Page 393 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 February 2020
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the most appropriate unit. We have got the silly situation here where we have built 10 per cent of the units to be accessible but the people who want to use them simply cannot find them.
I now briefly echo some of Mr Parton’s comments about quiet enjoyment as one of the issues with body corporates. To an extent, it is an inherent problem. As you get more and more people living closer and closer together then obviously there are potentially more issues where there will not be quiet enjoyment. But, given that we want people to be able to live peacefully and harmoniously in these situations, as many of us do—about a third of the people in Canberra live in townhouses or units—we need to make sure that our regulations do the best they can to ensure the quiet enjoyment of body corporates.
Part of the issue is design, as Mr Parton talked about. In places where there is sometimes car parking between commercial and residential, unfortunately this bill cannot do anything much about improving our designs. I have banged on about that at great length. Partially, it is operation. This is not something that the bill has talked about, but I understand that this is only the first bill that the government is planning to introduce on unit titles. I hope it looks at some of the quiet enjoyment issues in the future.
I am particularly aware that gyms are one of the contributors in a number of instances to residential users not being able to have quiet enjoyment of their units. Members will be aware that last week someone who was in that situation was outside the Assembly with a sign about gyms in multi-unit apartments. Yes, he was certainly suffering quite severely. But I know he is not the only one. I have spoken to other people who are in multi-unit complexes where there is a gym on the ground floor and it is not just the techno music. I understand it is the dropping of weights. I have run out of time. We will support the bill. (Time expired.)
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (11.27): I welcome the opportunity to address the Assembly today as we debate the Unit Titles Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. As you are aware, this bill delivers on the first stage of reforms, as well as the government’s commitment to managing buildings better into the future, by introducing a number of proposed changes to buying, living in and managing units plans in the ACT.
We need legislation and regulations to reflect and support our various lifestyle choices as our city grows. Up-to-date and effective unit title laws and processes are necessary to support the variety of residential and commercial users of new developments and for realising their potential to provide an effective housing choice. Having a modern and robust framework to govern unit plans will be fundamental to supporting Canberrans living and working within these developments.
The changes proposed in the Unit Titles Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 deliver on the first stage of reforms by addressing many of the issues affecting unit plans and improving the livability, management and governance arrangements for all concerned. These reforms come at the right time to complement other areas of work the government has been undertaking, such as the better building quality reforms, the
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