It is usual to find ourselves in a situation where our house is too small for us, it is not the same to look for a house as a single person or with your partner, than to do it once we have formed a family. Given the exorbitant prices of sale and rental of apartments that we find today it is logical that most choose home additions in Perth to gain that room or extra bathroom. But while reforming a home can be done in almost any situation as it is a minor work, expanding a house is a very different story.
To expand a home you need a project, an architect and a major work license, no matter if we talk about a chalet or a flat in a residential building. In most cases, in order to make an extension we need to intervene in the structure. In cases where lightweight enclosures (sometimes removable) are created to close terraces, roofs or patios, although we do not alter the structure, we do modify the appearance of the facade and modify the amount of constructed area, so it remains A project is necessary. If, in addition, the property subject of home additions in Perth is within a community of owners, the permission of the same is required to carry out the works.
Remember that here at LA Webb Construction you will find skilled professionals who are proud members of the Western Australia Master Builders Association.
What does it depend on whether home additions in Perth you have in mind are legal or not?
The legality or illegality of an extension depends essentially on the urban planning regulations that affect our home. This regulation can be freely consulted on the website of our corresponding town hall and, if we do not find it, we can always go directly to a city council technician to provide us with the data we want to know. The information we must obtain is as follows:
Buildable – It is the relationship between the square meters of land on a plot and the square meters of roof that can be built within that plot. Usually the developers completely deplete the buildable of the plots since it tends to be more profitable, but the regulations change over the years and it is not strange to find that our plot has buildable to spare. This data can be very complicated to understand because in each regulation exceptions are specified for rooms that do not compute for buildability, either totally or partially, such as storage rooms, parking lots, stairs, balconies, terraces. this is very important to keep in mind when planning home additions in Perth.
Occupation – It is the maximum percentage of land that a building can occupy within its plot. Normally this data is only relevant in the extensions and home additions in Perth of single-family homes when you want to create a new volume of building attached to the existing one.
Number of floors and maximum height – This is the easiest data to understand. The majority of urban regulations mark the maximum height (or cornice) that a building or house can have, as well as its maximum number of floors, both above ground and below ground level (basements). If our intention is to expand creating a new storey, we must be very aware of this section.
What is the first thing I should do if I want home additions in Perth?
To make sure you don’t make any mistakes that may give you problems in the future, it is best to talk to the city council and contact an architect. If you live in a small municipality, it is very likely that in your town hall you can speak directly with a technician who will provide you with all the necessary information. If, instead, you live in a big city, you will most likely have to make more than one trip to the town hall until you get that information you are looking for, talking with the technicians can be very complicated when thinking of home additions in Perth.
Once we have spoken with the corresponding town hall, it is time to contact an architect. The architects will take care of checking the data of the urban planning regulations and verifying the viability of the extension, in addition to carrying out the corresponding project and obtaining the necessary licenses.
Why are there so many home additions in Perth popular?
This is mainly due to ignorance of the regulations. On the part of the property it is normal that this information is not known, but for a technician it is inexcusable not to know the legality of a work he is doing.
Unfortunately, many people when they want to expand their home do not turn to an architect or approach their town hall to know with certainty and security if they can carry out the extension, most go directly to a construction company to get a budget to do so. If the construction company has a certain reputation or size, it will probably notify the owner of the necessary licenses and will refuse to carry out the work without them.
What happens if I expand my home without the necessary permission?
The municipalities are increasingly involved in the search for illegal extensions, which at first seemed an easy problem to ignore now they are getting out of hand and can be dangerous. For this reason, more air flights are made every day, either with satellites, airplanes, drones or helicopters (the latter two allow 45º views so that the terraces are seen), to monitor the uncontrolled and illegal growth in cities. However, with home additions in Perth from professionals
If the city council discovers your extension, either by the complaint of a neighbour or by aerial photos, and this turns out to be illegal, the following may occur:
Legalisation – It is the best possible case, the extension you have made was not licensed but could have been. If this is your case, all you need is to legalise your home additions in Perth, for which you need an architect to carry out the project of the work already done. You will have to pay the project, the license fees and an increase on these that depends on the time that has passed since the works were done. The costs of the fees depend on each municipality and some may not even consider the increase or fine.
Fines – This is the intermediate case, you have made an extension in your home, the city council knows it and there is no way to legalize it. When this happens, the technicians of the city council will contact you to carry out a demolition of the extension and recover the original state of the house before the home additions in Perth. If the extension does not cause problems to the building, the plot or to the neighbours, the most common thing is that the city council begins to send you fines in compensation for the illegal work and leave the demolition aside.
Demolition – This is the same case as the previous one, that of fines, only here the extension is causing some kind of problem and the city council will demand the complete demolition of the home additions in Perth. There is no need for serious problems such as being overweight that is damaging the structure of the building, something as simple as the extension has caused a leak to the neighbour below may be sufficient. It is rare that these extremes are reached and, in most cases,, it is solved with fines, but it is important to know that this case can occur.
Get home additions in Perth from specialised professionals with many years of experience in the field of constructions and renovations. Contact us today for more information.
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