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Hi Flat- chatters,
lm looking to purchase an un renovated older style apartment; walk up / 3 stories / red brick kind of place to live in.
Down the track l’d like to to do a structural renovation (if applicable) where l open up the kitchen.
My question is pre purchase are there any steps that l can take to see if this is possible?
For example l heard that you need to be aware of what the people above you have done ( if they’ve removed the same wall you may be unable to remove yours) and it would be prudent to get an engineer to assess the wall youd like to remove.
How would you go about this before purchasing?
Any help would be greatly appreciated 🤗Thanks Suzyfunkle
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Take a builder along to an inspection. They’ll be able to tell you whether the wall you want to remove is load bearing.
From my experience of the era of building you describe the units on the lower and middle floors have mostly have structural walls. The top floor units, whilst also having structural walls are only holding up the roof. That means some sort of structural beam can be inserted to support the roof.
Your other challenge is that you will need a structural design to be submitted with your application, you will need a DA from the local council, and approval of the OC. If you can’t convince a majority of owners thst what you propose is safe, then they may vote it down.
There is no guarantee that what you want to do will be approved. I’d buy on the basis of what you see and if your plans are approved, consider that a bonus.