Catch up on the key updates from Property Council’s advocacy team, including:
Government rules out reviewing risk, liability and insurance settings within the building sector
The Government has overtly ruled out reviewing risk, liability and insurance settings through MBIEs Policy Position Statement released last week.
At a high level, the Policy Position Statement outlines that:
- the current joint and several rules is deemed the appropriate liability rules for the sector;
- the capping of local authority liability is not considered necessary; and
- a public-provided building defects insurance scheme is not currently justified.
The sector has been crying out for these meaningful changes for some time and we are disappointed that after five long years it has been taken off the table.
Property Council (alongside many local authorities) have long favoured reducing (or capping) council liability settings and establishing an insurance scheme to help reduce consent timeframes and encourage innovation within the sector. We will continue to advocate within this space.
Upcoming launch of energy efficiency ratings snapshot tool
Property Council New Zealand and the New Zealand Green Building Council are working together to develop a ratings snapshot tool for the built environment. The Ratings Snapshot will provide an overview of the different rating tools available in Aotearoa and their key objectives, scope, governance and assessment processes.
The document will be an important resource for our members in providing a helpful overview of the rating tools available in New Zealand and how they may be applied.
Watch this space!
Property Council releases Principles of Value Capture
This year, Value Capture has become a key workstream for Property Council New Zealand. Our Value Capture Taskforce has explored the potential for Value Capture to serve as a tool to fund infrastructure projects in New Zealand. We have recently established ‘bottom line’ principles in relation to value capture and shared them to a wide range of central and local government stakeholders. Have a read of our principles below:
Background
Various international jurisdictions have utilised Value Capture as an infrastructure funding mechanism. Value Capture seeks to collect revenue from the private ‘value’ that public investment in infrastructure generates. When the government builds new infrastructure that unlocks development opportunities, there is typically an uplift in property value, the benefit of which goes to private landowners. There are multiple Value Capture methods, which are adopted at various stages of the development process.
Definition
Value Capture is an approach to infrastructure funding, where government looks to receive a contribution from properties that receive value, as a result of central or local government investment.
Principles
- Value Capture must only apply to properties with a clear geographic link to the new infrastructure and be applied proportionally across properties that have seen an increase in value and/or their development capacity (e.g., zoning).
- Value Capture must differentiate between property types (e.g., commercial, office, industrial and residential) to reflect value received.
- Value Capture should not detrimentally impact the financial feasibility of future developments and should not be used to wholly fund any particular project.
- To prevent unintended and perverse outcomes, Value Capture should be the result of meaningful engagement with all sectors (including the private sector), signalled well in advance, and not be retrospectively applied.
Please contact Logan Rainey for further information.