Hi all,
Does anyone know anything about ‘widow splits’? From what I have heard before and during WW1 solders split their blocks diagonally giving their wives the section that did not have a street front, preventing them from selling the house. These blocks are split into 2 lots.
I have heard various statements about making the DA process cheaper by not having to pay contribution fees. Is this true?
Does anyone know anymore about this, any information would be greatly appreciated.
All subdivisions require access to a public road either by easements, right of ways or direct street frontal. Without the provision of access, you cannot entertain a lawful subdivision.
What advantage would there be of having a block which couldn’t be sold?
I think the idea is to get both parts of the split (which, since one of them doesn’t have street frontage, both have to go together anyway), then realign the split so that both blocks now have street access – this now gives you 2 blocks which can be sold independently. The bonus is, apparently, that you don’t have to pay the massive contribution fees to council as it is a boundary realignment rather than creation of a new block.
Your best bet is to find a local town planner as this sounds like a specialist area where you could lose a bunch of money very quickly if things don’t go to plan.
If it's Brisbane you will be up for contribution charges with a realignment of a widow block unfortunately.
Scott No Mates – I am fully aware that to split a block you will need street frontage, this is just common sense. The point your missing is I am trying to determine if the DA costings are less on this type of block, as it is taken as a block re-alignment.
JJ7 – yes the idea is to split the block down the middle into rectangle shape. I have talk to a town planner of the BCC and he advised that the same contribution charges apply as a normal block.
Andrew – Do you know of any councils in QLD that charge less contribution charges for this type of block?
Empire15 I'm sure you will find a lot of variations throughout QLD, local councils are usually very helpful in my experiences and you should be able to get this information quickly. I can't see the attraction of looking for these blocks specifically instead of just looking at the universe of all double blocks!? Why the interest in widows if you don't mind me enquiring?
The attraction of these blocks are;
Their size is usually >1000m2
As there is already ‘split’ in the block, it would increase DA approval chances with the council.
The savings in contribution charges, providing this is true and a I can find a suburb/council that offers this.
Increase in profits due to less DA fees.Thats all. From what I have heard there were less contribution charges relating to these blocks at some stage, maybe the council caught onto this in the past ~5years, then again this information may not be true.
Thanks for your input.
In North Brisbane I see a lot of them as 809m blocks, the extra charges are relatively new with BCC.
Hi,
Has any one recently completed the process of splitting the widow blocks.
I am in a process of buying one in Brisbane and need to know how much it’s going to cost all up to divide and connect utilities?
Any information on this process is appreciated.
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