Bushfire and flood prone areas

Hi,
I'm wondering what other members think about buying in a bushfire/flood prone area. I assume insurance will be expensive. But not sure how much more expensive than the non bushfire/flood prone properties. Or is it simply a no-no zone for investors?

Thanks!

 

Where I live on the Central Coast it is full of trees and lakes and rivers. I live near the lake edge and in so doing accept the fact that I might get my toes wet every 10 years or so. I don't have anything that can get damaged by water downstairs. But I accept the (small) risk so I can enjoy looking at the lake and getting lake breezes for the other 364 days of the year.

Part of some of my properties are also in bushfire zones but they are really low risk with BAL's in the very low range. Insurance has not been an issue so far.

Would I build in the forest? - no.

There are riskier fire hazards in the Blue Mountains - to me that place is just a fire waiting to happen - which it regularly does. I personally don't think it is fair to ask fire-fighters to risk their lives defending properties built so close to the bush.

 

Thanks, @Propertunity . I'm doing my DD on a property that has potential to be developed with all the other residential properties around it. The only thing that makes me hesitant is that it is in a bushfire zone, just on the edge of the area, not in the middle of the area.

 

I love the Central Coast. I am up there nearly every second weekend. Summerland point. Are you around that area?

 

Berkeley Vale?

 

Development is a different thing again. You really need to be free of bushfire & flood notations to get Private Certifier approval for complying developments. It costs less too if you don't need to engineer for high BALs and slabs to withstand floods etc. That can get expensive and make the development non-feasible.

 

No, more around Tuggerah Lake further south.

 

Ahh ok. Still a nice spot all along the coast.

 

Have a look at council requirements if you need to replace any existing item. Some councils have changed their requirements so any minor change can trigger new windows, fire curtains and the like.

 

Oh, does it mean there are more regulations to follow if I plan to develop the property further in the future?

 

You may be required to bring up the property to current regs if you are planning any renovations

 

God's waiting room

 

Yep. Even if the property your looking at wanted minor work done requiring a DA they'll get you to add a number of things to the existing property as part of da conditions.
for bush fire area you might want to add 10%+ to build costs to allow for bush fire spec. And if it's blue mountains add a lot more to the holding costs and approvals time plus additional bird counting and tree hugging

 

Did the S149 state it's in a bushfire zone? Which area? Any progress with this purchase?

 

I didn't go ahead with this purchase, as I reckon it's better to reduce the risk at this stage of my investment journey. It's in Black Hill, VIC and section 32 says it is in bushfire area.

 

Noted. There's more deals around I'm sure.

 

Are you in the same situation? Would love to know your experience in dealing with such property deal as well.

 

Black Hill, Vic, 3350 - suburb of Ballarat? After the Victorian bushfires of 2009 they went a bit hysterical & basically listed all of the Ballarat region as a bushfire prone area. I don't think a single house has ever been lost due to bushfire in the 3350 postcode - not in my lifetime anyway. Not that there couldn't be - there are sometimes bushfires but they are always well defended and it is a mainly suburban area.

 

No but I think you need to weigh up what is your priority. I personally would stay away from bushfire zones.

 

Many suburbs of Ballarat region are not listed as bushfire prone though. It looks like most of Black Hill is bushfire prone. I'm not worried about whether there will actually be bushfire or not to a particular property. It's just the insurance cost and complication of building regulations if I want to knock-down and sub-divide/rebuild.