The Property Council is calling on the new State Government for the full private certification for building permit applications to reduce the high cost of construction and improve housing affordability.
“Currently, the WA system only allows for partial private certification of building permit applications meaning councils are required to double handle a certified application and then issue the permit for an additional fee,” Property Council WA Executive Director Lino Iacomella said.
“For example based on a $150M shopping center expansion the council permit application fee at 0.09% is $135K to issue a building permit based on the Certificate of Design Compliance provided by a private building certifier. This cost is in addition to the private certifiers fee and the building services levy of $206K and the building training levy of $300K.
“The council fee is an unnecessary additional cost of compliance at a time when the state government should be incentivisng the property industry to grow the economy.
On behalf of our members the Property Council recommends the following urgent reform: Permit a private certifier to issue a building permit for Class 2 – 9 residential and commercial buildings.
“Full private certification of building permit applications to enable private certifiers to issue building permits will streamline regulatory requirements as well as reduce the cost and time taken to process permit applications particularly for commercial building projects where the costs can escalate into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The change would bring WA into line with other states, such as NSW and Victoria, and significantly streamline the application process,” Mr Iacomella said.
Media contact: Lino Iac