Page 729 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 2010
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surveyor describing the situation of the building on the parcel of land and a plan showing encroachments into public places. ACTPLA may then approve the application under section 20 of the Unit Titles Act if it is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the application fulfils stated requirements.
To be approved by ACTPLA, the application must be consistent with the Unit Titles Act, which requires each unit to be suitable for separate occupation and for a use that is not inconsistent with the lease. The proposed schedule of unit entitlement must be reasonable and any encroachments into a public place must be satisfactory. When processing the application, ACTPLA will conduct site inspections and request certification, if required, from relevant agencies, such as TAMS and Actew, on technical specifications for the development.
According to the explanatory statement, a site inspection may cover such things as establishing whether the building has been built in accordance with the approved plans, other than those matters covered by the Building Act 2004; that the landscaping is consistent with the approved landscape plan; that all unit subsidiaries are located and consistent with the proposed units plan; that encroachments have been identified and that these are permitted; that the proposed units and car spaces are correctly numbered and letterboxes provided.
The amendments made by the bill will outsource elements of the application process to provide flexibilities to applicants by creating a new construction occupation of works assessor who, if licensed under the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act, can assess and collate the requirements for an application before it is submitted to ACTPLA for final approval. The outcomes of this work will be compiled in a unit title assessment report which will be one element of the final application that is considered by ACTPLA. ACTPLA will retain some elements of the process and will still approve the application, as it does currently.
The bill will require unit title assessment reports to be provided with an application for unit titling if prescribed by regulations. According to the explanatory statement, this includes the following: an applicant for unit title application may apply in writing to a unit title assessor for a unit title assessment report. The application must include any details or material prescribed by regulation. If an assessor receives an application and the assessor agrees to undertake the work, the assessor must prepare a unit title assessment report and give it to the applicant within five days and give a copy to ACTPLA.
The assessor may refuse to prepare and provide a report if they do not have enough information. If, after taking reasonable steps, an applicant cannot find an assessor who will agree to prepare a unit title assessment report, the applicant may apply to the construction occupations registrar to appoint an assessor to prepare a unit title assessment report.
A regulation may prescribe the requirements for a unit title assessment report. An assessor may, by written notice, ask the applicant to give the unit title assessor stated further information and, if the applicant fails to provide some or all of the information in accordance with the request, the assessor may refuse to provide a unit title assessment report.
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