The recent panic over the impending law changes that will allow “designated authorities” to compulsorily buy bits of backyards and sell them on to developers, may have missed the point.
Could this actually be Frank Sartor’s long-awaited “Little Old Lady” law. Will it force owners to sell out of apartment buildings that are way past their use-by dates, so that modern, more efficient and much bigger blocks can be built instead?
Many of these crumbling blocks are in prime sites that could house a lot more people in more environmentally friendly homes.But, as strata law stands, all it takes is one person to refuse to sell and the scheme fails.
It could be a little old lady who simply doesn’t want to move or an opportunist who thinks they can inflate their sale price by hanging on when all their neighbours have sold out.
But this new law would allow councils and other similar bodies to buy land or “an interest in land” and sell it on to developers where there was a “net public benefit”.
Existing owners and potential new residents not being thwarted by one recalcitrant neighbour sounds a lot like net public benefit.
I called Planning NSW and asked if Article 9a was compulsory strata extinguishment in disguise. I was told no, as all strata matters come under the Office of Fair Trading. Not so, I explained. At a fundamental level, strata also comes under Planning and the Department of Lands.
So, could this law be used to buy out recalcitrant apartment owners, whether they want to go or not? That was three weeks ago – since then … nothing.
A lawyer friend thinks Article 9a could theoretically force the sale of apartments to a developer but doubts if it would ever be used that way.
Then you remember who we are talking about: Planning NSW, local councils and their generous developer friends.
All we can do is wait … and watch.