Rooming House

Hi everyone

It very recently come to my attention that there is such thing as a rooming house. I'm hoping someone with experience can share with me about it.

How much does it normally cost to get permits and approval from council? I have a 4 BR 2Baths home in Brimbank Council. The council told me of converting it to class 1B with disability access which sounds quite expensive.

Is there a business/ person that can come to the site/ look at photo and give an inclusive quote of all the works that needs to be done ?

What's the ongoing expenditure like (higher insurance, license renewal, etc)

How invasive are the council once you are registered? Will they inspect every year and will they charge for it?

 

I looked at this a while ago but did not go proceed with this. There were quite alot of properties in the area that i would think were operating as rooming houses but there were very few listed on the register... Consequently you would need a higher rent to cover the increased compliance cost, the higher insurances etc vs the unregistered houses. Further, I noticed that the rent received would only be marginally better than leasing the whole home out.

In addition to this, there was also the issue of tenant demographics. Yes as a rooming house, you would get referrals from social welfare but the risk increases.

 

There's also a risk IF you need to refinance or release equity against the property in the future, it may be classed as commercial in lenders eyes

 

A private certifier can tell you what you have to do and a builder what it'll cost.

Don't boarding houses usually have 5 bedrooms (or is it 5 unrelated persons)?

 

Boarding house, class 1b, pretty much when >5 unrelated parties then you're looking at this building classification which comes with it more fire compliance requirements and maybe some other bits and bobs relating to local city council requirements (eg. parking, bathrooms, different rates schedule, etc).

 

Tomodachi - I have just completed a conversion of my 120m2 house into a 5 x self-contained rooming house with private courtyards. Yes there has to be accessibility requirements, insurances & inspections, possible service upgrades & refinance can be tricky but only if it's not considered into the design from the beginning. The overall conversion, rennovation, fitout & furnishings cost about $50k per room.
The overall process is complicated & costly the first time around.
BUT
With a building designer who has done it before, and clever small space design you can create 'self' contained studios for a fraction of a new apartment. I would say keep on researching, it's well worth the effort.

 

when you say '5 X self contained' what do you mean by this? - does each tenant still share cooking/bathroom/clothes washing facilities?

I am also wanting to do something like this and convert my 4*2 rental into 3 larger rooms each with an ensuite and kitchenette, and have a communal main kitchen, living area, laundry.

What type of council hoops did you need to jump through? Do you pay for the electrical and water yourself or are they individually metered?

 

Hi guys. just wondering if anyone has a contact for insurance for a class 1b rental I do have one but the insurance is unreasonable so looking for someone else