Who owns the land? And how to rezone and subdivide it?

busgirl said :

A friend of mine decided she liked the area around Bungendore Rd. She simply put a lovely little letter together introducing herself and telling of her desire to purchase a small block of land (10 to 20 acres) in the area. She popped the letter into all the letter boxes she could find along that road and low-and-behold one land-owner was interested. He sold her a portion of land that he never used and now she is in the middle of building her dream house on a block of land in the country. Give it a go. The worst that can happen is that you get no responses to your letters.

Now *that* is a cool outcome ! If only I could convince the Malua Bay Takeaway owner to sell me the 2 rooms above his shop in the same way…….

A friend of mine decided she liked the area around Bungendore Rd. She simply put a lovely little letter together introducing herself and telling of her desire to purchase a small block of land (10 to 20 acres) in the area. She popped the letter into all the letter boxes she could find along that road and low-and-behold one land-owner was interested. He sold her a portion of land that he never used and now she is in the middle of building her dream house on a block of land in the country. Give it a go. The worst that can happen is that you get no responses to your letters.

Thanks everyone. This is all makes our plan sound difficult and unlikely to ever happen in the ACT however I’m glad to know this early on.

Rangi said :

pick the paddock you want put a tent up and camp there for a while the guy with the shottie that comes and chases you off is the owner

Made me laugh out loud!

Latham shops had a commercial purpose, which would include residential. No conflict what-so-ever

rosscoact said :

If it’s in teh ACT don’t even bother. Rural leaseholders lease the land for rural purposes, not for the purpose of subdivision, it’s a different use.

Tell that to Latham residents.

Hint: shops.

If it’s in teh ACT don’t even bother. Rural leaseholders lease the land for rural purposes, not for the purpose of subdivision, it’s a different use.

pick the paddock you want put a tent up and camp there for a while the guy with the shottie that comes and chases you off is the owner

Use http://www.actmapi.act.gov.au/ to find out the block identifier then contact the Land Titles Office and you can do a title search for a copy of their lease (if there is one, the land might be owned by the ACT Government). IIRC it costs in the order of $30.

Rural leases often only permit one house so you’d need to do a lease variation to allow a second house anyway even if you didn’t go through the subdivision process.

Further to what itsallme said, check on allhomes.com.au as you can find rural properties for sale in the area, and also find recent sales history for the block youre after or nearby blocks too.

A subdivision isn’t as simple as that, otherwise every property owner would subdivide and make a fortune in profit.

You need extensive approvals, and the land may not even be permitted to be broken up.

Your best bet is to hire a solicitor that specialises in these matters. NFI where, I’m from NSW.