Indooroopilly's mix
Houses and apartments side by side
46.7% of homes were separate houses, 45.4% flats or apartments and 7.9% townhouses or semis. Small-lot and townhouse building has been increasing too.
A renting suburb
44.3% of homes were rented, 28.3% owned outright and 25.4% mortgaged. At the 2011 Census, people in their twenties made up 28.5% of residents.
Restored Queenslanders
Many post-war homes and Queenslanders have been restored, and council rules aim to keep Brisbane's pre-war character and discourage demolishing Queenslanders.
A river suburb with old roots
The Brisbane River bounds the suburb to the south and south-east. Rail came in 1875, spurring building around the station, and residential estates were sold from 1878.
Brisbane City Council
Indooroopilly (postcode 4068) is in Walter Taylor Ward, about 7.8 km south-west of the CBD.
Renting a unit: the two approvals
In Queensland an air conditioner is a fixture, so a tenant needs the owner's or manager's written approval before one is fitted. If the building is in a body corporate scheme, the RTA says the owner or manager must forward your request to the body corporate within 28 days, and the body corporate doesn't have to answer within that time.
So a request made in November can still be waiting when the hottest weeks arrive. Ask in winter or early spring, name the room and offer professional installation. If you're refused or hear nothing, you don't have permission to go ahead.
Portable or split for a rented room?
| Portable | Split system | |
|---|---|---|
| Approval needed | No drilling, so usually not | Yes, the owner's and often the body corporate's |
| Efficiency | CHOICE says single-duct portables are quite inefficient | Carries a zoned energy rating label |
| Noise inside | CHOICE measured 57 to 74 dB on high | CHOICE says most splits are quieter indoors |
| Where the heat goes | Out a duct to a window, with a kit to seal the gap | Through pipes to an outdoor unit |
In a restored Queenslander
Keep the outdoor unit and pipe runs off the street face, and use the space under the house or the side walls where you can. Council's character rules are about the look of the street, so a well-placed unit is the easiest way to stay out of trouble. Our Ashgrove page goes through placement on old timber houses.
What we'd do
What we'd do in Indooroopilly
If we rented a unit here, we'd ask the owner in writing in winter, not December, and offer to have the split professionally installed. If we owned a Queenslander, we'd put the outdoor units at the side or back and pick an installer who's worked on character homes. Owners, and tenants with approval, can send us the job. Licence-checked installers who do apartment or character home work can see it, and the installer who says yes is the only one handed your contact details. If no one near Indooroopilly takes it within 48 hours, the job may be shown to installers elsewhere in Queensland.
