Units, units, units…

I went looking way up north Canberra, even further than Mitchell, to check out the unit situation.

I visited sub-suburbs such as Harrison, Forde and other actors. I was amazed by how large the units are there. The units in the north actually have front yards to park your utes on (as many as two or three utes per unit). There is also enough room between units to squeeze a wheely bin. But most impressive of all is that all the units look exactly like real houses. …oh, hang on a minute.

But wait, there’s less. The footpaths in Amaroonawal and Ngunnagahlin are so wide you can drive on them! It’s amazing. But there are no roads, so you would end up having to drive on the footpaths anyway, so it’s just as well they are as wide as they are.

Luckily, ACTION bus company bus drivers often get lost driving on the footpaths north of Mitchell and accidently pass through the northern sub-suburbs. This offers a Clayton’s public transport service the world hasn’t seen since 18th century Fiji. On’ya ACTION and house-units of the far north!

…can anyone spot me a lift home?

54-11 said :

You’re right, 2604. We had been pondering the possibility of moving oiut of our empty-nest home into an apartment.

Ain’t gonna happen now. I saw that the HIA talking head, Stuart Collins, was trying to make a silk purse out of this particular pig’s ear, saying that such thoughts were a “kick in the guts to a pruod industry”. More like a smack around the ear for a development industry that’s out of control, and the “parents” ie ACTPLA, have completely given up their role in civilising the developers.

As we’ve seen with the insulation scandal and the BER, as well as the appalling standards with the Foreshores and other developments, the building/development industry is a moral-free zone.

And the reason for this debacle? Developers are continually calling for the removal of what they call “red tape”, or what the rest of us would call necessary regulation and oversight. Developer-friendly councils like the ACT then oblige and remove all sensible regulation and development becomes a highly-profitable free for all.

Well said. The malarky that builders get away with in this town is ridiculous. This ‘proud industry’ doesn’t need a ‘kick in the guts’, it needs a kick in the arse.

You’re right, 2604. We had been pondering the possibility of moving oiut of our empty-nest home into an apartment.

Ain’t gonna happen now. I saw that the HIA talking head, Stuart Collins, was trying to make a silk purse out of this particular pig’s ear, saying that such thoughts were a “kick in the guts to a pruod industry”. More like a smack around the ear for a development industry that’s out of control, and the “parents” ie ACTPLA, have completely given up their role in civilising the developers.

As we’ve seen with the insulation scandal and the BER, as well as the appalling standards with the Foreshores and other developments, the building/development industry is a moral-free zone.

And the reason for this debacle? Developers are continually calling for the removal of what they call “red tape”, or what the rest of us would call necessary regulation and oversight. Developer-friendly councils like the ACT then oblige and remove all sensible regulation and development becomes a highly-profitable free for all.

Everyone getting in before the change of use charges get bumped up?

Or before the government finally begins to do something about dodgy building practices?

Caveat emptor, I wouldn’t go near another Canberra apartment if my life depended upon it.

Fair enough. I wrote in shorthand, meaning: as you’ll see most of these are inner suburbs, where the COUC will likely be higher as a result of the changed methodology.

Once things do change, it will likely see investment in higher density apartment complexes in outer town centres as more attractive investments, in turn making express public transport services more viable, so a “good thing”.

Just to quickly explain what is happening with the Change of Use Charge: It isn’t being bumped up.

Infact, nothing is changing in relation to the CUC laws at all. Basically, the people implementing the CUC were doing it wrong and using the wrong value to calculate the charge. This has been spotted and the increased figure in the new budget is the result of the projections from the proper implementation of the existing laws.

As such, the new process started even before the budget and all of these developments will be subject to the proper implementation of the CUC, as will all other developments.

The libs just wanted to make it sound like a new tax grab because they wanted to use Tony Abbott’s “Great Big New Tax on _______” line.