Maroubra Duo – Dual occupancy via a complying development

‘Maroubra Duo’ is a new dual occupancy project we currently have underway. What makes this project different from other dual occupancy or duplex projects is that it is being undertaken via a complying development pathway. As we have spoken about in previous posts the State Environmental Planning Policy for complying development now allows for certain low rise housing types to be undertaken as complying development.

What does this mean for you:

1. Faster approval times. Your project does not need to go through council and the traditional development application pathway.

2. Integrated construction certificate. While a DA approval gives you development approval a complying development under the low rise housing diversity code gives you a construction certificate at the same time. This means you can get on to site quicker and so avoiding the costs associated with long waiting times.

3. No Council. As long as your design complies with the rules set out under the code you are not subject to the vagaries of council. i.e You have certainty that your project will meet with an approval.

In this particular case the key benefit for obtaining the approval via a CDC was three fold.

1. Randwick Council have a planning proposal proposed which would increase the minimum lost size for dual occupancy dwellings to 550 square meters. The lot size of this site is less than 550 square meters. To avoid the possibility that council would use this as an excuse to refuse the development a CDC was proposed which would by-pass council.

2. Given that this planning proposal may be approved we were concerned a DA might not be approved before this change to lot sizes came into affect. It was important that development approval be obtained as quickly as possible. A CDC would address this time pressure.

3. The other benefit to the client in this case is that the CDC code allows for strata sub-division under certain circumstances. Neither strata or torrens title sub-division is currently permitted on this site under Randwick councils controls.

If you have a property you are looking at purchasing for this purpose feel free to email us or give us a call to talk it over.