Canberra’s poker machine empires masquerading as community operations are slowly coalescing:
The construction union’s Tradies Clubs, the Catholics’ Southern Cross Clubs, the Hellenic Clubs, Rugby’s Vikings and the Labor Party’s Labor Clubs.
We have no doubt once all the little clubs are swallowed up the elephants will dance.
But to facilitate the process Labor’s Joy Burch has [...]

Andrew Barr has let it be known the Assembly has passed his Duties (Landholders) Amendment Bill 2012.
The Bill will reduce complexity and regulation for landholders, improve the ACT’s investment competitiveness, and appropriately align ACT regulations with NSW.
The amendments will:
– Align landholder provisions in the ACT more closely with NSW;
– Significantly reduce the administrative burden on [...]

The Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur is expressing her pleasure that development proposals will have to be communicated better to the neighbours:
“These amendments give a better balance to the rights of residents to be informed and have a say in developments that affect them with the need for an efficient planning system,” said Caroline Le [...]

Hello fellow ACT rioters,
I plan to sell my property for the first time soon, so this query is for those property owners/landlords who recently sold their properties through a real estate agent.
What are the common commission and charges around at the moment?
Is it worth using a real estate agent or is it better to sell [...]

The ACT Taxation Review is now online as is the Government response.
Recommendations agreed or agreed in Principle are:
– Recommendation 1
Adopt taxation instruments and settings that deliver stable revenue growth proportionate with economic growth.
– Recommendation 2
With regards to long term structural reform, over a period of time that is adequate for appropriate transition:
a) abolish duty on [...]

Caller to 666 talkback this morning outlined what we’ve sort of known, but have never had quite such firm evidence.
Caller lives near a small park in Chisholm. He said that the local residents were invited to contribute their thoughts on a proposal to develop the park with residential accommodation to a website (ACT Govt [...]

Simon Corbell has announced the referral of Draft Variation 306 to the Standing Committee on Planning, Public Works and Territory and Municipal Services.
(If you’re fortunate enough to have avoided the DV processes thus far they relate to planning laws, which means what your house will look like and how much it will cost.)
“DV 306 to [...]

What’s not to like about a lobby group assessing the performance of Government regulation of its members and releasing a report card?
Simon Corbell is quite happy with what they had to say about his work.
“I am very pleased to see an improvement in the way our planning system is working, according to this report card [...]

This morning there was mention on 666 of the imminent closure of these three West Row businesses.  The report/rumour stated that the building is to be redeveloped into office accommodation. 
Does anyone know whether this is an accurate report?

Andrew Barr is very excited that the Land Development Agency has been gonged for its affordable housing in Bonner:
I congratulate the staff of the Land Development Agency (LDA) for winning the prestigious and highly competitive Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) National Award for Affordable Development at the 2012 Awards for Excellence.
The award was presented [...]

Liberal leader Zed Seselja is banging the drum on housing affordability:
The number of ACT dwellings approved for building has plummeted by 60 per cent in trend terms since June 2011, while the average cost of a median priced home in Canberra has skyrocketed to the nation’s highest at $505,000. This comes after information obtained [...]

Does the Canberra public know about the ACT Government’s plans to build hundreds of flats abutting Anzac Parade, and that there’s an information session on 6 March?
Check the nca.gov.au website and also google “section 5″ and “anzac parade” for a wealth of links, including a PDF that shows that the flats are going to [...]

The Greens have

Joy Burch is letting people know that the redevelopment of the dreaded ABC Flats is getting a meeting to express your feelings at:
“The proposal for the redevelopment will see a major injection of residential units and commercial activity in this precinct, as well as the retention of some public housing stock,” Ms Burch said.
“The Government [...]

As a follow up to an earlier post titled Are Canberra Landlords Greedy, here is an article to balance the view on things. Thanks to Holden Caulfield for the title.
With the information age has come a considerable improvement in the treatment of tenants when compared to days gone by. This coupled with the improved education [...]

The Dickson Community Planning Alliance is celebrating a win in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal:
Developers had planned to replace 2 houses with 10 units. The Tribunal confirmed that the
development violated a number of planning requirements and was inconsistent with the Territory Plan.
Ms Jane Goffman, a town planner and resident of Dickson, was a key [...]

Yesterday’s blazing row between the ACT Treasurer Andrew Barr and the Canberra Times has entered a second day.
Noel Towell has been put on the case and has had a chat to the Chief Minister on the issues.
Oddly enough no mention is made of the fireworks on facebook or Twitter.
But Barr is not content with the [...]

The Greens’ Shane Rattenbury is letting us know he’s very happy the size of the new suburb or Throsby has been whittled down to protect Superb parrot habitat:
“This is welcome news, and I believe it reflects the values of the Bush Capital, that we must protect out natural environment as development of our city occurs,” [...]

Overnight the Canberra Times Ewa Kretowicz was quoting a spokesperson of Andrew Barr on plans to speed up the development of the Brumbies headquarters into lucrative inner south apartments:
Acting planning minister Andrew Barr was reviewing the lease conditions at the ACT Brumbies rugby club in ”the public interest”, his spokesman said last night. If [...]

Hoping someone with a better understanding of tax and/or consumer law can give a view here.  Am in the process of building.  Our builder, a large business with good buying power, gives us an allowance of $30 per m2 for tiles to be selected from only 2 shops.  At those shops I’m told that if [...]

Just trying to find someone to sell my home in Chisholm, its for a deceased estate and I cant sell it myself as my rellos are jerks.
I had a couple of real estate agents have a look and they said there commission alone would be $12,000 + on a home valued at $360,000.  A house [...]

Canberra tops list of 50 investment hot spots.

Today’s latest effort by Liberal Senator Gary Humphries is built on a novel contention.
Based on data from the ever reliable Property Council he appears to be arguing that the size of the public service should be dictated by sentiment in the Canberra property market.
Some naive souls like your correspondent might think that minor trifles; like [...]

It has become a real community eyesore and environmental hazard with lots of loose iron flapping in the breeze.
With a real gust of wind the iron will end up on cars in the Jamison Plaza carpark or in neighbouring gardens or in the adjacent children’s playground.
The development proposal for the site is for [...]

Andrew Barr is letting us know that the latest Construction Snapshot is looking rather rosy:
Canberra’s construction sector continues to show its strength with around $13.5 billion worth of projects currently planned or under way in the ACT according to the latest Canberra Construction Snapshot.
Construction is a major contributor to the ACT economy and since coming [...]

What are the steps for adding a housemate onto an existing tenancy agreement in Canberra?
I note that the Residential Tenancy Agreement (72) states that: (1) The tenant must not assign or sublet the premises or any part of them without the written consent of the lessor; (2) Consent may be given at any time.
If this [...]

Here’s what ACT residential lessors (landlords) understand very well:
Traditionally Canberra’s rental market sees considerable seasonal fluctuation. The transient nature of the population regularly sees high prices and strong competition for vacant properties in the Summer months, particularly around January when everyone is moving in and out of town.
Here’s what ACT residential lessors (landlords) rarely know:
Beyond [...]

Simon Corbell has announced a new bill setting out the hoops developers need to jump through to show the community doesn’t hate their plans.
“The proposed laws require community consultation before development applications are formally lodged and will also require signs to be displayed on building sites to let the public know more about proposed building [...]

A friend of mine is interested in buying an apartment in the Woden area.  He found a number of new developments through Allhomes, such as Sorrel, Woden Green, and Aalto, etc… His budget is around 380K – 400K.
Those of you who are locals to the Woden area, do you guys think it’s a good idea? [...]

Simon Corbell has announced new planning regulations for the Kingston Foreshore to speed things up:
“Third party reviews to date have been creating excessive delay in some developments in the Kingston Foreshore precinct, and this is an important decision to create certainty for development of this area,” Mr Corbell said.
“The Kingston Foreshore is a highly planned [...]

The LDA has more information on its plans to turn a dusty field in Campbell into a thriving metropolitan hub no doubt stuffed full of Defence types.
The design boards are very impressive.

The 1 November summary of cabinet outcomes is now out and informs us the ACT Government is about to work its reverse midas touch on boarding houses:
Cabinet agreed to strengthen regulations governing boarding style accommodation in the Territory. Legislation giving effect to this decision will be prepared. Cabinet’s decision was informed by [...]