Melbourne Flats

Agreed, it’s stand alone in a block of 3 with a small land component, the reason I was considering units is the lower cost base with still being close to the CBD

 

units as in town houses or units as in apartments

Actually if you get one in albert park or south Melbourne near the market - they're always very desirable and walking distance to CBD

 

I was considering apartments, but will definitely take get a t/h if they’re up to or around $700k - $750k ish

 

@melbournian i have just bought a 3 bedder in Parkville- what are your thoughts. I feel like it’s a stupid buy but I bought this one for the fun factor, with intention to keep it in the family for at least 15-20 years or forever as I don’t expect gains like a house. It was listed as a townhouse in a lot of 6, its double storey with kitchen living dining laundry powder room and courtyard downstairs and 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The bedrooms are on the small side, two have tiny balconies. Hoping you can give me some confidence as it’s not something my head told me to buy!

 

No It’s a building of 6 townhouses that all share common walls with each neighbour. They are all split over two levels each with a courtyard

 

It’s an old 70s building that was renovated and rejigged in 2000

 

This observation is correct as land is where its at. Typically they will be on a corner with a large land component v building footprint. Technically you will own 1/15th of the land and often the land alone, if in a prime location, will be worth more than the actual purchase price.

Another tip for older strata dwellings is to request last 2 years AGM minutes and financials to see what repairs are in the wings as well as the slush fund total. Often concrete cancer is present and that is buko $$$ to repair.

 

Melbourne uni, hospital district should be fine. your kids could go to melb uni and stay there.

 

I had brought it with that in mind that even if they don’t get into Melb uni they may need to live in the city for placements or to be nearer to other uni’s etc. I even wouldn’t mind living there for a stint over a few years

 

would you need council approval to remove the walls or just body corp. something like this would make body corp scared, say u damage the block?

 

You'll usually need engineering if load bearing, dual certification can be done cheaply where you have a second engineer approve the plans. No need to get approval from owners corp but yes, will need to submit work to council and have building surveyor check all work abides to engineering and building code. Not as scary as it sounds.

 

anyone seen this: Apartment owners face $60,000 cladding-removal costs after court ruling protects builders

1400 apartment towers in Melbourne have non-compliant cladding and the owners of the apartments will be forced to pay 60k each to cover the cost of fixing the cladding.

I can't comprehend how the government can be so negligent with the scarce space we have in the CBD. Sometimes when I walk around the city I look up and think "how can property in a city run be ******s be worth so much money".

 

What happens when owners don't have the money. A lot simply wouldnt have 60k. Do they get sued? If so, if the property is secured by a bank mortgage, how does that even work? What happens if you don't comply to a body corp request/order? Im curious to know this, I often wonder about it.

 

The OC will do the work (perhaps taking out a loan if owners don't stump up) and for non-paying owners the unpaid amount will attract interest. If there's a mortgage on the property, it's likely that the lender will get involved as the ultimate sanction, a forced sale (probably at a low price) would disadvantage them.

Vic Owners Corp Act (edited for brevity) - presumably similar provisions in other states

24. Extraordinary fees
(1) An owners corporation may levy special fees and charges designed to cover extraordinary items of
expenditure.
...
(5) Sub-section (4) [Special resolution needed] does not apply if the fees are levied to pay for or recoup the cost of repairs or maintenance carried out to any part of the property for which the owners corporation is responsible where immediate expenditure is or was necessary to ensure safety or to prevent significant loss or damage to persons or property.

29. Penalty interest on arrears
(1) An owners corporation may charge interest on any amount payable by a lot owner to the owners corporation that is still outstanding after the due date for payment. ...

 

If u don’t owners Corp approval how it is it covered by the building insurance and also how would u get the sign off if u have fire sprinklers ?

I have removed many apartment walls myself - if it is load bearing u would need a permit as it is structural alteration

 

Notify yes, permission no. Wall removal definitely requires a council permit and engineering if load bearing. For insurance, just give them a copy of the permit details that should suffice. Sprinklers should be covered in the building permit and signed off by building inspector/surveyor. I've only removed walls from old units without sprinklers.

Maintaining and renovating individual lots in an owners corporation

 

I think yours is likely in a small owners corp like a group of 6-10 etc where it is self managed. For the ones I have done U do needed permission as it is included in the owners corporation rules. Also with the permit the building surveyor will also ask if the owners corp have given approval. As insurance will not cover it if anything happens during the renovation as it needs to be notified before the permit is signed off.

 

Nope, mine were done under professional Owners Corporations. Have a read of the link from Consumer Affairs, pretty easy to follow and even has the templates for you to download and send in to the OC to notify them.