I bought a property and applied for planning permit to build a seperate townhouse at the back, keeping existing property made of bricks.
The council is OK to approve plan except have cited that there is a covenant by which it seems I cannot build new townhouse or even make modifications to existing brick house using materials like brick, brick vineer, stone. This leave me dumbfounded as even the original house which is 50 years old is made of bricks. Council says only light materials to be used for any development and they are ok to approve plans and permits.
The council rep said it seems the covenant is badly worded and original intent was use of only brick and brick vineer etc.
Spoke to lawyer and he said we need to cough up 10-20K and go to supreme court to change covenant which will stipulate building ONLY using bricks, bricks vineer or stone.
Can anyone give me any bright ideas on how to resolve this?
Is building only using light materials recommeded/possible? Should i go down path to remove/reword covenant.
Thanks in advance for reading and hopefully responding… have a good day.
I wouldn't waste my time or resources trying to change covenants on a single property. If you where building 20 townhouses it may be different.
The world of architectural claddings is fairly extensive. Get specifics from the planners and perhaps talk to an architect with local knowledge. A much less expensive and stressful solution.
Agree with Freckle.
Single house/property not worth the expense of a legal challenge.
I would also add some of the modern building materials look outstanding.
Just need to rethink your thinking.
Agree. Expensive to try and change. IT is possible but are you sure it is worth it when you could just use different materials
RPI | Certus Legal Group / PRO Town Planners
http://www.certuslegal.com.au
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Freckle, David, RPI, Thanks for your responses. I would tend to agree that I should look at light materials for construction.
My only question would be, does it mean if I build out of modern light materials will it drastically reduce the eventual price of the property?
On the contrary. Masonry is traditional and cheap and that's how many buyers perceive these products because they are (in general) used as the 'easy option' in design. The architectural products you see today if used intelligently can project sophistication and uniqueness in design. You can get a premium for places that project elegance and class compared to your bulk store budget design you see everywhere here. Uniqueness is rare here. Subdivision design here is almost monochromatic compared to what I'm used to back in NZ.
The last product I would ever use here would be brick. Feature stone walls yes. Brick absolutely not.
One thought that has come to my mind is the current original house(50 yrs old) on the block is also in violation of the covenant as its made of brick. I am beginning to think if I have a case to claim that the initial sec 32 created for the sale was incorrect. Just wondering would I benefit in any way or run the risk of having to remove the existing house.
I am just thinking how did the conveyancer and council authorize the sale of the property when the existing house was in violation of the covenant.
Any thoughts?
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