approval) you can always go the DA route if your site does not qualify for this, read below.

If you go the DA route make sure you get yourself a good architect/surveyor or similar, as they will give you guidance ( i used Todd @ Cynstate, based in St Clair)
Nothing is guaranteed, make sure you get your architect to do a rekky first, they may charge you for this, but may well be worth the money in the long run and potentially save you thousands if you go ahead or not.

From memory Todd charged me about $80 for an hour of his time.

Oh yeah make sure you know the rental return in the area for the product you are offering.

Regards
Ian

 

[Edmond Dantes]

Prop, being new with this, would it be better to pay a private certifier for an assessment of the property as part of the Due diligence? I might as well pay something rather than purchasing something where i wont be able to build because i miss sonething silly. How much do they charge?

 

[virgo]

Due diligence

Hiya

THis is exactly what i did; before i signed on the dotted line for my Penrith purchase (corner block), i paid Serge to give me an idea whether a gf was feasible...i think it only costs me 200 bucks....well worth it

why kill yourself trying to work out sewerage, drainage and all those big words?
my expertise is not in this area

 

[Propertunity]

Prop, being new with this, would it be better to pay a private certifier for an assessment of the property as part of the Due diligence? I might as well pay something rather than purchasing something where i wont be able to build because i miss sonething silly.

Edmond, I guess in the line of business I'm in, I have read literally thousands of contracts of sale. I've gotten to the point now, where in less than 60 seconds I can see if, from a contract perspective, whether any particular property is a go/no go.

Most of the information you need is in the 149 certificate. However, there are a few traps and these would come in what's called the 88b instrument. This is the part of the contract that lays out what, if any, covenants affect the property. These covenants are usually put there by the original developers of the land to keep the values up in a new estate. Typically, they are about min. size of house to be built, colours & type of fences, rooves etc. They can also cover things like external construction materials to be used i.e. brick only, and so on.

It would be important to know this, before you work out costings for a colorbond or hardiplank granny flat for instance, if you are only allowed to build in brick. This is not insurmountable, covenants can be varied, modified or extinguished and the authority to be able to do this will usually be the original developer or the local council. This will be noted on the 88b instrument.

All the same, if you are going for a 10 day approval, you really don't want to be approaching the council for this, IMO.

So be careful, do all your DD by all means, but also let your Private Certifier see the contract of sale - so he can read the 88b instrument for himself too.

*edit* Just to add: In the areas you are looking you'll see many REAs advertising "suitable for a granny flat STCA". Everything with a land size bigger than a postage stamp seems to attract this kind of statement.

In reality, granny flat construction are NOT STCA unless you are doing a DA. The NSW Planning SEPP over-rides the councils.

I've noticed in the many searches we've conducted that the numbers of properties in a suburb & price range can yield say 300 properties. We've then whittled this down (after a desktop inspection) to 30 properties of interest. We've then called for 30 contracts of sale and eliminated all but 10 (due to 149 certificate or sewer placement issues). After inspecting 10 we might only shorlist 1 or 2 properties. So all that to say - be prepared for a lot of work. Cheers, Alan

 

[vaughan]

Wow... 300 -> 2 properties.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Newbieatlife]

make sure there's side access and sufficient privacy for both front an rear properties yada yada yada

i think we should make a sticky or a granny flat sub forum? Brazen should be admin?

 

[devank]

Don't you need to consider the site coverage and floor to space ratio as well?

 

[Propertunity]

Don't you need to consider the site coverage and floor to space ratio as well?

Yes, you do. There's lots of stuff in the link I earlier provided: http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/epi+364+2009+sch.1+0+N?tocnav=y

However, typically though, a 60m2 granny flat is not going to impact on that too much (especially on bigger blocks).

 

[macca446]

granny flats western sydney

Hi all,
What would be the possibility in converting existing garage to a Granny Flat,would it be allowed has anyone done this.

Regards,
Don

 

[vaughan]

Hi all,
What would be the possibility in converting existing garage to a Granny Flat,would it be allowed has anyone done this.

Regards,
Don

The challenge is that the garage might be council approved only as a garage (which is fair enough, it's a garage). The ceiling height might be too low and the building strength might not be up to the standard required for a habitable building.

Issues like these are fixable but might largely require rebuilding the garage to rectify. The killer though is probably that the garage is less than 900mm from the boundary.

 

[devank]

The killer though is probably that the garage is less than 900mm from the boundary.

I don't think that is a problem for existing buildings.