Dear Editor,
I have been following the city’s debate regarding the early termination of the Land Use Contracts (LUC) in Richmond.
I currently live in Tiffany Estates in the Riverdale neighbourhood, which falls under the LUC.
Under the current rules, I would have a lot more flexibility if I ever decided to re-build my home in terms of scale and style.
Flexibility adds value to a property and removing that flexibility would have a direct impact on the value of my property.
You only have to look at a lot that is sub-dividable compared to one that is not. The price difference is significant (it is not an exaggeration if I say it is in the hundreds of thousands).
As an LUC property owner, I am concerned about the proposed early termination. I know many Richmond residents who have the majority of their wealth tied to their home and are relying on the equity to fund their retirement.
The removal of the LUC will impact the value of your home as the pool of potential buyers will diminish. It means that you will be restricted in what can be built on your lot and the restrictions are fairly limiting.
I am not a developer and do not intend to rebuild my house any time soon, but I might at some point.
Many families have their millennials living with them or have to accommodate their elderly parents. It is a trend that is increasing.
Under the current LUC, I would have another 10 years to rebuild but now I’m looking at the prospect of having to build in the next year and a half or be restricted to building a home that is smaller than what was built back in the 1980s.
Most homes on my size lot (40x100) are around 2,400-2,500 square feet.
Under the new regulations, the maximum I would be able to build is 2,200 square feet. It would not make economic sense to rebuild a 2,200-square-foot house as a house that size would be hard-pressed to accommodate a multi-generational family.
Most of the letters I have read or the discussions that I have heard were against monster homes and developers looking to cash in on a hot real estate market.
I am writing this letter to say that it goes beyond the developer demographic and that these changes will negatively impact the average Richmond citizen.
If you are thinking of re-developing your home in the future, are a pensioner and have the majority of your net worth tied into your home, looking to accommodate your elderly parents/adult children and/or simply wanting to sell and move — you should be concerned about the early termination of the LUC contracts.
Not all LUC property owners will build a monster house and extract every square inch of their allotment (I know I wouldn’t).
I would like to build a house that works with the aesthetics my neighbourhood, but also works for my evolving family.
I encourage you to do the math on how it will affect the value of your property.
Until I did the math, I supported the restrictions. (I actually still do as I am also in the camp that new construction must take into account their neighbours/neighbourhood when drawing up plans.)
However, that all changed when I saw the numbers written down on paper. The maximum house on a 4,000-square-foot lot is only 2,200 square feet.
Take the size of your lot and times it by 0.55 — that will give you the maximum house built. I found it eye-opening.
M.Ting
Richmond
