The difference?

[Guest Drumms]

Hi all,

 

Starting to check out rentals - due over in December and just wanted to ask what is the difference between a house and a unit?

 

Thank you!

[Guest Guest75]

A unit is a smaller house,can be part of a group or in a row.

[Guest WhatNow?]

Australians are not used to their houses being 'attached' to someone else's so had to invent their own word for when this happens. Amusingly my nephew's Australian girlfriend was intrigued by 'semi-detached' houses on her visit to the UK and asked if the two halves had to be owned by the same person. There are many more 'semis' here now as builders are subdividing more and squeezing two houses where there was once one, but they tend to call them 'duplexes' (as per the US). They are far more sensibly designed, being joined by the garage in most cases, which keeps the noise transfer down. Units are usually single story smaller (1 or 2 bedroom) homes, as Tyke says, often arranged round a courtyard or parking area and joined together in some way.

[snifter]

Lots of people buy second homes in the form of a unit to lease/rent out. They usually don't have much garden at all, often just a small paved yard or some such. And room sizes tend to be on the smaller side to houses from my experience of them. Some of them are still bigger than a new build 2/3 bed semi you get here these days. I know when my husband lived in the city centre (2 blocks from the central market) his street were all attached houses, mostly 2-3 bedrooms and his 2 bed place was huge compared to my house back in the UK at the time.

 

Within Europe, the UK has the smallest sized new builds going up in recent years. We are squishing people into shoe boxes.

[Guest Michael Collins Toop&Toop]

The technical difference between a 'house' and a 'unit' is the title. Most houses tend to be Torrens titled (Freehold), Units are Strata titled or Community titled. With the Strata and Community titled units the owners own a share of the whole of the land and the right to occupy a specified part. They do not acually own the building, it is owned by the Strata which as the owner you own a share of. With Strata titled properties there will be rules that should be abided by eg in most instances there are 'no pets' rules. It can also be confusing as what we would call flats/apartments are often refered to as Units. If you see a Maisonette advertised that is basically a semi detached house.

 

Hope that is of some help. If you are unsure about anything else, please feel free to give me a shout. michael.collins@toop.com.au

 

Regards

Michael

[Guest SA Great]

The technical difference between a 'house' and a 'unit' is the title. Most houses tend to be Torrens titled (Freehold), Units are Strata titled or Community titled. With the Strata and Community titled units the owners own a share of the whole of the land and the right to occupy a specified part. They do not acually own the building, it is owned by the Strata which as the owner you own a share of. With Strata titled properties there will be rules that should be abided by eg in most instances there are 'no pets' rules. It can also be confusing as what we would call flats/apartments are often refered to as Units. If you see a Maisonette advertised that is basically a semi detached house.

 

Hope that is of some help. If you are unsure about anything else, please feel free to give me a shout. michael.collins@toop.com.au

 

Regards

Michael

 

What??????????????? LOL

[Guest Michael Collins Toop&Toop]

....sorry was my last post a bit gobbledegook!

[Guest SA Great]

Probably not if you are a real estate agent!! It was spot on but a bit confusing!

[Guest WhatNow?]

....sorry was my last post a bit gobbledegook!

 

But very necessary to know as I found recently - the rates on a 'townhouse' I viewed recently worked out at about $700 a year but the monthly 'contiribution to Strata' was almost as much again when worked out over the year - something that the agent had to explain to me. As well to understand the implications of these terms before you get too far down the line - thank you Michael.