Can my block be subdivided?
Start with your density code (R-Code), set by your local planning scheme. Typical starting points:
| Code | Minimum lot | Average lot |
|---|---|---|
| R20 | 350 m² | 450 m² |
| R30 | 260 m² | 300 m² |
| R40 | 180 m² | 220 m² |
These are starting points, not approvals: your planning scheme and site can change them. Then have four answers ready:
- How many lots do you want to create?
- Will the existing buildings stay, go, or be added to?
- Are you building, or creating vacant lots to sell?
- If the house is demolished: side-by-side, or front and rear?
Green title or strata: which type do you need?
Decide the type first: changing it later is expensive. Green title gives fully independent freehold lots, with no common property and no strata company. Each lot needs its own power, water and sewer connection, connected directly within the lot.
Two lots with nothing shared usually suit green title, best side by side with their own street frontages. Keeping the house, or sharing a driveway or services, usually points to survey strata.
What do you get, and how much do you hand over?
We do the survey work and the survey-side applications, at one of three levels:
- Survey & Plan. The contour survey and WAPC application, pegging, the final survey and plan, and lodging the plan with Landgate. You manage the conditions and the works. Suits you if you've subdivided before.
- Managed Subdivision (our pick for most). Everything in Survey & Plan, plus a written breakdown of what each condition needs and the Western Power and Water Corporation applications lodged for you. You arrange the works, knowing exactly what's needed.
- Full Project Management. One point of contact for everything: we also source and coordinate the trades and contractors, and schedule the works to clear your conditions.
Subdivisions of up to 4 lots are a fixed fee at each level. Larger schemes are quoted per project. Ask us which clearance applications each level includes.
How does a subdivision run?
- Contour survey and WAPC application. We survey your block's levels and features, sketch the new lots and lodge the application (Form 1A) with the WAPC.
- WAPC approval with conditions. The WAPC has 90 days to decide. Conditions such as power, water and sewer connections each sit with a different authority, and this is where projects most often stall.
- Alignment survey, pegging and pre-calculation. We peg the new boundaries so services and works go in the right place.
- Final survey and plan, once the works are in.
- Landgate lodgement. Titles issue once every condition is cleared. Your settlement agent or lawyer then applies for the new titles.
You get a written quote within 48 hours. Typical time to titles is 7 to 12 months, and 6 at the least, depending on the site and how busy the authorities are.
Building as well? For green title, start building before the WAPC application goes in where you can. Once it is lodged, your local government generally won't issue building permits for new homes until the new titles can issue.
What else do people ask about subdividing?
Can I keep the existing house?
Often, if it can meet the setbacks from the new boundaries. Typical starting points: eaves at least 450 mm back from a new driveway boundary, habitable-room doors and windows 1.5 m, non-habitable rooms 1.0 m. Walls, eaves or gutters over a new boundary may need cutting back.
What is a battle-axe lot?
A rear lot reached by an access leg running to the street beside the front lot. The leg is 4.0 m wide, or 3.6 m where planning allows, and it belongs to the rear lot, not common property.
When do I pay?
Stage by stage, as each one is finished. The Landgate lodgement fee is invoiced on its own, before lodgement. Your quote separates our survey fees from authority fees, other consultants and on-site works, so you can budget for the whole job.
I own two lots side by side. Can I join them and re-subdivide?
Yes, by amalgamation. One WAPC application covers both steps, and two plans go to Landgate: the amalgamation, then the subdivision. If the lots aren't in the same ownership, every owner of both lots signs the application.
My block is in a bushfire-prone area. What changes?
You'll need a BAL (bushfire attack level) assessment from an accredited assessor. The assessor works from a contour and feature survey, so we can usually provide the survey they need.
Our guide Before you subdivide covers the first decisions in more detail.
Areas: We work across all of Perth, north to Guilderton, east to Northam and Brookton, and through the South West as far as Bridgetown and Augusta. See South West surveys.