I support the member for Lake Macquarie's sensible amendment to the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Amendment Bill 2024. I am very supportive of the bill, which covers 21 of the 48 recommendations from the five‑year statutory review of the Act.
However, I note the review was tabled in Parliament in November 2021 and since then inflation has trended higher. I understand extensive stakeholder consultation has taken place. However, I cannot support giving operators three years to phase in the very sensible pricing reform of restricting fixed‑method site increases to one element. I believe one year is more than sufficient.
Some land lease agreements are currently determined by multiple elements, one of which is often the rate of inflation. Since the statutory review report was tabled in 2021, domestic inflation is up 13 per cent and the Reserve Bank currently forecasts inflation to rise another 11 per cent over the three years to 2027. I do not need to go on about the cost‑of‑living and housing crises. Giving operators three years to transition to a fairer model is just not the right thing to do. The residential land lease industry has changed a great deal over the past decade, with large multinationals moving into the sector, buying up communities across the State and developing new communities.
Just last week Stockland announced a $1 billion capital partnership with United States player, lnvesco Real Estate, to pursue growth in whatThe Australian Financial Review called "the red hot land lease communities sub‑sector". On the other side of the coin are the home owners who are primarily over 55. Many are on fixed incomes and site fees are becoming increasingly unaffordable, impacting their ability to pay for other essentials. Three years is too long to transition from the fixed method with multiple variables to a fixed method with a single variable. I simply support the member for Lake Macquarie's amendment.
05 June 2024, 21:20.
To view the entire reading of the bill, see the full Hansard extract at Residential [Land Lease] Communities Amendment Bill 2024 - Second Reading