VIC Ways to find the year a house was built

I've done online searches, "free property reports", vic government site (services.land.vic.gov.au), "maps and spatial data" on vic government site.

How can I find out exactly the year a property / house was built?

I was on the old understanding it would be easy (government website) to purchase the complete history of a property/house one was interested in, but I've so far been out of luck!

 

I believe there is some aerial imagery info on land.vic.gov.au but it is limited.

Photo Mapping Services is a private company that took over from the govt body that was looking after all the govt and science related aerial photography in vic.

I had to get an aerial image showing the internal fencing in 1968 for a subdivision in mentone i was managing. Photo mapping services were really helpful and basically had aerial photos of the site every year or so. The quality of the aerial photos did vary, depending on the purpose of the photo and which govt department commisioned it. The photo i purchased was a geoscience commissioned photo at a scale of 1:4000 i think, cost was a bit over $100. I could clearly see the roads/ dwellings, and could just make out the fencing.

 

Tax purposes (40 year depreciation), history reasons (ie: when asked when house was built for insurance), and general reasons (ie: nothing usually says when it was built!).

 

how old do you estimate the house to be ?

certain architectural features may give you a ball-park time zone. (like slate roof - tuckpointing etc)

in the early years in NSW the tap manufacturers used to stamp the date (year) on the external brass stopcocks.

have you tried,

Home - ArchivesACT

Research Guides: Researching buildings and houses: Get started

or maybe a "chain of title" search with your lands department

 

Not sure if it is exact or where the figure came from, but our building and pest inspection had a year for then the house was built in it.

Regards,

Jason

 

Is it a distinguishable period home eg Victorian, Federation, boom style, Californian Bungalow, post-war, Austerity (refer to Austraia's Home by Robyn Boyd - out of print for the last 40 years).

Is it a more recently built project home - certain builders were around only for a 10-15 year period and their style was distinctive. The interior finishing can also be a giveaway - original colour schemes, tiles, slate, limed timber, cork tiles.

For tax purposes, use a QS, insurance a WFG will suffice.

 

Property sale history starts in 2003 until 2017 (excluding current listing in 2020).

Looks like an old original house.

 

Got a pic?

 

Carbon dating.

 

@TopCat - Possibly post-1980's from the veranda brackets (might have been a refurb around that period).

The photo doesn't give away much, very low pitched roof, low profile cladding tends to indicate that it's a newer build.

As @lixas4 notes, refer to something like near maps or other aerial photo survey data.

 

I suppose the neighbours might know how old the house is.

You could start a lawn mowing run around the 'hood and ask the pertinent question.

 

In old suburban houses the back yard tap brass had the year date stamped on it...
I hope this helps

 

Onthehouse.com.au has a build date on it but not sure if accurate or not or just a WFG.
Could be worth a try.

 

Council website if its in recent times. Developmnet and construction permits / DA searches are public data. Varies how far back it goes but will likely be 10-15+ years. Hills Shire Council NSW I can go back often 20 years. Dandenong Council for example uses the Vioc Govt system that goes back to 1996
Online Planning Register - City of Greater Dandenong

Older ?....Council.... ask them. They have old system records available too. Council retain all construction approval records !! If its a privacy issue you can view, not copy, the basic info at council. eg date will be available

Two dates ; Approval date and then other will be occupancy cert date. Sometimes these are missing or not recorded.

Why is the build date so important ?

 

Council should have these records
I had this search done on one of my properties and now have the 1972 building approvals and basic plans etc search was lodged online and was free for construction info sometimes personal information is redacted