City council building fees hammer homes
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Sunday May 27, 2007
By Jared Savage
Higher city council building fees are making it even more difficult for first-home buyers to enter the booming property market.
Councils across Auckland are proposing fee rises to cover the costs of the Government's new building regulations, designed to prevent another leaky homes fiasco like that in the late-1990s when many developments were given consent but not inspected thoroughly.
However, builders and property developers say increased building consent fees, number of inspections and infrastructure levies - up to $30,000 - are costs that are being passed on to buyers.
A property developer building a million-dollar home in the swanky Auckland suburb of St Heliers, who asked not to be named, has spent more than $30,000 on council fees - more than the survey, engineering, geotechnical and architectural fees combined.
He said Auckland City Council's proposed fee increase, 4.9 per cent on top of an 18 per cent rise two years ago, was bad enough but the sheer number of fees "just tally up".
"You can't get building consent for less than $10,000 when it used to be $1500 or $2000 a few years ago. There's no doubt it's pushing up house prices."
"In the old days", plans would be submitted to council officers, who would review the designs and visit the site before consent was given, he said.
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