You have just found a property and it is going up for auction on the weekend. You have been looking for a long time and this one ticks all of the boxes. Maybe you want to subdivide and build two or three townhouses, do a knock down and rebuild, or just do a renovation with an extension and a new garage.
Being informed of the planning regulations before purchasing a property is important in order to understand the type of development permitted and the approval timeline. This will avoid a situation where a property is purchased only to find out that you can’t do what you were expecting within the timeframe you were expecting.
Let’s talk about what needs to be considered.
Understand the Market
Real estate agents are a great resource. They know the market in their area, what people are looking for, what is selling and at what price. If you know what type of property you are looking for, they can help you find it.
Planning Policy
Overall, planning policy is supportive of increasing the housing supply. In principle, the development options mentioned above should be permitted, however each property is different. This seems like an obvious statement but it is an important concept to understand because when planning regulations are implemented, the design outcome will vary across properties and the circumstance could arise that dramatically impacts the expected development outcome.
Zoning
Zoning will influence the extent to which increased residential density will be supported. Typical residential land use zones include General Residential, Neighbourhood Residential and Residential Growth Zone. Each of these zones will have specific requirements and may have local variations that have been applied.
Overlays
Overlays are applied over top of a land use zone for the purpose of protecting heritage buildings, preserving local character, addressing flood and bushfire risks and creating buffer areas between incompatible or sensitive uses.
Planning Regulations
The subdivision and development of a property must consider factors such as building design footprint and setbacks, site coverage, amount of paved and permeable area, building height, fences and walls along boundaries, landscaping, overlooking and overshadowing.
Each of these elements will create variations in the building design and site layout depending on the property size, shape and the context of surrounding properties.
Driveway Crossovers and Nature Strips
If a new driveway crossover is required, consider the category of road it is entering onto. If the driveway is crossing through a nature strip, consider trees and the location of connections to infrastructure. All of these may require comments from referral authorities, which are the government departments and companies responsible for infrastructure.
Easements
Easements provide legal rights for the use of land for a specific purpose. A regulatory easement can be held by a Council (such as a laneway) or service authority (electricity, water, ICT infrastructure). A private easement allows property owners to access land such as a shared driveway. Easements could be operational, put in place for future use or the result of a legacy use that is no longer operational (such as a remnant of non-functioning laneway).
Covenants
A covenant could be applied to a property to restrict the type of development (only single story detached houses allowed), maintain consistent design standards ( the building must be constructed using a specific material ie. brick) or to prevent subdivision of the property. Conditions of a covenant can be amended but it can be very challenging.
It is important to understand the planning requirements and process before purchasing a property. CS Town Planning offers a professional service that will conduct a town planning due diligence review of a proposal on a site to determine whether planning approval is required. Alternatively, free resources are available online and at your local council that will assist in making an informed investment decision.