Canterbury's mix
Units first
Of Canterbury's 3,613 occupied homes in 2021, 62.8% were flats or apartments and 29.3% were separate houses.
Nearly half rented
47.9% of homes were rented. In NSW, any electrical fault in a rental is an urgent repair.
A railway suburb
The Bankstown line through Canterbury was finished in 1895, and suburban building followed. Most of the area's heritage dates from the 1870s to the 1940s, and most listed items are houses.
Heritage next door
The Ashbury Heritage Conservation Area covers most of Ashbury and part of Croydon Park, and Hurlstone Park has six more conservation areas.
Ausgrid
Canterbury is inside Ausgrid's network area. Outages and wires down go to Ausgrid on 13 13 88.
Electrical work on a heritage house
Inside the walls, rewiring a heritage-area house is ordinary licensed work. The outside is where council comes in. The City of Canterbury-Bankstown says changes to a heritage listed property normally need development consent, and minor works in a conservation area may go ahead without consent only if they don't harm its significance and council has given written advice first.
So if the job changes how the house looks from the street, like a new meter box position, solar panels or an outdoor air conditioning unit, check with council before the electrician books in. Council also runs a free heritage advisory service.
In a Canterbury unit
Your unit's own board is yours or your landlord's to maintain. Hallway lights, the car park and the main switchroom are common property, so report those to the strata manager. If you're a tenant, any fault goes to your agent in writing, marked urgent.
Worth asking the electrician
- Have you worked on houses in heritage conservation areas before?
- Will any of this change what the house looks like from the street?
- Is the old wiring worth replacing while the walls are open?
- Will I get a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work when you're done?
If we owned a place here
For a bungalow in Ashbury or Canterbury's older streets, we'd plan external changes with council's heritage advice first, then book an electrician who rewires older homes. For a unit, we'd sort out what's ours and what's strata's before calling anyone. Either way, tell us the job and postcode and we'll match one licence-checked local sparky to it.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.