Adding an additional room to an apartment to increase rent

Hi All,

I'm interested if anyone has experience adding an additional room to an apartment to increase the rental yield. For example an apartment may have a particularly large living room which can be converted into an additional bedroom. A higher rental return could be achieved if the property is rented by the room, admittedly this does require more work.

Strata titled apartments often have certain restrictions on such renovations that can be made. Does anyone have experience adding additional rooms in a way that adheres to the strata by laws?

Appreciate all help.

 

Your options are to do it in a temporary way, or not at all basically. I've never heard of someone doing it 'properly' through strata - probably because its not worth the cost and hassle.

 

The tenant market will seek reasonably sized living spaces, so be careful what you compromise to build a bedroom.

It needs to have a living space and dining space. An additional second dining room can be converted to a bedroom without compromising quality.

 

it can be done as some strata 's dont mind if its internal.The problem i find is its hard to get natural light(window to outside) and be able to class it as a proper bedroom

 

Didn't someone here recently weave some magic with a few Ikea storage/wardrobe kits?

 

Can be done by borrowing light from an adjacent room.. still dungeon like tho in my mind

 

You mean like converting this living space facing the balcony into a second room? What right do strata have to say no?

2C/12 Bligh Place Randwick NSW 2031 - Apartment for Sale #123661350 - realestate.com.au

 

I believe it has something to do with "maximum occupancy" fire regulations. If you look at most resort apartment accomodation it will say something like "this room has a queen size bed and a sofa bed . Maximum occupancy 3 ppl" (Even though it has beds, seating ,china and cutlery for at least 4 )

Body corporate has an obligation to maintain fire regulations for each space.

 

My brother in law did this, converted a two bed apartment into a 3 bed. Was a small 6 unit apartment block.

Make sure you do it in an area that has a need for small living areas. He did it in Bondi so it worked out being able to rent out a room with ensuite for $500 a week...

 

Put in a mezzanine.

 

There would be no window in what would be left of the living space. I imagine there would be some reglulation regarding this.

I am looking at doing a similar thing though. I have an apartment in Chippendale with a large living area and windows at both ends. It looks easy to put in some sort of divider to create a second bedroom. Not sure it could be advertised as a second bedroom though, but calling it a study sounds like it may work.

 

Peastman, I have seen some people with layouts like yours put up a floor to ceiling wall of opaque louvers. So there is visual privacy, but light gets through, as well as cross breezes when they are opened.

 

They will have that right if you are trying to secure the wall into the ceiling concrete slab which is common property in most instances. Also need to be careful if the ceilings are vermiculite like the one in the photos you shared in the link, as many contain asbestos fibers.

 

I have done this many times 2003-2010, added bedrooms and added bathrooms, probably did 20-30 apartments during that time. It is no different to the internal renovations. For those you haven't heard of it's most likely as they have limited experience this area. No difference to the TV series block which literally removes nearly all the walls.

You can do this with a building permit - all walls than are non-structural can be removed subject to owners corporation approval. There is cost involved in sprinkler modification $800-$1000 to remove or relocate one sprinkler etc.