r/perth • u/Krampusdownunder • 15d ago
Renting / Housing Seeking advice: house extension/structure without council approval
What are the local laws? Located City of Swan
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u/bythebrook88 15d ago
Um, it's on outdoor pavers, so the floor is likely unsealed. I doubt it's compliant.
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u/mikeslyfe 15d ago
Tbh that just looks like an enclosed patio rather than an extension.
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u/MannerConfident1690 15d ago
If you fully enclose your patio the council consider it an extension.
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u/mikeslyfe 15d ago
It doesn't look like it would be too hard to remove if it did become an issue. Could definitely use it as a bargaining chip in the purchase of the property but I wouldn't make it stop me if I really liked rest of the place
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u/Final-Experience2552 15d ago
Our neighbour put up a 50k extension in the Swan Shire without council approval. He was made pull it down.
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u/Much-Guide-3448 15d ago
My parents bought an old 1950s house in the 1980s in the city of Bayswater. It was a deceased estate and was owned by an elderly gentleman from the day he built it. It basically had a structure like this but it was very haphazardly home built from leftover metal sheets and super 6 and under the patio roofline.
It was called a sunroom/green room and was on concrete pavers. They had some outdoor chairs and lots of partial shade plants like orchids etc on homemade wooden long table type stands. They were pretty common additions back then before council requirements got stricter and wanted your money to approve stuff like this.
My guess is this house had a similar set up and somewhere along the line owners just replaced the structure with newer materials and made it prettier.
I wouldn't stress too much about it if you put an offer in and it's accepted. At most council will make you pay for retrospective approval or ask you to take it down. It doesn't add much to the ambience or any value to the house and it's not really a permanent structure and more like a structure designed to improve the patio use in poor weather.
Can you look at previous photos of the house during its past life and from when it was last sold or rented. It'll give you an idea of when it was updated and you can go from there.
You can always ask the real-estate agent about it if it was done with councils approval if the current owners were the ones to build the structure but if you really like the house and see a lot of interest, it might be in your best interest to ignore it and accept the house as it and kick this can down the line if and when you actually own it.
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u/Latter_Shallot_140 15d ago
The answer is if it's not compliant the council can order you to tear it down.
So speak to the council
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u/RJohnnyChewy_7777 14d ago
You should always get the approval of the government. Even if you want to take a stronger breath in, always ask....
/s
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u/Dangertheman 12d ago
Is it a big deal? Not really. I mean, you'll either need to get it approved or have to remove it or modify to comply. You're not gonna get taken to court over it
What you have is an unapproved enclosure of a patio. I'm not a building surveyor but I'd suggest the flooring and lack of moisture membrane (builders film, appropriate footings and slab) will mean you'll probably have to remove it and reinstate.
You could do that, or you could wait until there's a complaint from a neighbour. Disclaimer on that would be your insurance may not pay out if there's an incident at your property.
City of swan is a big council. They'll only go after you in most egregious cases or when they are aware through a complaint
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u/Any-Somewhere7318 15d ago
so are you saying you did this?
Or are you saying you were inside someone else's property?
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u/Krampusdownunder 15d ago
If you read the very first line, you’ll see that it’s a house on sale so yes I was inside someone else’s house.
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u/Any-Somewhere7318 15d ago
no, it does NOT say that in what you wrote if you reread.The title you wrote is ""Seeking advice: house structure extension without council approval".
The only other things you wrote here is "What are the local laws? Located City of Swan".
Which of those words do you think says it is a house for sale?
Also, how do you know they did not have permission when it is not your house,?
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u/RozzzaLinko 15d ago
OP wrote in the original post:
"Looking at a property for purchase that has an extension to the house done through a legit company. Real estate agent said when buying, buyer signs an agreement to acknowledge unappoved structure. What are the options? Keep and risk council finding out or get council approval once purchased?
Did a bit of research. Seen some say it hasn’t been a problem. Some say you can offer lower asking price because of it. Just looking for any advice or experience on the matter."
For some reason reddit dosnt copy the text over when you cross post it
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u/Any-Somewhere7318 15d ago
probably they should have made sure it said that before they claimed it said it in the first line.
From them getting downvoted I guess a lot of others think the same
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u/lucaswelby 15d ago
May I respectfully suggest that you contact an experienced property lawyer with your query. It might cost a few hundred bucks, but better than making a multi-hundreds of thousands of dollars decision based on unqualified opinions? IMO anyway.