So at the moment my husband and I live in a sleepout on the backyard of his parents's property in South Auckland. We are currently looking to buy our first house (ideally freehold with a free standing house and some land around it) and have saved up a reasonable amount of money (>$100k) towards a deposit.

His parents has suggested to us that they might look into subdividing their property. They currently have a 684 square meters property. Their house is near the front of the property (i.e. facing the road). On the rear of the property there is a garage and a sleepout which they propose to get rid of, leaving basically just land on the back half of the property. We would then arrange a new build on that land.

I am hoping for some tips as well as some pointers as to who/where I should ask/get information and advice.

My questions:-

1. Is subdividing a 684sqm property into two parts (front and back) fesible? Is there a minimum size before a property is not allowed to be subdivided? What is the minimum size of a new subdivision? We are in Auckland Council area (former Manukau City area).

2. Given the size of the subdivision, where can we find out how to calculate what size house we could possibly build on the land and what restrictions we would have to observe. We are looking Clever Living Co as a possible option for a new build so just trying to see which options are compatiable with land size and council restrictions etc.

3. There is currently an exisiting driveway along the side of the property that could easily serve the back property (as the current garage is on the back half). However the front house would also need to use the same driveway to access parking space in front of the house. What usually happens to shared spaces like these? Other subdivisions nearby seem to give each property its own driveway--only the cross leases seem to have shared driveways. No big issue just curious!

4. How does mortaging work? Is it possible to get a mortage for the land so we can buy it off the inlaws; and then when we arrange a new build get another mortage for the build? Or is the exisiting one usually extended to cover the new build costs?

5. Does the council complete a new valuation on the new subdividions? As obviously any old valuations would be invalidated due to the subdivision. I'm assuming though the bank will request an indepedent valuation in any case...

6. Geek question (as this is Geekzone after all!): How does utilities (water, power, fibre) get set up for a new property? Is it simply a matter of contacting the respective retailers and asking for a new connection in each case? I'm assuming e.g. Chrous will pass on the costs of modifying their network to add in a new connection?

7. Anything else we should consider?