I've found Axis Surveys to be incredibly proffesional, so I thought i would post up this email incase there are some who are going through plan sealing this year and haven't had a heads up. Cheers ______________________________ Good morning, Axis Surveys would like to advise our Development Clients of the following changes to Plan Sealing Applications; Changes to the Planning Act 2016 (PA16) affecting Land and Unit Developments will come into effect on Monday 03/07/2017. For those clients with existing Development Approvals nothing will change with the Approval Conditions. However, any Plan Sealing Applications lodged on or after 03/07/2017 will be subject to the new provisions. Key Points - Plan Sealing and the Planning Act 2016: IDAS Form 32 will no longer be required for plan sealing requests Council will have 20 business days to either approve or refuse plan sealing Action Notices can no longer be issued as there is no provision for them in the new Act Standard Council Application Fees will apply for all new and previously refused plan sealing requests The third dot point here is the one that has the most effect. Under the current arrangements Council would issue an Action Notice if there were outstanding issues. The most common being outstanding/unpaid Rates Notices. The client would then rectify the issue and the Sealing Application would continue. Under the new Act, Council can no longer issue Action Notices and instead will reject the Application. Obviously a rejected Application has severe follow on affects; · Loss of time by having to re-lodge the sealing application, which can also impact; o Title Registration timing o Finance agreements o Sales Contracts o Holding costs · Initial application fees will be lost and have to be repaid in full at time of re-lodgement. Axis Surveys currently offer client’s the option of Preparing and Lodging the Sealing Application. We rely largely on you, the client, to provide us with the correct documentation and confirm that all DA Conditions have been complied with. Unfortunately, we still see regular Action Notices being issued mainly around Conditions that do not require specific documentation as the Condition is inspected and passed by Council inspector’s onsite during the Sealing process. From 1st of July 2017 onwards, we will require all clients to sign a statement that they understand all their obligations of their Development Approval and that as the Developer you have ensured for yourselves all Conditions have been complied with. We hope that this additional action/statement will act as a caution to clients to recheck all the conditions have been met and complied with prior to plan sealing lodgement and will avoid a rejected application. If you require further information in relation to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact the projects/consulting department on 3363 8100. Regards
I very much doubt this will happen. I have been to a number of Information Sessions on the new Act and have discussed with a couple of different planning lawyers. Although there is no formal procedure for issuing an "Action Notice" under the new Act, in reality there is nothing stopping Council from issuing an informal notice which has the same effect as an Action Notice (i.e. requests that the applicant provide additional info). This already occurs through the DA process to a certain extent (i.e. if Council issues a "Further Request for Information", which is outside of the IDAS process/timeframes). Time will tell how Council will address this. However, this would seem to be the likely solution.
Here are the DA Rules - the statutory instrument that controls how you make applications. The new act has removed it from the legislation.
