Old Covenants in NSW - Something I learnt this week

Hi Everyone

I learned something this week that I thought would be worth sharing.

In NSW a lot of developers of subdivisions put covenants on the land which normally dictate building materials to maintain the character of the neighbourhood.

This could include everything from what your external walls, roofs and fences should be constructed from.

Typically in the areas we build, where the subdivisions were done from the 1920's to the 1960's there are restrictions on the size of the homes, only allowing brick or concrete external walls and a ban on corrugated tin or iron roofs.

This week we were getting a CDC approved and the 1964 covenant banned corrugated iron and tin roofs. The design proposed a modern Kliplok skillion roof.

The certifier was reluctant to give us an approval based on this restriction.

I was able to get some expert advice which was:

1. For any building material covenant that is more than 12 years old, you can make an application to the registrar general to have the covenant removed

2. In our case we were able to demonstrate that the term corrugated only refers to an S shaped pattern with external fixings where as Kliplok has concealed fixings and isn't an S shaped pattern. Additionally, the exclusion was for iron or tin materials where as Kliplok is made from a composite of steel and aluminium.

3. If you are going the DA route and council has a DCP or LEP which contradicts the covenant then the council policies over ride the covenants.

The end result...we got our CDC approved.

The point of the story is, if your land is subject to one of these covenants there are a couple of paths you can take to get your approval.

I hope this helps someone in the same situation as us.

Cheers

Simeon