Subdividing existing house into two units

Hi there,

Am wanting to purchase an existing 3 or 4 bedder in Western Sydney and subdivide into two liveable units, one for me to live in and one to rent out. Add a kitchen and/or toilet/bath plus laundry as required. A fire wall to divide the two living spaces.

Does this then become a dual occupancy and rules for that apply? Eg fire wall between units/ if double story does the upper level floor needs to be fire rated etc.. With a double story one unit would be on Ground and the other upstairs. Best most cost efficient way to do this etc., as most upper floors are timber joists and boards if I am correct. Is it more expensive to add plumbing eg toilet/kitchen to the upstair unit than if it was all one on ground level?

Prefer a single level house but a lot of doubles are also available in a similar price range. Has anyone done this and what are the traps and pitfalls and what things should I watch for?

Many thanks!

Ron

PS - added an image demonstrating an example

 

It looks like you are proposing to reduce car parking spots when you need to be looking at where to increase them?

 

Hi Ron

We have done a similar project for a client in Northmead and turned his home into a dual occ. The moment you want to live in one unit and rent the other unit, it will be classified as a dual occupancy and fire rating the walls will be required by the NCC.

The fire rating of dual occs will depend on the configuration. You can still treat dual occs side by side as class 1, but if it was one on top of the other, it will become a class 2 building and the fire rating methodology will change. There are generally more requirements to comply in a class 2 building despite it is just a dual occ.

With regards to adding a bathroom, it will really depend on the situation. Is ther already a first floor? Where are the existing and proposed plumbing, whether cutting slab is required. No build is ever the same so really need to POA.