A wet holiday monday might strike some of you as a funny time to announce a major package of relief for real estate developers, but this is a funny town… it’s just how we roll.
Katy Gallagher and Andrew Barr have jointly announced the package which mucks around with change of use charges:
- ACT Treasurer, Katy Gallagher MLA, and Minister for Planning, Andrew Barr MLA, today jointly announced that reduced Change of Use Charges would be available for applications made from the start of this month for a period of one year. A Change of Use Charge is payable if the lease provisions are changed to a higher value use – such as converting a lease from residential use to commercial.
“This is a short term measure to support investment in the ACT and to help local businesses who currently face difficult conditions in credit markets due to the global economic downturn,” Ms Gallagher said.
The Treasurer and the Planning Minister said the Change of Use Charge would be reduced from 75 percent to 50 percent and available for applications made between 1 June 2009 and 1 June 2010.
Curious.