As a statewide conveyancing firm, we get to deal with many of South Australia’s real estate developers and on their behalf we applaud the government’s decision to accept in part or in full all recommendations of Brian Hayes QC’s review of the planning approval system.
It’s fair to say that when we help investors close out on a deal or put the foundations into place for major subdivisions and development, clients can range from anxious to frustrated, depending on the road to planning approval.
This is why we are now expecting to be working with happier clients, from small developers up to those who take on multiple, complex projects.

Changes coming to planning approval in South Australia

According to a report in The Advertiser, Overhaul of the state planning system gets Cabinet approval, one of the key outcomes is that decisions about individual applications will be taken out of the hands of local councillors and ‘far fewer will require a detailed assessment, which should speed up the whole planning process.’

From our conveyancing perspective we anticipate these changes will lead to less red tape for building applications along with land division applications which can only be a good thing for our clients.

We think our clients with a particular involvement in new building and new land divisions, will be those who have the most to gain from this proposed change.

South Australia loosening the grip of red tape?

While bureaucracies within developed communities like ours will always be slow at untying red tape that has accumulated over decades or centuries, we’re anticipating our clients will roundly praise the move as a positive one.
This decision follows close on the heels of Revenue SA’s move, which I wrote about recently, to do away with some of the formalities and paperwork involved when Transferees on documents are different from Purchasers.
Of course, there are still plenty of areas of complexity in the laws surrounding property but that’s why we’re here, to guide you through the changing legal landscape safely.