Knocking down existing house and rebuilding - Permit advice

Hi,

We're new to the forum and hoping for some advice regarding knocking down our existing house and rebuilding.

We are scheduled to start building with PD in December and have been asked to provide evidence from the demolishers in the form of a letter that the house will be demolished and also when it has been completed. Fine so far.

PD however, have said they won't even apply for a council permit to build on our property until the house has been demolished.

My question is, what happens if we're not able to obtain a permit to build? This would mean we're left with an empty block with no house to live in!

Does this sound right? Has anyone been in this situation?

Once Porter Davis has organised for you to knock down your house, what sort of bargaining power do you think you'll have?

To clarify, PD are not organising to demolish our home - we are organising this ourselves.

Hi Mikata,

I have a friend who is right in the middle of exactly what you are doing. We'll she is now building at least and finally got her place underway, but it's been an interesting road.

First up one of the builders she was talking to stepped in and made an application to council without her request/being asked and that then upset / directed what she had to build - Guess why they did it? Hmm I wonder.

Anyway the long and short of it she had her plans approved based on the block size, setback etc etc, while the hosue was there (she doing 2 x townhouses)

So don't fall for the we knock it down then we can apply - she had a teneant in until the day before the demolition truck arrived.

So she then demod the house - she arranged it.

but...
After that was done she asked the bulders when would they start - be ready so she could plan things etc.

They would do nothing (no planning scheduling nothing) until she proved (via a certificate etc) that the the gas lines and electricity etc had been disconnected removed adn were not an issue etc etc.

So the delays can be signifcant, the builders - once she got the certifcate then said - sorry we've started another project - your jobs now 6 weeks away before we can start. So a May started turned into an early August by the time things got underway. She's been 18 months in the hmm what desing do I like as I am sure many here would know.

Hoep that helps as a bit fo aheads up.

But yes you can have the plans approved while the house still is on the land.

But the footing costs etc will be variable until they can do soil tests etc.
Good luck - and remember - No matter how bad it may seem at the time - it's not often that it is a much of an issue as you thought it could be.
Time solves many of life's issues.
Steve

Hi,
We bought and demolished a house and are now rebuilding on the site. We were advised NOT to demolish (by the builder) until we had a building permit for the new house (just in case) but we went ahead and demolished anyway. We only wanted to replace one house with one house so we didn't see there would be any problem - there wasn't!

The builders would have required a copy of the demolition permit to apply for the building permit but we'd already demolished by the time they applied for the building permit. The building permit only took about a week to get. Is there any reason you think you wouldn't get one?

In our case, we put in 2 applications: 1 for demolition by us, 1 for house construction by the builder. Once approved, each of them are valid for 5 years for our council.

It's then up to you to decide which should go first. the application for house construction will definitely be more difficult. Why don't you put in both applications, get the house approved first before demolishing? That's what we did.

Before the demolition you can still live in the house or even rent it out!

People who are planning to demolish their existing house - did you think of selling your old house? Weatherboard or brick, it can be sold - getting money instead of paying for demolition. We sold a 1960s brick veneer house for 8k - not a lot but better 8k in the pocket than thousands for demolition!

We have the same predicament. Our builder said ring council and speak to a town planner. I did just this and the town planner was great telling me what I could and couldn't do on that exact block. He told me I'd have no issue with building a two storey house there as long as building codes were observed.

Just to clarify, are you talking about a planning permit or a building permit here?

Pootle, I have no reason to think we wouldn't get a permit, it just seems illogical and a little stupid to put ourselves in a situation where worse case scenario, we've demolished our house before getting permission to build a new one! I'm glad it worked our for you and I did speak to them again today about our concerns and they've assured us they wouldn't enter a contract with us if they didn't think they could get the permit and have never not been able to get one. PD have a good repuation and they deal with a council body, rather than council, so can obtain a permit in 2 weeks.

In response to one of the questions, we aren't applying for both the building and demolishing at the same time because PD take care of the build permit. If we decide to demolish or have the house removed/sold, then they will organise that permit.

Mek, we are looking at having our house removed for approx. 9k - who did you go with out of interest?

We are about to demolish a 1970's brick veneer and pay $8000 - plus they clear the whole block trees et cetera. Mek you are saying they paid you for the brick veneer house!!! Do you still have to get someone in to clear the block?

Brittany, we have been offered 9k to sell the house and they take the house away but the site won't be entirely cleared. They then get subcontractors to clear the site for approx 3-4K so you still end up with about 5K.

Ours is a brick veneer also.

Hi Mikita,

Are you in Melbourne and if so .... please please tell me who to call!! Or send me a message if you prefer.. Please

So I'm illogical and stupid? Thanks a lot!

We demolished first to get things moving. There is absolutely no reason we would have been denied the right to replace one single storey house with another. If we has been wanting to build something vastly different then I guess we may have waited for the building permit. I rang the council planning department first and they said to go ahead and demolish and it wouldn't be a problem.

Good luck to you with your project, hope it all goes well.

Thanks Pootle and no, I wasn't meaning you. I was referring to how our situation seemed to us. We'll be going ahead anyway and I'm sure all will go ok. Fingers crossed.

Yes, exactly as Mikita said... We got paid for the house and then a few k went for clearing but still ended up with a nice profit! We used these people:

http://www.gah.com.au/sellingyourhome.htm

If you're about to demolish now it might be too late as they take 45 days (I think) to look for a buyer but have a look...

Thanks for that. We plan to do the same thing ourselves and will hopefully save $5-10k with our old 4 bedroom brick veneer.

Thank you Mek and Mikita for the information regarding Golden Age Homes. They were very helpful and had someone out to assess our house within two days. Unfortunately our house does not fit their criteria - it is on too steep a slope and it has cathedral ceilings. I would be kicking myself if I had not checked this option out though. Anyone planning on demolishing and rebuilding would be crazy not to look at this!

we went that path too.. Golden age homes takes 3 months to find a suitable buyer. they instead suggested us to advertise in trading post-- no luck as the house is quite old..
what buyers want is..
preferably weatherboard with colourbond roofs vs brick veneers
renovated kitchen/bathroom
ours had none of these.. it was an original 60s house so we are spending 8k on demolition..