Cross Lease

Cross lease was a very common form of subdividing your backyard which was used about 20 years ago. As I understand it (and don’t quote me) it was much cheaper to do than a full subdivide, yet basically does the same job inthat a property with one title, could be split into two (or more) titles. In theory the owners of the new titles are actually part-owners of both pieces of land, and lease the half ownership of their piece, in exchange for the lease to the other owner of the other piece of land. (Confused yet?)
The down side of this is that substantual renovations, new buildings etc cannot be done (legally) without alteration to the ‘flat plan’ (map of buildings and how the land is divided between the two titles), and without permission of the other part-owner(s) of the whole block of land.
In reality, flat-plans are often not kept up to date, and while this can be a sticking point when selling, its one of those things that the new owner can change should they wish to, or continue with the flatplan not being updated. Now you really are getting out of my depth of knowledge about how sticky these things can get, but we own two such properties, neither have up to date flat plans, and they have posed no problems at all to us as owners. I imagine if you had a complete pratt of a neighbour, things could get ugly, but hell, how many sections have had their layout altered in the past twenty years, and if that was to cost you (I dunno the figure exactly) say $500-1000 to change the flat plan, would you do it? Chances are, your neighbour has changes on his side of the fence too.
Cross-leases aren’t as common anymore (not where I live anyway) as the cost difference between x/l and freehold subdivide are small, and not worth the hassle.
You could always freehold the title, but unless your neighbour also wants to do this, it could very well cost you $7k to do this – and is probably not worth doing.

Hope this helps. As I say, I’m no expert on the topic, but our experiences are that its not really a concern.

Cheers, Albie

price diff. could depend on the size of the land and the street, not the dwelling.

crosslease properties are very common, they are a type of freehold, but you just own a ‘share in the whole land’ rather than ‘your own bit’. often there is a common area such as a driveway or right of way that both the cross-lessees can use.

I have a pdf document I put together on cross leases from various sources for our clients when we find cross lease deals so if you want it (or anybody wants it) just send me an email with your email address.
cheers-Mini

You asked about whether or not there’d be a $30k price difference, and as the other reply come back, it would all depend. Sounds like you need to have a chat with a registered valuer in the area, they’d be best qualified to answer your question.
Cheers!
Albie