Just a general post about another example of council incompetence. Selling my propery which is in final stages of subdivison and a keen buyer met with council to discuss putting a carport over the new driveway I put in. Council responds to them NO you cannot put a carport over it and the owner does not even have a permit for the second crossover. My agent calls me and advises me this so I look through my inbox find councils approval. I then call council for a please explain. Planner looks at my plans and says "yep everything perfect here, all permits approved, not sure who told them that"... The buyers pulled out, admittedly the carport which I did know would not be allowed (I would have put one if it were) was the main reason but I'm sure the "No Permit" didn't help! The incompetence from councils really does blow my mind!
Yes, I really think all councils should focus on better service which includes training staff to a certain level of competency. Too often junior staff with limited experience are given responsibilities far beyond their competency. In the case of DAs it seems that senior staff often rubber stamp the work of a junior and do not scrutinise their work thoroughly and this causes all sorts of trouble for the applicant.
Surely they're opening themselves up to a lawsuit if their incompetence causes a sale to fall through?!
They're councils - many will never bother arguing too much as they can make your life hell. Plus in this case, the cost of running any case is probably not worth any eventual award (assuming a causal link between the advice and lost sale is sufficient). Best to just advise the potential purchasers of the permits that you have and see if they will still purchase.
It's easier to respond with "no you can't do that " than to actually do work and get involved and find the correct answer. I'd take a guess that it would be hard to track back to who actually responded a generic "no". They're good at hiding and not incriminating themselves
Maximum Deductions - Washington Brown Depreciation At Washington Brown, our average property depreciation report claims are over $9,500 in the first year. That’s $9,500 that you could be reducing your taxable income by. Our team can conduct a free assessment to find out how much you can save. » Get a Free Quote Now