Unregistered granny flat

I don't practice in this area but can refer her to someone who does

 

Probably....not happy mate

 

I think you are correct but OP seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

Hmmmm how much scary ballpark is "a bit costly"?
Will do a random visit to Council planners. Variation between planners???? Know any tame ones?

 

A somewhat related question. I came across a property with a reasonably sized granny flat the other day (Sydney area). The granny flat has never been rented out separately and the agent told me it couldn’t given current laws. Apparently the granny flat had been used for an elderly mother over a number of years. The granny flat had a self contained toilet and kitchen, and was quite old (probably built about 20 years ago). When purchasing a property like that, is there any special things you should consider or check off (assuming there would be no desire to rent out separately).

 

Some councils did put conditions of consent on older approved Granny Flats such as it could only be used by a named person (usually Granny) and after Granny moves to a nursing home etc the approval lapses...... another minefield.

 

This is becoming murkier by the moment. If having to provide internal staircase to top( street level) main house the tenant there is on a two year headlease via community housing not locally based so no option other than terminating both tenants if renovating to relet as one property.

Council has no record of approving any granny dead or alive

 

and you found this out in 24 hours but your conveyancer stated they could not do it in 5 days......

 

....and it was called "Relative Accommodation". Same still applies today in some councils I have inquired from. There were limits on size and the laundry needed to be shared. But no problem having 2 x kitchens.

 

It would also pay to look at your insurance policy to see who is covered this sort of set-up would give them a lot of wiggle room to say your not covered just in case ..

 

Yeah looking into this too.
Thanks willair

 

So how did you go with the council approval for the Granny Flat?

 

It has been a long and convoluted journey including expenses for lawyers letters to council and DA submitted to basically turn it into a single dwelling. Not sure if the DA will actually be done even if approved. However the Council has extended its demands till November when the lease for downstairs tenant expires. Then it will be a matter of renegotiating with upstairs tenant or evicting and reletting the whole property. Either way the return will be lower. Definitely a learning experience which is ongoing.

 

Hopefully, all goes well in the end for you @Granny At least it is not on the separate building which must be demolitioned.

 

Informal access to information searches via Council generally take between 2-14 days and the timeframe really depends the particular Council.

We do searches for development consents for use and works for clients and check DA, CC, OC as well as operational conditions of consent and break it down for them in a report.

I did a few years as a building surveyor in Compliance for the City of Sydney just to learn the ins and outs of compliance and sadly, most cases of unauthorised works or unauthorised use came down to lack of due diligence and the common theme was "my conveyancer said it was ok"

I don't want to turn this into a conveyancer bashing because the ones I work with do check these type of things, but the truth is it's not really their area expertise to know what type of consents/certifications to look for and how to interpret conditions of consent.

A large portion of our client base are actually conveyancers. They pick up affectations or encumbrances or see potential issues with unauthorised use/works and send them to us to do the searches as we know what to ask for with Council (sometimes there could be multiple consents applicable to one property so it becomes a minefield)

It really surprised me that no one had formally offered a service to do these type of things and it was one of the reasons why I started Planning Reports because I believed it would truly help people with their property transactions.

Regarding your particular situation, your only option to regularise the use would be to lodge a DA (for use only) and if any works have been done a Building Information Certificate. There is no guarantee it gets approved so that's the risk you take.

On a BCA compliance side of things, attached granny flats (secondary dwelling) need to be fire separated from the principal dwelling via a 60/60/60 FRL rated wall. If the exisiting separating walls do not achieve this, you're DA could include upgrade works. Just remember, retrospective consent cannot be granted to exisiting unauthorised works, only the use of the secondary dwelling and any new works or demolition works.

You may get lucky because some councils (Shoalhaven for example) actually allow what they call "granny flats" which can be self-contained flats inside the principle dwelling that do not require fire separation. If that is the case, getting consent for the use may look promising.

Another option would be remove the kitchen or any unauthorised works and start fresh via a CDC under SEPP (affordable Rental Housing), but this depends on the extent of the unauthorised works as certifiers may get spooked by the fact there are known non-compliances and will also be dependant on compliance with the SEPP.

Resolving compliance issues is never easy and straight forward as you dive into the confusing world of retrospective consent for use and regularisation of works via BIC's, hell, Most of the Council compliance/planners don't even know what to do with it.

If you need to have a chat don't hesitate to give me a yell.

 

@Granny, you mentioned that the property is in a bushfire zone. You can't get approval for a GF for anything over BAL29.

You would require a bushfire consultant to prepare the report but the planning website would give you a general indication of the bushfire exposure rating.

 

Thanks Gavin for your comprehensive post.
We have been granted approval by council to hold off on evicting tenant till lease ends in November.
Have a current DA submitted to reduce floor area to 60 sq metres.
The seperation is fire rated and the works are approved but stove is not approved and may need to be removed.
Holding off on our idea to convert to single dwelling due to cost.

 

Yep this is also probably an issue. We will know for sure when we get a response re DA.