The Austin City Council voted Thursday to ease regulations for building garage apartments.

this depending on project takes about a year to get to that stage.In the meantime your going through land use planning and approvals at the city.. in a perfect world they are going concurrently.. planning commission meeting.. if its hotly contested then City council or county commissioners meetings.. protest.. appeals delays.. and you have not done any thing yet.so for us to get to approvals and all land use approved 50k min.. to 200k or more.then you go out and in our market its 40 to 50k per lot for underground... and we close on the dirt once we have approvals and all appeals have run.. so cut a check at that point for 500 to 2mil in cash... 4 to 8 months to put in your streets and roads and get ready to build.once that's all done you get a sign off from city and record your final plat... your construction loans are now ready to drop.. and in our market 5 to 7 months to build a home  ( HUGE sub problem..) simply not enough subs to meet demand.then you go on market and sell and close.start to finish 2 to 3 years..

Is this a new way for the city to steal from the homeowners so they can line up the pockets of the city councils and the mayor? 

Hey Joe I would also be interested in knowing the answer to that as I have two properties in Hamilton as well...If you call the city of Hamilton they will guide you to the appropriate department I think it costs approximately $1500 for the application they then do an inspection and then it goes to city Council for rezoning...Don't quote me on this

Just interested you used the term "flat", that a British term for apartments.  

I am pretty sure you can get a zone change without a tentative map (which means no need for an engineer just talk to the city planning department for an application and go through the process) This is not too difficult of a process in itself, it is the planning commission and the city council approval that can cause problems.

This could make or break your deal.For English-speaking Americans it makes sense to invest where English is spoken and British common law is in effect.

One more thing, a city council women lives two doors down from the home I am trying to sell and has two children, that attend private school, because the city has a voucher program for that area.  

The equivalent for a real estate investor would be to buy an entire city (and run the city council) in order to have full control over its growth and expansion.  

Joe Gore Joe: In most situations you would be correct (as many others have indicated above), but in certain jurisdictions when dealing with a {documented} domestic violence situation the obligation to protect the woman and children remaining in the home permits you deny the abuser access to the property.It's a delicate situation into which one should not wade without legal council.