Do you need any sort of council approval to let separate areas of a property to 2 separate tenants? I’ve come across a property with a self contained area that is part of a house. Also, typically would you try and separate the outdoor areas and garage into 2? Can anyone see issues with tenants sharing a laundry from the tenants perspective? Would we then have to provide the washing machine?
Sorry for all the questions, but thanks for any input.
Are there separate meters for electricity, gas and water?
Thanks.
I haven’t actually checked (this is our first IP). The stove in the self contained unit is electric. I will investigate though. If there isn’t will I have to have a power metre installed? I wouldn’t think water would matter too much as it would be paid on the rates, which is paid by the property owner (ie me).
Yes you would need separate meters unless you pay the utilities yourself.
Outdoor areas should be separate.
The 2 halves of the house would need to be independantly lockable.
Are there common areas? If so that adds complication (eg bond issues, amenity)
If it is a shared laundry then you will need to provide the washing machine.
It is very unlikely you would need council permission to let a house to two people.
You probably would not need council permission but you would need some kind of privacy of the two tenancies and they must be lockable as mentioned.
There are 2 types of tenancies, the residential tenancy where the whole house is rented to a tenant or a rooming house agreement which is what you do in a share accomodation.
Yours would fall under rooming house rules which means that some of the services in the common areas need to be built into the rent instead of charging seperately.
Certainly doable [biggrin]
Investment Property Management
http://www.adprop.com.auThe 2 living areas are quite separate, apart from the laundry which has an internal door to the “granny flat” (and an external door to the yard), though the internal door could be locked so the tenant of the main house could use the laundry without being able to get into the “granny flat”. There is a large back deck area closesly associated with the main house and a huge 2.8 car lockup garage. The yard is also shared at present. The “granny flat” is underneath the main house at legal height. I could fence off the front/bottom of the yard for the “granny flat” and put a divider in the garage and an external door to the yard of the “granny flat”. The only way into the main house is from the deck at the back, which also has a door to the garage. It’s quite an unusual setup, but with some creative thinking it could be turned into a 4 bedroom house with separate 1 bedroom self contained studio. The studio area actually has 2 rooms in it, though they’re only 2M high, so would have to advise that the tenant uses the main living area as the bedroom.
Is it expensive to have a separate power meter?
I dont know where you are but Brisbane city council states you are not allowed to rent out a granny flat to a separate household group.
Now it seems illogical to me that you can rent out a room to a border but not allowed to rent out your granny flat.
That being said three of my houses have granny flats that produce higher than average rent. Actually my first granny flat went downstairs in my PPOR. The fella living there has a property portfolio but finds it much cheaper to rent as he is single. I never see this guy except when he pays his rent. [biggrin] His rent pays the kids school fees.
Two other houses with granny flats I rent out to single household groups but for a higher rent than I would normally receive. (I was a bit nervous of incurring the wrath of the council if I rented the granny flats out separately. Anyways I have found there is a real niche markets for dual living houses and people are willing to pay the extra. Don’t listen to real estate agents appraisel. Start your ad as ‘Dual Living’ and just see how much interest you get.
You wont achieve as much rent as you would if you rented them separetly but you do have peace of mind knowing you are not breaking the law and you wont have issues between conflicting tennants. To give you an idea, I just rented a house with grannyflat for 340/wk. The agents appraised it at $280/wk so pooey to them.
goodluck
Thanks Milly,
I’m also in Bris so I guess that changes what I was planning. Is there a way to get the granny flat assessed as a separate property?
It sounds like you’ve worked out a good strategy.
Kuade i sent a private message to you.
regards
millyAltho I always read the forum, mostly I don’t bother signing in. Today I found a message in me privates that was 4 months old. [rolleyesanim][rolleyesanim]
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