An ad for a four-bedroom house in Queensland has prompted homeowners and tenants to rant. Photo / Supplied
An ad for a four-bedroom house in Queensland has prompted homeowners and tenants to rant. Photo / Supplied
An ad for a four-bedroom house in Queensland has infuriated homeowners and tenants, with hundreds taking to Reddit to rant about councils and lament the state of the Australian property market.
An aerial shot of the home — located in Logan and positioned on a 3258sq m block — wasshared to the forum site.
At first glance, it looks like your average block of land — but on closer inspection, has an L-shaped "private yard" that wraps around the neighbouring home on one side, and very little space between the neighbouring house on the other side.
Many pointed out the narrow-looking home and odd-shaped yard were likely the result of one person buying a single, large block of land and then dividing it into two or three.
"I imagine the weird block shape was due to an owner dividing one larger block into two, rather than anyone who was in a position to build row houses," commented one user.
Another wrote that they "used to live in a house where the owner sold off part of the backyard (original block was over 1000sq m so we still had a yard)".
"Developer next door built three units on his resulting L-shaped block. Then I discovered selling off your yard was not uncommon here," they went on.
"To access the back you have to go THROUGH the current house which makes it impractical to build or sell afterwards. The block on the left would be a better proposition for that."
The property's L-shaped 'private yard'. Photo / Supplied
"I'm guessing it was one block that got divided into 3? Basing it on the size of the neighbours to the lot of 3," agreed a third person.
"Probably two blocks next to each other subdivided into 3. Those are 3 thin houses, in the same space you could have 2 regular width houses with a normal size gap in between."
Others said the property made it clear that "intelligent urban planning just isn't the Australian way".
"That much backyard space is a rarity nowadays. I assume the only reason they didn't (put a house on the backyard) was because they couldn't figure out how to get a driveway down there without losing half a house," one person said.
Others said the property made it clear that "intelligent urban planning just isn't the Australian way". Photo / Google
The home's narrow layout also caused frustration among users, who described it as "90 per cent just one corridor".
"All the new housing estates on the edge of town have tiny blocks filled with houses like this," one user, who lives on the outskirts of Melbourne, wrote.
"The authorities could release a little bit more land but no — they insist on cramming everyone together like this. I understand in the city this can be an issue, but here there is no reason to do it.
"Backyards don't exist in the new estates. I wonder why people don't just build townhouses if you're going to share your space with the neighbours so closely."
"This is very standard around older suburbs now," commented another.
"All the 700-800sq m blocks being bought by investor's and either having the old house knocked down and 2 or 3 units built, or the old house kept and another unit plonked in the backyard.
"I'm seeing this happen all around me and it's a real shame. But I rent here as I can't afford to buy either, and will be moving out to the urban sprawl with all the other first home buyers."
The home's narrow layout also caused frustration among users. Photo / Supplied
A third agreed that the house and odd block were symptoms of "outdated zoning laws".
"The vast majority of land in Australian cities is zoned exclusively for single-family detached houses. Its illegal to build a few town houses in this spot. Illegal to build a small apartment," they said.
"As a result we end up with our inner-city suburbs being low density extremely unaffordable when it should be medium to high density because that's where everything is, jobs, services, entertainment.
"High density does not mean high rise. High density can be row homes with larger internal spaces and larger back yards with more housing units per block. High density can be achieved with three-storey housing.
"What we have now is low density, large internal spaces, single storey homes, no backyard, dark colour roofs and walls, hot houses, clogged roads because everyone is forced to drive as there are no services in low-density suburbs. Change the zoning to allow suitable 21st-century housing to be built and you solve the housing and affordability crisis."
