Thanks everyone for all your feedback! Very informative indeed.

It is good to see that it wasn’t such a crazy idea after all. As I mentioned in my first post, the motive behind wanting to do the subdivision thing is savings. I haven’t done the numbers yet to determine whether there will be much in the way of savings after paying subdivision costs, solicitor, and the rest of it, mainly because I don’t know what all the costs involved are! It is interesting that different councils have varying laws and stuff. That means that if one council rejects the idea, maybe another will approve?

@terryw: The one loan in all names is a concerning. I was hoping each couple would get individual loans to pay for the land (not even sure if the bank would lend the money to pay for half of a block of land). Having to get the one loan in all four names would be an idea killer as the risks are too high (like you said — if one party stops paying, the other is stuck with the mortgage).

Time to make more enquiries and read up some more on all of this. Thanks again!

If anyone else has anything else to add, feel free!