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The HIA has hit out at Goulburn Mulwaree Council over exorbitant development application fees, claiming the council is raking in “thousands of dollars” it’s not entitled to.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has accused Goulburn Mulwaree Council of overcharging development application fees, calling for action on the matter.
HIA NSW executive director, Brad Armitage, accused the council of frequently imposing an estimated cost which is hundreds of thousands of dollars above the signed building contract price.
This enables the council to charge higher development application fees, the peak body alleged.
“Development application fees are based on the estimated development cost (EDC), so there is an incentive for councils to inflate the estimated cost of building a new home,” he said.
“The higher the EDC, the higher the DA fee collected by council.”
Armitage argued the Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s increased EDC is based on “irrelevant and inappropriate claims”.
These include promotional discounts and unrealistic driveway and landscaping costs.
“If this was any commercial business, they would be forced to stop overcharging consumers and be required to issue refunds. The same should apply to councils,” he said.
“The council has the sole authority to determine the EDC, and you have no real choice but to accept their decision.
“It means councils are raking in thousands of dollars more in fees and other charges they are not entitled to.”
Armitage said the matter not only exacerbates the cost of housing, but is also causing projects to be delayed by weeks.
“We have councils across the state using first home buyers and families building a home as an ATM.
“Councils shouldn’t need to be told that is simply not fair; they should be better than this,” he concluded.
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