Get council to approve plans before purchasing?

Discussion in 'Renovation & Home Improvement' started by Alex123711, 22nd Mar, 2018.

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  1. Alex123711

    Alex123711 Well-Known Member

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    I am looking at a couple of properties to convert/ add rooms underneath where they are currently offices, the land is residential and were originally houses so I think it would probably get approved, just wondering what the process is as I have no idea really in regards to getting plans done, getting council approval and then going ahead. Is council approval normally something you would get done prior to purchasing? And what would be the estimate costs of getting the approval?
     
  2. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    Do you mean buying subject to council approval? Possible, but it would be a very weak offer condition. Means the rest of your offer is going to have to be pretty damn good (eg. the price).

    I'd probably do my DD before I offered instead.
     
  3. Westminster

    Westminster Tigress at Tiger Developments Business Member

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    No it is not normally something you do prior to purchasing.
    It would be a good idea to go talk to council and a private town planner to get advice on what the likelihood is that something could be approved but generally Council's will only give general advice and will only approve/refuse based on a full application being made.
    You can make an offer subject to Council Approval but it will hold the offer up for a long time and is generally unattractive to the Seller.
    BTW you say "I think it would probably get approved" is very dangerous thinking if you have never done this before.
     
  4. Alex123711

    Alex123711 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks, any ideas on costs for approval if I were to get it done beforehand?
     
  5. Anthony416

    Anthony416 Well-Known Member

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    All good advice given here so far. I would not focus on the cost for approval beforehand because I think the timeline is more a factor.

    For example by the time you research and select a TP, and then they write the Statement of Environmental Effects for the DA, you are 4 weeks down the track. Then it goes into council for 6 - 8 weeks typical. Of course you may find examples of shorter time-frames but IMHO these are typical timelines. Most vendors would not wait for this to play out.

    The best you can do in most cases is to get a TP to do a preliminary assessment to check the feasibility of what you wish to do with reference to the council rules and regulations.

    Of course there are no guarantees. Even written advice from council is no guarantee of approval, only when the DA is submitted are council made to decide for certain.
     
  6. Rolf Latham

    Rolf Latham Inciteful (sic) Staff Member Business Plus Member

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    As already indicated, very few sellers will hold out for your needs

    more relevant, most agents arent going to sit on their comm, while a buyer does that work and holds up an unconditional contract for months ..........

    Good luck with that hostile agent

    ta

    rolf
     
  7. Westminster

    Westminster Tigress at Tiger Developments Business Member

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    Maybe $5-10k. It really depends on how much drafting, town planning and lodgement fees are and if you'd need any specialist reports.
    There is no way to answer this question as you don't know from your local council what is needed to be done for approval. Once you know those things, which are often specific to a site, then you can ask the right questions of professionals and get some quotes.
    Allow 60-120 days for design, council, possible community consultation as it's a possible non conforming use and decision.
     

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