Local Amenities Improvement Levy

Section 94 Indirect Development Contributions

In accordance with the provisions of the Sevtion 94A(1) of the Environment Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and The Strathfield Indirect Developmebt Contributions Plan 2010-30, a contribution has to be made to the council. If a Quantuty Surveyor report is not provided then based on Rawlinson's Costruction Cost Guide, the council determines this contribution which is almost the double the amount. And as a result, the owner is bound to produce the Quantity Surveyor report. 

This levy is 1% of the total build cost of the house. Now there is a contention here between the builders and the council. According to the builder this amount should be the total contract price which has been signed between the builder and the owner of the house. But on the contrary according to the Council, this figure should be the total cost of the build including all the internal variations. Just to make it worse the council makes it mandatory now to provide them the cost estimate of all the build costs in the form of Quantuiy Surveyor report which should be certified by a registered Quantity Surveyor who should be prescribed by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and  they should be members of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors. Now this is costly affair as it costs money for that kind of report and also does not make sense if someone is ready to show all the variations and the contract prices. I was willing to show and produce all the contracts signed by us 

with METRICON, but Council had its own agenda and we were asked to produce the Quantity Surveyor report. This is something like one wants to prove TRUTH to be the TRUTH. I am sure that all these contracts signed by the both parties are legally bound contracts and should be considered as such. This is another example of council's hard handedness... But having said all this, I presume they are making rules so that the costs are not shown under and there is another check on if there is any costs which could not be justifiable by the builders. 

I hope it will be sorted out when we are able to produce the report. 

If anyone else is in the same situation, here is our Surveyor's details:

Steve Lunniss

Steve Lunniss BSc (QS) MRICS AAIQS

Director

TSL Project Services Pty Ltd - Chartered Quantity Surveyors

Phone - 1300 792 360

www.tslprojectservices.com.au