BUILDING UPGRADE FINANCE A CHANCE FOR WA

The Property Council WA is hosting a free information seminar to discuss the opportunities presented by Building Upgrade Finance on the 5 February at Lavan Offices.

The Local Government Act 1995 Review phase two discussion papers have been released for public comment, and we are delighted to see that Building Upgrade Finance (BUF) schemes have been identified as a potential new initiative for inclusion.

BUF allows a local government to administer loans issued by financiers to non-residential building owners to upgrade their buildings. The local government uses a levy on the building owner to recover the funds on behalf of the financier, and the loan is tied to the property rather than property owner.

The inclusion of BUF in the Local Government Act has been part of the Property Council’s key advocacy platform since before the last election, and we have worked closely with the Department of Local Government and the City of Perth in particular to achieve it. We thank the State Government for being open to the opportunities it presents.

BUF will not only stimulate investment and jobs in those local government areas where building owners take up the opportunity, but also deliver important environmental outcomes for individual properties. We see a huge opportunity for activating and improving built outcomes and tenant offerings in the Perth CBD and wherever older buildings would benefit from targeted heritage or environmental enhancements.

We encourage all members to attend and support this new initiative to form part of the redrafted Local Government Act.

To register to attend this free information seminar please visit the event page.