Building and renovating to become cheaper under reforms: Property Council

Building and renovating to become cheaper under reforms: Property Council
Jennifer DukeDecember 7, 2020

The Property Council of Australia has welcomed the Western Australia Government’s announcement that they will reduce red tape in both planning and the construction approval process, saying it will make developments more affordable.

The changes, announced earlier this week by Commerce Minister Michael Mischin, aim to allow builders to start construction upon lodging a certified permit application while the application is processed. This will be called the Instant Start initiative.

“Lack of certainty about the time taken to grant an approval are a significant cause of cost, delay and frustration to the home building industry and its clients,” said Mischin.

“Each week of delay can cost the owner hundreds of dollars in mortgage costs on land and in rental costs.”

Builders’ margins are also said to be higher due to uncertain start times and inability to schedule subcontractors effectively.

“With Instant Start, builders can be confident in starting work because both planning and building compliance have been verified by competent and independent experts,” he said.

Registered builders will be able to use Instant Start when the amendments to the regulations have been made. Mischin suggests that this will occur in around six months.

Renovations undertaken by a registered builder will also be included.

Property Council of Australia executive director Joe Lenzo said these changes will assist Western Australia to “meet its growth challenges”.

“It is very pleasing that the Government has acknowledged the need to streamline planning processes across all local governments, prioritise major development approvals and eliminate unnecessary red-tape in the housing sector,” said Lenzo.

“The proposed changes will also enable planning authorities to devote more resources to priority projects in a timely fashion,” he said.

“Eliminating planning approvals for straight forward house construction that meets all the standards is long overdue.”

Mischin also noted the reforms would assist local governments to offer electronic lodgement and processing of applications.

“This will reduce variations in requirements between local governments and remove the current manual processing period needed to assess applications for completeness and compliance,” he said.

Developments and renovations allowed are for single residential buildings, and applications must include verification that planning consent is not required.

Jennifer Duke

Jennifer Duke was a property writer at Property Observer

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