Types of Dual Occupancy Design Plans

Dual occupancy entails constructing two dwellings on your existing block of land, which may also be split to produce two separate lots of land. Getting a second property basically opens up myriad options that homeowners wouldn't get by constructing a single house. You can either sell the new property to pay your mortgage or even rent it for additional income. Moreover, the building costs for dual occupancy may not be that higher than constructing one larger home. The following are the various dual occupancy designs available for homeowners.

Dual occupancy design plans

One of the development plans is retaining an existing home and constructing a new house at either the front or back yard depending on depth, access, size and how one satisfies the local planning stipulations. When the existing house is retained, one's capital is saved given that the asset bought, that is the property on the land, is preserved.

Another dual occupancy design plan entails demolishing the existing house to pave way for two new homes which could be side by side which is referred to as duplex style construction or one home behind the other which is known as tandem design. In those cases, site frontage as well as orientation plays a major role in the eventual design. The most popular dual occupancy design configuration in Australia is the tandem design where the new property is behind the existing home.

Avoid demolition

Note that houses have value and, therefore, one needs to think twice prior to taking the demolition route. The only instance one should opt for house demolition in a dual occupancy is when the house is in a dire state.

If the original home is preserved in the dual occupancy, banks and other lending institutions are likely to lend you a higher percentage of your property value. If the home was demolished, then the banks are likely to give you a lower percentage of the land value considering that the house has been demolished. This protection of capital, as far as the lender sees it, mitigates the risk since if the construction doesn't go ahead, the property preserves its value. Even after the new developments, the value of the original home is by and large preserved if not demolished. Furthermore, the existing home also produces cash flow even when the construction is in progress, which is not always the case with a vacant allotment.  

Design conformity

Whoever you select to develop a design for your dual occupancy project should make sure their design plan meets the terms spelt out in the local council stipulations for multi-unit developments and neighborhood structure so it fits effortlessly into the immediate context.


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