PRIVATE building practitioners have still been issuing building permits, up until a few weeks ago, for homes to be built on blocks of land affected by Wonthaggi’s Environmental Audit Overlay disaster.
And existing homes, in the affected estates, have been bought and sold, with Section 32 vendor statements that did not include an Environmental Audit Overlay (EAO) in the list of overlays applicable to the property.
That’s despite the fact that on January 18, this year, the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) retrospectively introduced highly-restrictive planning overlays on hundreds of titled and sold blocks of land and completed homes in the town’s North East growth precinct.
“It’s opened up a legal minefield,” said a representative of one of the main conveyancing firms servicing Wonthaggi.
These overlays, once introduced, must be quoted on titles when the properties are sold, while they also prohibit building of any kind from going ahead on affected blocks of land until (a.) A preliminary risk screen assessment statement is issued, and/or (b.) An environmental audit statement is issued, stating that the land is suitable for the proposed use, in this case, residential.
However, despite the statutory requirements of the new overlays being in effect from January 18 this year onwards, private building surveyors continued issuing permits to build on the affected land, for the next three months, right up until a couple of weeks ago.
Some of those projects are now going ahead.
These building permits, which also needed to be lodged with the Bass Coast Shire Council, were reportedly not queried by the shire, nor was any advice fed back to the private building practitioners about the imposition of the new overlays.
The shire has been asked for comment, see questions and answers below:
At least one of the land developers is now working with 20 of these would-be homeowners trying to organise for environmental assessments to be completed as quickly as possible so that construction can go ahead.
It’s not the only problem for the developers.
They say that a number of recent purchasers of building blocks, anxious about the situation, including the possible cost of environmental assessment and building delays, are now trying to back out of the contracts they’ve signed, some of them months ago.
“Our problem is, what if this gets sorted out in a few weeks. We’ve got to be given some certainty on this,” said the developer’s representative.
A spokesperson for a local conveyancing firm said the industry would usually be advised by the authorities when the imposition of a new overlay was imminent and that letter of advice, ahead of the actual introduction of a new overlay, would be included with the Section 32 vendor’s statement.
But she said no one could say when the new property advice was searchable on the government website.
However, a spokesperson for the Victorian Planning Authority said the Minister for Plananning approved Amendment C152 for the Wonthaggi North East Precinct PSP in December 2023 and the advice abour the properties affected by the new overlays went up on January 18, and was searchable from that date on the Victorian Landuse website
“A Section 32 is prepared by the vendor, with the up-to-date information, but isn’t usually updated for three to six months, while the property is on the market.
“We’re not sitting on the shire or Victorian Planning Authority website waiting for these things to come out. We’re usually advised about it ahead of time.”
But she confirmed that she was aware of some properties that had been sold without their Section 32s being updated to include the new Environmental Audit Overlays.
“We don’t have much to do with the new estates, but speaking to others in the industry, no one seems to know when the property advice actually went live on the government website.
“It’s opened up a legal minefield which needs to be sorted out quickly.”
Building grinding to a halt
One volume builder impacted by the sudden imposition of Environmental Audit Overlays on titled and sold building blocks in the Wonthaggi North East Precinct growth area says building on the estates is already grinding to a halt.
“We were supposed to start another 10 houses there this week that haven’t been able to go ahead,” said the spokesperson for one of the volume builders.
“It’s going to impact a lot of people unless something is done, and quickly.”
Questions for the shire
Several questions have been put to the Bass Coast Shire Council concerning advice to the Wonthaggi property sales industry about the new overlays and also why local building surveyors continued issuing building permits on the affected land even after the overlays were introduced on January 18, 2024, and in the three months that followed but didn't receive a direct answer to some of the questions. Here are the questions asked and responses from the shire.
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On what date did the shire stop issuing subdivision permits on the land affected by the new EAOs?
Council has not stopped assessing applications in Wonthaggi North East. Applications can still be assessed but must comply with the requirements of the Environmental Audit Overlay.
- On what date did the shire start knocking back subdivision applications because of the January 18 decision?
Council has not stopped assessing applications in Wonthaggi North East. Applications can still be assessed but must comply with the requirements of the Environmental Audit Overlay.
- When was the shire advised by the VPA that the new EAOs applied?
Council was aware that an EAO would be applied to some parts of the precinct. Council was not aware of the extent of the overlay until it was gazetted on January 18, and the requirement of land owners within established estates to complete a PSRA until the amendment was approved.
- When did the shire notice that private building surveyors were still issuing building permits (between January 18 and the present) for homes to be built on land affected by the new EAO? How many building permits have been issued in error by private building practitioners after January 18?
This first part of this question will need to be taken on notice. Council does not regulate Building Surveyors, this is a function of the Victorian Building Authority, Building Practitioners Board.
- When did the shire notify the property industry; the conveyancers, real estate agents, developer sales people, builders etc that new EAOs applied to some land in the North East Precinct?
Council was not aware of where the EAO was going to be applied. Notification of developers was conducted by the VPA.
- When did the shire notify the local property industry, prior to January 18, 2024, that the imposition of new overlays was imminent so that they could add the advice to their Section 32s etc.
Council was not aware of where the EAO was going to be applied. Notification of developers was conducted by the VPA.
