Pros and Cons of Rebuilding a landed House with more than 6000 sqft land

[leechaorui 2]

Quite conflicted on whether to rebuild a leasehold 999 years, rectangular old semi detached two storey house of more than 6,000 sqft land with 14m frontage and about 42m depth.   Currently, the house is sited on a small land plot with the majority of the land mainly grass field and shrubs/ trees. The house is painted black and white and resembles a black and white colonial house with tall privacy hedge at the front that blocks prying eyes and noise.  The sideyard of the house is wide enough to drive a lorry from the frontyard to the backyard and do a U turn or just park the vehicle there.  The morning air is very fresh as there is much vegetation in front and at the backyard field.  Due to the abundant vegetation, the temperature within the house is mostly quite cooling with a fan and hardly need air-condition unless many guests are on site.

The neighbouring house behind also planted a lot of tall trees and this makes the place a mini oasis for song birds, hornbills, parrots, humming birds, puteh, zebra dovers., spotted doves and waterhens to visit.  The house is located away from the main road and the houses along both sides of the street are mostly detached and semi-detached houses.  Therefore, the road for parking outside the house is not congested like those areas where rows after rows of terrace houses are located. However, this is starting to change as the neighbours who sell their house, often got the land sub-divided to build a pair of small semi-detached and those with wider frontage could potentially build 3 terrace houses in a row and this may make the road a lot more congested in future.  

The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 toilets, good size living/ dining area and a good size outdoor kitchen cum washing machine area and storage area. It is sufficient for 3 occupants to live in this house with a spare room.  House was bought only 2.5 years ago and has been fully paid.  A $120K simple renovation was done after the purchase of the house to trim the tall trees behind and at the side of the house, did termite treatment, repainted the place, refurhished the two toilets, installed new wardrobe, change the roof of the kitchen and refurbished the kitchen, installed new airconditioners for the whole house including living/dining room and changed the flooring of the bedroom to vinly flooring.  The interior of the house is not spacious and is estimated to be about 1,700sqft for the two storey added together.  Hence, the house is probably sited on about  less than 1,000sqft out of more than 6,000 sqft of the land.

As the house is old and small, the property tax imposed is quite modest.  The current planning guidelines of rebuilding the house is based on 15.5m height.  Typically, the house can be built up to 3 storey with attic.   The soil test conducted by an opposite street neighbour confirmed that there is no need to do piling even when erecting a 3.5 storey house.  According to the engineer, the house is located on a hill and the ground is sufficiently compacted and hard. 

Do share your views on the pros and cons of redeveloping the house given the small family size staying in the house which is currently a bit cramp but manageable.  If the house is redeveloped, should the house be (1) maximised to the limit of the plot ratio of a semi-detached house?  (2) build into a detached house from the current semi-detached house with maximum optimisation or sub-optimisation? (3) pay development tax to sub-divide the house into a smaller pair of semi-detached house?

Edited 12 hours ago by leechaorui

[chan esther 0]

Always good to rebuild,

Houses older than 30yrs often contain asbestos & possible other hazardous materials.

Not good for health in the long term. 

Building to your own specifications has it benefits, can elder proof the house as well.

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