Page 5647 - Week 15 - Thursday, 10 December 2009
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The Planning and Land Authority may approve a unit title application under section 20 of the UTA if it is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the application fulfils its stated requirements. Those requirements include that the application be in accordance with the UTA; that each unit will be suitable for separate occupation and for use that is not inconsistent with the lease; that the proposed schedule of unit entitlement is reasonable; and that any encroachments into a public place are satisfactory.
As part of determining an application for unit titling, the authority conducts site inspections and requests certification, if required, from relevant agencies, such as TAMS and Actew, on technical specifications for the development. A site inspection may cover, amongst other things, establishing if the building has been built in accordance with the approved plans, other than those matters covered by the Building Act 2004; whether the landscaping is consistent with the approved landscape plan; whether all unit subsidiaries are located and consistent with the proposed units plan; that encroachments have been identified and that these are permitted; and that the proposed units and car spaces are correctly numbered and letterboxes provided.
The amendments made by the bill will privatise discrete elements of the application process to provide flexibilities to applicants for unit titling. The bill creates a new construction occupation of works assessor who, if licensed under COLA, can assess and collate stated requirements for a unit title application. This will take the form of a unit title assessment report which the applicant will then be able to include in their application for unit titling to the authority. The works assessor will certify the report’s completeness and accuracy, assume liability and provide this information to the applicant. Applicants will be able to schedule site inspections through use of a private works assessor when the development is nearing completion. The Planning and Land Authority will retain other elements of the process and responsibility for the final decision. The bill requires the works assessor to have professional indemnity insurance and to ensure that they do not have a conflict of interest.
The amendments made by the bill which create this new construction occupation of works assessor have been driven by industry. The Planning and Land Authority set up a forum to promote dialogue with industry about their concerns. One concern raised by industry was the delay in deciding unit title applications by the authority. There tend to be peaks and troughs in the number of unit title applications being made to the authority, and the limited resources of the authority could not always deal as expeditiously as desirable with the volume of work during a peak period. The bill provides a solution to this problem. The bill also legislates for the authority to make requests to an applicant for unit titling for further information. It has been the practice of the authority in the past when processing applications for unit titling to request further information as required. The bill provides a legislative basis for this practice.
I now turn to the more important provisions of the bill. The bill amends two acts in order to achieve its desired outcome of providing a new construction occupation of works assessor for unit title applications. Firstly, COLA is amended to provide for the licensing of the occupation of works assessor. The amendments to the UTA then set out the rules to be applied when a works assessor supplies a unit title assessment report.
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