subdividing block

Celeste,

I was in the same boat a year ago. I needed another 1.5m for the length of the boundary so that i could fit a driveway down the side of the house to give access to a hammer head style sub division.

I just approached the neighbor and told him what i wanted to do. You must be tactful about it though because most people will know there will be quite a bit of profit in it for you.

As the boundary fence was in a pretty bad state of repair I offered to pay the total cost for putting a new one in. He seemed pretty happy with that and signed an agreement letter I wrote up clearly stateing all the facts.

I also offered to pay him market value for the percentage of land i wanted from his block. ie: appraisal 150k for house on land of 500m2, 50m2 wanted, 15k offered.

After explaining what i wanted to do and the offer i was prepared to give, I let him sit on it and said i would return in two weeks to hear his thoughts. I left it three weeks and he actually came knocking on my door.

You need to make sure they know it is going to benefit them and hey you dont know until you ask! You might even have two chances if it doesnt matter which side you take it from.

I was in a good position because mine was in a low socio-economic area so I knew the money would be much needed. It was a win-win situation really.

Although my neighbor signed the agreement once i took it a bit further through council i found out they dont allow hammer-head style sub-divisions where my house was, after all that hard work too…bugger. Nevertheless the neighbor was keen as many will be as long as they can see the benefit to them.

I would suggest getting some form of solicitor written agreement though if they are keen. That way they can not back out after you have spent hard earned money to start the sub-division process.

Good luck, hope it goes well for you

Anthony Clarke

Anthony Hansen
http://www.f1property.com.au

[go up to your neighbour’s, knock on the door and ask. Before you do that, think what you can offer him/her to make the deal w win/win/situation – could she perhaps share the driveway so she can extend on the other side of her house? or can you promise a building envelope which will igbve her privacy from your proposed development. How much money is it worth to you. Will it devalue her block. Bear in mind she willprobably say no, unless the deal is good for her. You then have to convince her mortgagee, who will not agree if the slice you want to take will devalue their security and your neighbour’s mortgage ratio is high. If all agree, have a surveyor draw up the boundary adjustment, it has to be signed by both registered propretors, all mortgagees, then signed off by the local council, (I am assuming there are roads involved) then all parties present their title deeds at the Land & Property Office and the boundary adjustment is noted on the plan of subdivision. Surveyors fees might cost $3-6,000, the mortgagee might cost $1,000 – $1,500; the LPI fees might be $1,000. If thre are easements to draw, the solicitors fee might be$600-$1,000. So, the line of action is a)go and talk to your neighbour first, ask him/her if he has a mortgage, then talk to your surveyor, get some quotes both for cost and for time (some won’t get it done for months) then submit the plan to your neighbours, then their mortgagee, your surveyor will be able to take it from there. Don’t let this put you off. A boundary adjustment can be fabulous and hugely cost effective for opening up the potential of a block. Jolie

thanks
Celeste
[/quote]

My neighbour and I both have 1200sqm and are both about 50sqm short to subdivide and both don’t have all the fund to subdivide because in or area to get it through council cost about 7k and to get all the works done cost another 100-120k. So instead of battling seperate we’re doing it together which is great because we should come out with about 225k profit each. But friends down the road did it themselves and bought land off the neighbour.which work out well. They got all details toghether and a feasibility study off a town planner/surveyor before they approached the neighbour. The company they went through basically did every step of the process except the legal side of things. If you don’t wont to go down that path you can usually at least get a rough costing and whats involved from a company like that for free just by making an appointment and asking lots of question. But do all that before you appoach the neighbour in case for some reason you can’t do it. You can get a valuer in to give you and the neighbour a far price for the land. But often the neighbour will get a bit more if you really want it. because you stand to make a fair bit more from the transaction. One last thing is to ask your local council if they have a pre- lodgement meeting with you so you don’t go to the expense of lodging an application if they want you to change things.
Hope all this helps if you have any specific questions i’ll be more than happy to answer them for you if i can.

LouLou, Yes, that’s a good point about sounding it out with a council town planner first. My Council has a town planner “on duty” so you can just present with the plan of the Lot and a preliminary sketch. Its always a good idea to look at the sewer diagram, too. At the same time you can ask him/her for a recommendation to a planning consultant – they will always recommend one they get on with, often a recently departed council employee who has started their own planning consultancy and who knows both the rules and how to get their applications through. A professional can be worth to you very much more than the fee you might have to pay. Jolie.

thanks
Celeste
[/quote]