Pre '63 Investments

A pre ‘63 is a property that has been divided into units prior to the coming into force of the Planning & Development Act of 1963.

As such the owner of such a property does not need to meet with current planning and building regulations. The benefits of these properties are that they are high density and accordingly high yielding properties.

Pre’63 Investment Property Declaration must be strong –

The basis of a good pre ’63 title is the declarations with title from the various owners of the property back through the years who confirm that the property has being held in a specific number of units dating back to pre 1963.

The best would be to have Declarations from each owner from the present date to prior to 1963. In some instances, however a property could have been owned for thirty years and the vendor may have deceased and a third party is swearing a Declaration to say that the vendor had used the property prior to 1963 in units.

Whilst the declarations are important to evidence the use of the property it is always our advice to also obtain any extrinsic evidence you can to satisfy the Local Authority should they make an enquiry that the property has been converted prior to the 1963 and also to confirm the number of units that it has been converted to.

The declaration re use means that the local authority cannot request that you put the property back to the way it was prior to when it was sub divided. However any person can still make a complaint to the enforcement section of the planning office in respect of the property. We had a situation where our Client was carrying out a refurbishment of a property and a neighbour unhappy with the noise of the works perhaps made a compliant to allege our Clients were sub dividing the property when our Clients were merely refurbishing same.

The neighbour alleged that the property had never been in units previously but happily our Client was armed with the photos of when they acquired the property and the extrinsic evidence above and was able to satisfy the Council that the property had been converted since prior to the inception of the planning acts.

As set out above the property does not have to comply with current building regulations and or planning requirements. However, that does not mean that the property can fall into disrepair. These properties are rental properties and therefore must continue to abide by the minimum Standards for Housing Regulations

Furthermore if one undertakes a significant refurbishment of these units these works must comply with current building regulations and more importantly Fire safety requirements. To carry out works in the absence of a Fire Safety certificate can result in a criminal conviction. Accordingly if you are acquiring the property and same is in need of substantial upgrading you need to ensure that you take expert advices from a fire safety consultant as to your potential exposure to costs in rendering the property compliant from a fire safety perspective.