David Fryer, East Lismore
I hear all the problems, eg; lack of government/ council money or infrastructure/ available vacant/ accommodation land.
However, my mother-in-law had to go into respite care, so I purchased her house site in Goonellabah. To maximise the value we decided to build 2×2 bedroom units and strata them.
The Lismore City Council initial costs were $7,160 (including $1,215 for a cycleway facility) plus $4,239 for development application (DA) fees, together with a quote of $30,482 for their S64 and S305. Then the engineer reports of $5,000 plus.
Costs-to-date are now $16,399 plus $30,482 to come. Total $46,881 before any building happens.
Might I suggest ‘the powers that be’ consider drastically reducing these costs to help the average investor who is trying to address the housing crisis?
Sorry, charges are set so that only big developers can afford them.
David: Until we can get rid of all the inefficient, overpaid, dead wood in local government (and I’d posit that includes most of its employees) we’re bound to keep paying inflated costs for their lack of help. Perhaps local government (which is not actually ‘government’ but a state-sanctioned business that frequently fails us) is past its best-by date. It’s not even recognised or authorised by the Australian Constitution and exists only with the collaboration of the states.
Local government in AU has completely lost any respect I might once have had for it.