After a time spent overseas, I am now back in Adelaide and what a tumultuous year it has been! Glad to be back on home soil and back doing what I love – selling real estate. A big thank you to all SA Listings clients for their unwavering support and calls of hello on our return to Adelaide.
On a positive note, the market in Adelaide is definitely on an uplifting trajectory, catching up with its interstate cousins with year to date growth to the end of February 2021 in home values of 7.3%, according to recent CoreLogic research. A combination of limited supply, low interest rates, additional Government supplements and purchaser demand is fueling the growth.
For developers, builders or those considering development in SA, from 21st March new planning and building laws come into place across SA with a new State based planning and design code. One significant inclusion under the planning reform relates to administration procedures for domestic dwellings at handover.
A Certificate of Occupancy must now be issued by the relevant authority verifying the building is fit for purpose before people can move in. The current system only required a Statement of Compliance be completed, the Certificate of Occupancy is now an additional step.
An applicant applying for a Certificate of Occupancy can nominate either the local council or building certifier to issue the document. The decision must be made at the start of the building process when lodging the Development Application. A final inspection prior to issuing the document may be done by the council and they can withhold the certificate if the building is not constructed to standard. Any person occupying before the certificate of occupancy is obtained may receive a $750 expiation fee or be issued with a maximum penalty of $10,000. This may have an impact with banks releasing the final payment for the build and is something all builders need to be aware of.
It’s great to be back and I look forward to assisting clients with their future property sales.
Justine Thomson
salistings.blog 