Pros and Cons of dual occupancy properties

I'm a duplex fan, have just bought one in Townsville ( I see u too are in Townsville), great yield, less risk if reliant on rental income as unlikely to have both units vacant at same time.  I am in the process of strata titling the property.
Let's talk about the Townsville market, thoughts on market in general? Specific areas or property types? I'm picking up good indicators but as you are probably aware some areas are likely to outperform others.

BE VERY VERY Careful in Qld, especially Brisbane City Council Area.  I am currently dealing with a large number of Show Cause and Enforcement Notices for what BCC considers illegal uses relating to dual living arrangements

There was a Qld Court of Appeal Ruling which came through in 2012 (ADD Design v BCC).  The Court stated that the Definition of a House that the Planning and Environment Court has used for years, although convenient and somewhat practical, is wrong.

The Key part of the judgment is in relation to the term "discrete" individuals or groups or households.  The judgement found that a house can not be used by any of these discrete categories.  What does that mean, leasing a house and grannyflat out separately or leasing out a house as dual living areas, changes the definition of the use from House to multi-unit dwelling.  If you site is zoned low density residential, you will require 3000sqm of site to be able to do this.

I can not see the BCC letting this go, they are trawling real estate listings at present for references to dual living and duplex and going from there.  

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news.  If you have a dual living, duplex or granny flat arrangement in BCC at present, send an email to my planning address and I will see what I can find out for you.

regards

Darryl

markintownsville wrote:

What are the extra costs involved in owning a Torrens title duplex compared to a house?
I would assume rates would be the same as they’re calculated on land value. Insurance would be similar too, wouldn’t it?
What considerations would you need to take into account if you planned on buying one and then strata titling down the track?
I.e. Seperate water meter and switchboards etc.

If the rates are already on ‘minimum threshold’, then having 2 titles will pretty much double the rates.

Building insurance – depends. Seen cases where insurance were higher but can also recall one case it was smaller(!), we were very surprised and the owner jumped on it.

Strata considerations – fire separation walls, zoning, council policy, seperate water and power, council requirements that they bring up during the process, all that fun 👍😎

Investors can assume that adding a 100k GF will automatically add 100k to the value of the property but this usually is not the case so be aware of possible over capitalization.