Lismore Council Drops S94 Developer Contribution Fees!

Lismore Council joins Byron and Ballina – No More Granny Flat Developer Contribution Fees!

Lismore Council has today decided to stop charging Section-94 Developer Contribution Fees, which is a positive result for Granny Flat developers in the region. You might recall two years ago when Byron Council charged an average of $32,000 on Granny Flats. They have since removed this horrendous fee after much public opposition. This has resulted in a significant uptake of granny flats in that region. The advantage of granny flats for growing families has certainly been recognised by the State Government and we applaud Lismore Council for allowing granny flats to be built without slugging developers with an additional fee.

This contrasts heavily with many Sydney Councils, who have seen fit to impose these fees on secondary dwellings and even studios in many cases. It’s difficult enough for mums and dads to budget for a new granny flat, with approval fees and other connection charges. Imposing another Local Government fee which can be up to 20% of the overall costs is just abhorrent in our view.

The ‘Affordable’ Housing SEPP was not designed to be abused and we feel that these fees are an unfair imposition, to say the least. We therefore ask that you lobby your Local Member to extinguish these fees as they are (in our view) an unfair and a totally unaffordable aspect of what is termed ‘Affordable Housing’ under the NSW Government Planning Policy.

Granny Flat Section-94 Fees

Granny Flat Section-94 Fees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please feel free to drop us a line or check out our other thread where we name and shame Councils who charge these fees.

Regards,

Serge Panayi – Granny Flat Approvals.

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Comments

2 replies on Lismore Council Drops S94 Developer Contribution Fees!

  • Juno Logan says:
    September 10, 2015 at 10:57 pm

    Hi serge

    I live in lismore. I converted a double colour bond shed for my daughter to live in. It has a kitchen (not a built in stove) and a shower but no toilet. It is not near a sewer and is approx 1 m from side and back boundary. The shed already had council approval as a shed. It has a double concrete base. A glass sliding door, small bathroom window and another normal size window. It has an instant gas hot water system. It has a fire alarm (not wired).

    Do you think Lismore council would retrospectively approve it as a granny flat to rent out once my daughter leaves home? What would I have to do and how much would I be up for in costs?

    I obviously want it to be safe.

    Thanks.

    • Serge Panayi says:
      September 10, 2015 at 11:10 pm

      Hi J,

      The NSW State legislation has provisions which allows structures to be Converted form Sheds (or other ‘outbuildings’) to Granny Flats. Please read our Conversion Articles for more clarity on the minimum requirements and process here: https://www.grannyflatapprovals.com.au/garage-conversion-guides/

      Our comprehensive, fixed-price Approval Pricing (for Sydney) is clearly published here: https://www.grannyflatapprovals.com.au/garage-conversions/
      Its also vitally important to understand that there will usually be some physical work needed to bring the structure up to standards (Building Code of Australia, BASIX – Energy Efficiency etc). Our Guides are here to help you with that.

      It’s also important to employ an experienced and knowledgeable person(s), as there are many ‘trappings’ in the Certification Process.

      Please also note that an existing ‘steel’ framed structure are required to be Certified by the original manufacturer as being suitable for residential use OR for them to provide an ‘upgrade kit’ for it to be structurally adequate for habitation. This requirement is a VERY strict Australian Code requirement for metal-framed structures.

      I hope this helps.

      Regards,

      Serge Panayi
      Director.

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