Thinking about sub-dividing or rezoning your property? It's most certainly a lucrative way to cash in on your property, but it's also a lot more difficult than you may think.

"The process of rezoning can be quite laborious and expensive with costs involved every step of the way, however, for developers and property owners wanting to sub-divide, it?s often worth the wait because of the potential returns," says Rob Stefanutto of Sotheby?s International Realty.

Not so fast

"Zoning determines the rights of a property including the number of floors permitted, percentage coverage of the stand and building and boundary lines.

"Depending on where a property is situated these restrictions will vary," he says.

As an example, if a property is situated in an area with sea views, there will be height restrictions, while properties closer to the CBD will be allowed a higher percentage of stand coverage.

Find the right people

"The first port of call for anyone wanting to rezone is a town planner who will appoint an architect. Together they work out the most feasible manner in which to sub-divide, drawing up plans and a detailed application report which is submitted to the city council."

At this point you need to send registered letters to neighbours informing them of the planned rezoning and adverts also need to be placed in the press.

Love thy neighbour?

Stefanutto notes that this is usually where the hitch comes in, as neighbours and local rate payers may object to rezoning due to planned structures blocking their views, disrupting privacy or similar. This generally results in the architect having to redesign the proposed plans.

"Once there is approval from neighbours, the plans still need to be passed through the local authority offices where they are brought before a board who make the final decision as to whether or not to remove the restrictions on the title deed. The entire process can take anything from six months to four years."

Where it gets tricky

However, commercial rezoning does become more tricky as developers often need to go into aspects such as heritage and environmental impact, which may include damage to dunes or increased traffic and pollution, among other things.

Although agents can?t help directly with the rezoning process, they can often advise clients as to what the local rate payers in a particular area will tolerate without putting up too much of a fight. They can also obviously help in the marketing of the additional units.

"Residential rezoning is necessary in term of the lifestyle people are now living in the metropolitan areas of South Africa, however it needs to be done carefully to preserve spaciousness and to ensure that we don?t end up with unattractively dense living conditions seen in parts of Europe," concludes Stefanutto.