Page 2048 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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Housing ACT—asbestos
Ms Berry (in reply to questions and supplementary questions by Ms Lawder and Mrs Jones on Thursday, 5 May 2016):
1) The condition of Housing ACT properties is being assessed on a cyclical basis by the Total Facilities Manager, Spotless and recorded on the Homenet database. All maintenance work undertaken on public housing properties is also recorded on the Homenet database. These records have been stored electronically since the commencement of Homenet in 2000. Members of the community can seek access to government records, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1989.
2) There is no consolidated list of houses in the ACT with bonded asbestos. Bonded asbestos building products were commonplace in Australia until a formal ban on the use of asbestos containing materials came into force on 31 December 2003. As part of the contract for sale, Housing ACT provides an Asbestos Awareness fact sheet (refer www.asbestos.act.gov.au) which provides advice to the buyer about the potential location of asbestos for all homes constructed prior to 1985.
3) It is a requirement for all property owners to provide prospective buyers with a building report in accordance with the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003.
4) Public housing properties are sold by auction through an approved Real Estate Agent who is a member of the CSD Panel of Real Estate Agents. As part of the auction sales process, prospective buyers are provided with all required pest, building and energy efficiency reports. I am advised that it is highly unlikely that a building report would identify a property as ‘uninhabitable’. If a prospective buyer is concerned about any issues identified in the building reports they can decide whether or not to pursue the purchase of the property in its current condition. Refer also to answer to Question 3.
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