Simple question
If I set a house up for uni student accom, do I have to get permission from council ? Is this just a normal old rental situation ?
P
Depends on the council – Mine specifies that a home for more than 10 seperate adults is a boarding house and must have permission.
Give them a call.
Cheers,
Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker
***NODOC @ 7.15% to 70% LVR***
[email protected]
0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
Just another simple question…..what about electricity, just divide the bill ?? Ideas please.
Pen,
Pay it yourself lol just joking!
You can put seperate meters in, for individual accounts, but this comes at a cost, might want to check it out.
But buy doing this way also saves headeaches, like I use less than them etc etc.
Cheers and good luck
I lived in flating situations as a uni student and we used to divide the electricity bill. Each person pays for their own phone calls though. You would get the first student to take the responsibility of signing the tenancy agreement and organising the electricity and phone bill. They then get a say in who they will share the house with.
Actually you do pay it as a landlord.
I get $530 pw for my 5 bedroom home. I furnish the place and pay the bills as well as maintain the garden.
Median rent for this place is probably $260 pw so as you see I am well in front.
This is what students expect when the rent by the room.
They could band together and rent a house cheaper, but that means more organising and someone has to take responsibility.
I find it works great but others hate it.
Cheers,
Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker
***NODOC @ 7.15% to 70% LVR***
[email protected]
0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
On utilities, Simon is right; electricity, gas and water is paid by the landlord. In fact competition in the area I have student accommodation has meant I pay internet connection charges as well.
As for rules, well rules vary state to state.
In Victoria the rules are
– 1 to 5 people on individual leases: no requirements
– 6 or more people on individual rents inside a house requires the house to be registered as “prescribed accommodation” with the local council. To be registered it must meet various requirements such as sufficient hot water capacity (ie the normal sized h/w service is not sufficient, I had to install a second one), minimum hygiene requirements, minimum people/bathroom ratio, the landlord must keep a register of the tenants etc.
– Once it gets more than 10 habitable rooms (which includes bedrooms and living rooms) you must have a “Planning permit”. A planning permit is much more onerous to get than a prescribed accommodation permit. I could be wrong but I think at this point various fire regulation scome into force that require each room to be a fire cell (?) and for sprinkler systems to be installed. Basically you want to avoid ever getting this big as you will be up for tens of thousands of dollars.Note that having 2 * 5 bedroom units on one title avoids even having to be registered as prescribed accommodation as it applies per structure, not per title.
Something else to think about before diving into providing student accommodation:
1) banks will consider it to be a commercial lend with all the associated LVR and interest rate implications, not a residential lend. Yes you can just keep quiet about your intension when you apply for the initial loan, but refinancing may be tricky
2) insurance companies also consider it a commercial premises and see high risk in having many lessees, and so landlord insurance gets pricy and cover for malicious damage very difficult.Some Councils may have difficulty with large student accommodation. Student accommodation can have a reputation of decreasing the residential amenity of an area through excessive car parking, parties, loutish behaviour and noise (music, wheelies). There is also a more serious problem of fire safety regulations as required by the Building Code of Australia.
Excellent post shake-the-disease. Well done.
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