Twin Residences

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 373, 6 June 1928, Page 6

Twin Residences

LIVE RENT FREE IN ONE WHILE DRAWING INTEREST FROM OTHER

INGENIOUS SCHEME

A proportion of the readers of these pages are doubtless among those who require just a little home that will call for a minimum of work; and who have at the same time accumulated savings that they desire to put into some form of real estate investment. The attractively designed twin residence supplies the need. Not a few retired professional men have gone into properties like this and live in them with great satisfaction. In writing of twin residences I am not thinking of the single-fronted brick pair of 40 years ago, but rather of the well built an<J conveniently arranged home in the better class suburb—the kind that needs to be looked at twice to realise that it is not one large residence. The unit of the pair can be no less a home beautiful in its lay-out and furnishings than a much larger place; and with the position selected with a view to proximity to tram and train and the owner’s recreations, whether they be library or bowls, it can represent the acme of comfort for the couple whose children have grown up, and who desire to avoid the servant problem and be alone.

The pair or twin residence is the happy medium often between the flat on the one hand and the large house on the other, and appeals particularly to those who do not desire the strenuous exercise that a large garden entails.

Sometimes, indeed, the parents live in the one portion and a married daughter in the other; but with the lay-out so arranged that they are completely cut off except in case of need. This has many advantages for both parties, and is an arrangement that goes for peace in the home life. The economical aspect of the pair is obvious. Much less land is required for each house. One main drain for sewerage is required. The dividing wall does double service. The building regulations for some suburbs have clauses relating to the building of pairs. In some districts the minimum size for the frontage of a building block is 50ft, whereas a twin residence may be built on 70ft, or 35ft each. In a garden suburb of London there are many twin residences on good streets and of very attractive appearance. Pairs should be so constructed that by the taking out of a wall or a portion of a wall, they may be easily made into one large residence for any future purchaser. Often the elevations are so skilfully designed that it is only on seeing that there is a cyclone fence dividing the two front gardens that the fact they are not both in the same occupation is seen. In the event of the sale of either property, a party wall clause needs to be inserted, giving to both parties the right of support upon certain dividing walls which are essential to each unit. Settled in a twin residence like this* a man is often happy in the knowledge that no disturbance is caused by his death. Those who are left may, if they so desire, remain where they are living, and still draw the rent frojm the other house. With regard to the details of the financial aspect, an English estate agent has developed a proposition on these lines which not only enables him to live rent free, but also gives him a return of nearly six per cent, upon the money that he has invested in the proposition. A business man purchased a pair recently. He did not have the' special opportunity that the agent referred to above may have had—a waiting and keeping his hand upon the pulse of the market for a bargain. He went to a reputable agent in the district and took his pick of what was offering at the moment. He did not rue his bargain. The price was £1,600, and putting down a deposit of £6OO he raised a mortgage of a thousand pounds at 6| per cent. Moving into the one house, he let the other at 32s 6d a week. This gavs him £B4 10s a year. He found

this just about covered his outgoings.

He therefore lived without any actual payments beyond what he received, and the actual "cost” to him of his home was the interest he would have received from the £6OO had it continued in the State Savings Bank at 4 per cent. This would have been £24 a year. So for an actual cost of 9s 3d a week he had a good house in a nice locality.

Besides which there was that pleasant feeling that comes from the ownership of a substantial piece of real property, and the knowledge that, if at any time he desired to sell, rising values would give him back a good deal more than the six hundred pounds that he had put into the proposition. If subscribers are sufficiently interested in this scheme to consider experimenting with it, "Penates” will be pleased to forward a speciman plan, prepared by an Australian architect.

The decorative value of lighting fixtures in the home is'coming into more prominence each season. This spring, particularly, during the house-clean-ing and redecorating season, attention is being focused on the lighting equipments because of the recent general awakening on the part of the home owner to the possibilities that lie in having the newer styles of fixtures harmonise with other furnishings. Possibly because of the very rapid growth of the use of electricity in the home, the true development of fixtures from a decorative standpoint appears to have been somewhat neglected in tho growing interest centred on convenience outlets and the selection of fixtures purely for illumination purposes.

The Dunedin Town Hall, the biggest job under way in that city, is now assuming definite shape. The steel work on the western side of the main hall has been erected, and the stone and flooring work are also being pushed ahead by the Love Construction Company. The columns and girders to form the backbone of the concert hall are now being installed; the weight of one girder alone is seven tons. The stonemasons are working on and putting into position the huge blocks of Oamaru stone, while the bricklayers are making rapid progress.