Complicated building laws just driving Tasmanians underground

Faster, cheaper, simpler and fairer approvals? Quite the opposite, says Andrew Wilkie

IT sounded too good to be true. Getting building approval in Tasmania would become faster, fairer, simpler and cheaper under the State Government’s new Building Bill. Save time and money, then-building minister Guy Barnett promised.

In reality it’s the opposite. Getting the green light to build a house is now an expensive and confusing obstacle course that you enter with no idea how long the process will take, or how much it will cost.

Take the experience of a constituent trying to downsize and build a smaller house on the same block as his home at Montrose. In 1988 he built on the same site. It took two months to get approval, and all up, including plans, council fees, inspection and construction it cost $118,000 to build a 43-square two-storey family home. The planning paperwork was three pages.

Today, under the new law, his building dream has become a nightmare. It’s been years since he decided to build. He approached his council and TasWater for an estimation of how much he’d be up for, but neither would give estimates of cost or time and both declined to visit the site. The simple subdivision ended up taking 12 months. Bills from the Land Titles Office, TasWater, council, surveyor, solicitor and draftsperson have added up to about $30,000. The planning document has run to 73 pages. He’s finally got the go-ahead but was exasperated at the hold-ups, red tape and expense. In frustration he sent my office his tale of woe and a report from this newspaper from January 2017, with the Government’s utopian promises about the new building changes underlined.

When this constituent and I met he brought along his builder, who reports the new laws are driving people underground. Rather than attempting the new system, many are not seeking approval and just going ahead and doing the work. That’s what this ridiculous and expensive process is doing, sending people off the books and into much pain in the future when they try to make an insurance claim or sell their properties with unapproved works.

In other words the changes to the approval process have not had the desired outcome of cutting red tape and making building approval easier, cheaper and faster. Who can blame people for not wanting to sign a blank cheque and enter a limbo land, being passed between surveyors, engineers, planners and TasWater as the bills mount and months and years pass.

A planning consultant also reports great unnecessary expense for clients who have to comply with two sets of regulations because the Interim Planning Scheme 2015 is still in existence despite the introduction of the Building Act 2016.

Take the case of the block

of land at Opossum Bay with an old shack on it. The owners decided to remove the shack and build a new one. However, once the existing building was removed, there was no wastewater system that could be installed that would comply with the Clarence Interim Planning Scheme and they were unable to proceed.

Meanwhile, our frustrated constituent at Montrose is still waiting to get into his house, more than three years after he began the project. He estimates the planning delays have added $100,000 to the cost of the build. “There is no housing and this State Government is 100 per cent at fault,” he says. “It’s three years-plus to get a house built and they talk about a housing shortage.”

The Government has to fix this mess. The Building Bill has not delivered. As well as frustrating and fleecing people and causing a spike in unapproved development, it’s contributing to the housing crisis in Hobart. Hobart is the least affordable capital city in Australia according to the Rental Affordability Index.

There are more than 3000 applicants waiting for public housing and homelessness is a growing problem. A new cohort of working people can’t secure a rental property. Educated and professional people, the very ones we lost in the brain drain, are giving up on their dream to relocate or return to Hobart because they can’t find somewhere to live. Supply is a contributing factor and the planning system is a major barrier. We need more houses now, but developers are stuck in the planning process for months if not years. If the State Government is serious about fixing the housing crisis, planning is under its control and a lever to pull. We need a planning process that people will use, one that is clear, timely and affordable with guidelines on costs and time. The Government must go back to the drawing board and deliver what it promised: a simpler, faster, fairer and cheaper building approval process.