How Town Planning Consultants in Pretoria Can Help You
Town planning consultants in Pretoria assist clients who want to sub-divide their property with the purpose of selling one portion of the property to another party. The town planning consultants, such as The Practice Group, also assist clients in Pretoria who want to have their property rezoned from residential to commercial.
Rezoning and sub-dividing take time and specific procedures must be followed. For one, the application must be submitted to the local authority in Pretoria. Approval or rejection can take anything from eight weeks to 24 months. Many property owners do not have the luxury of time, but it is essential to understand that the process cannot be done overnight. However, with the help of town planning consultants in Pretoria, property owners who want to sub-divide, apply for rezoning, or consolidate land can avoid costly pitfalls regarding the application processes.
The applications for rezoning, sub-division, or land consolidation are also complex. Various documents must be submitted, and fees must be paid on time. Although property owners can handle the applications without making use of town planning consultants in Pretoria, they often soon realise that they do not understand all the requirements and procedures. They often have to approach various professionals, such as land surveyors, engineers and architects, and environmental consultants, and must deal with notices to be published. Coordinating the entire process takes expertise and time. Most property owners simply do not have one or both regarding town planning.
Town planning consultants in Pretoria advise their clients regarding all documents required, the viability of the sub-division, the potential for success regarding the rezoning application, and more. They coordinate with various professionals and approach the relevant authority on behalf of the client. As such, they take care of the long and tedious processes, enabling the client to focus on their business, rather than the rezoning or sub-division process.
The town planning consultants understand the procedures, and know where and when to submit applications, and what the format of such applications must be, as well as how to handle the follow-up procedures. They deal with the notices that must be published and handle objections on behalf of the client in Pretoria. Since they have the expertise, understand the processes, and follow the correct procedures, they are able to prevent delays in the application approval process.
Understanding Zoning
All the properties in the urban area of Pretoria fall within a specific zone. This zone relates to the allowable land use for the properties in the particular zone. If a property is zoned as a residential, it cannot be used for commercial or industrial purposes without it being rezoned to allow for such. Specific restrictions apply to residential, commercial, and industrial property uses. The town planning consultants in Pretoria understand the restrictions and are able to advise the clients regarding such.
What About a Small Business at Home?
The property owner does not have to apply for rezoning of the residential property to commercial if they only run a small business from home where they do not often have clients visit the home, and where they have only two or perhaps three employees. As soon as the business grows, more employees are added, and more visitors arrive daily, it can become a problem. With such comes more traffic in the neighbourhood. It also implies higher security risks. In addition, the neighbourhood’s character changes. As soon as the business is at this level, the owner must find a suitable commercial space or must apply for rezoning of the property to commercial.
However, since it takes time to rezone from residential to commercial, the property owner should do so proactively, instead of waiting until the business is already well established at the premises.
When it comes to property sub-division, it is often necessary to also apply for rezoning. This is so because a property that is divided into smaller parcels of land means that the property owner must then apply for the allowance of the smaller stand sizes with provision for one dwelling each on the smaller parcels. The town planning consultants in Pretoria are able to assist clients in determining if such a sub-division would be feasible. They also help to draft a detailed report on behalf of the client to motivate the reasons for sub-division and rezoning. The report is then submitted to the local council on behalf of the client in support of their application for rezoning.
Town planning consultants can help with the above and other land use applications. Call on our team in Pretoria to assist with rezoning, township establishment, land consolidation, sub-division, and related applications.