Forum Replies Created
Thanks ‘Scott No Mates’
As the council have no records of the original ‘Occupancy Certificate’ or Building Approval number (or Anything like that that)
I approached my solicitors for some advice;
My Question was;
*Where we know a block of flats on one title does not have fire rated walls of today’s building standards,
Would they still be considered to be ‘Compliant’ if they were approved back before current standards (approx 1950’s -1960’s build)?*Where the council have only a record of the building type (i.e. Multi residential Flats) but have kept no actual record of the building approval, Is the council then deemed to be recognising the building as being ‘approved / Compliant’ as they charge council rates as ‘Multi residential flats’? Or is it still up to the owner to prove this?
Basically would we be at a high risk owning such a building?
I expect most of the older flats to be the same issue, as we’ve inspected a few like this.Their response was;
You need to be careful as I am aware of an instance where a motel was closed down because it didn’t comply with current fire regulations. Because of the danger to human life there isn’t much room to move on that issue and councils don’t want to risk BAD PUBLICITY OR BEING SUED.
The only safe way to proceed is to get a Building Certificate. The council isn’t deemed to have approved something unless you can prove they have.
If you don’t get the building Certificate or otherwise establish approvals then yes you are taking a gamble, both as to avoiding a compliance order from council or trouble finding a buyer when you want to sell.Thanks for your replies Catalyst and PHP,
I’ve talked to the council, building surveyor and solicitors.The council can only confirm that its zoned ‘Multi residential and with 4 flats’ and they have no other records of the building (too old)or ‘Fire Safety Certificate’.
The building certifier believes that as long as it was approved as flats when it was built, then it would not need to meet todays current standards of fire rated walls. (would not be able to strata or get approval for any other works though)
The solicitor says it must of originally had approval as council acknowledges ‘Multi residential and with 4 flats’
Still a bit of a grey area but I’m thinking I’ll try and see if the certifier can provide me with something in writing to confirm it is compliant ‘as is’ and what renovations are allowed (ie. new kitchen, paint, etc)
I will also look further into the ‘Fire Safety Certificate’
Great
Thanks very much for all your advice.
It has helped.
OK thanks for your comments.
Terry's response was along the lines of why I thought it might be a good idea to use the LOC as an easy way of purchasing now and re-structuring later
just wondering why Richard thinks it was NOT a good idea to purchase the iP with our LOC.
For some more info
*we own our PPOR outright and the proposed IP would be the only borrowing against the LOC (as i see it -making the interest charged easy to relate back to the IP for tax purposes)
* Property would be intended to be a buy and hold deal
*IP would be slightly negative geared. I currently have 4 negativly geared IP's in my name (with a more traditional loan structure of seperate loans for each property paying interest only) while my wife who is also working, does not have any under her name.
*Also I will come into a land tax situation in NSW with more land in my name, which is another reason why we were considering purchasing in my wife's name.hope this makes it a little clearer
OK , thanks for your advice. I'm leaning toward the DIY approach now myself
