southport - Southport Central Residential Owners

The Gold Coast City Council builds and maintains the city’s infrastructure, including roads, parks, traffic signals, libraries, community centres, etc. To pay for this, it charges property owners general rates. This used to be a fairly simple charge assessed as a “rate” in the dollar based on the value of a property.

^{Interview with a Southport Central resident, July 29, 2024}

The council has claimed that it has set a general rate of just 4.4 per cent. That, however, is very misleading as it is just the average across the whole city. In practice, the council has levied an additional view tax on all apartments in the Gold Coast resulting in an up to 50 percent increase in rates.

The new tax mirrors a “sunshine” tax first levied in England in 1696. It taxed property owners on the number of windows on the theory that the more windows, the wealthier the owner. It was repealed more than 170 years ago. The Gold Coast City Council’s version is that the higher your floor, the wealthier you are.

It goes like this: The higher the floor, the better the view; the better the view, the more valuable your apartment; the wealthier you are; the wealthier you are, the more you can afford to pay.

^{Southport Central resident Chris Griffith and Laura Bos, the general manager of the Strata Community Association Queensland, discuss the ‘view tax’ on Seven Sunrise, Sept 4, 2024.}

The council says this is a fairer and more equitable way to set rates. But only for rating apartments. What do you think??? It affects every apartment owner, whether an investor, a retiree on a fixed income, an ordinary working person, a single mother, etc.

We all know this formula is fatally flawed and without any logical basis. No two views are equal. Many lower floors in some buildings can have a different and often better outlook than some higher floors that look into an adjoining building metres away.

Multi-million homes have very valuable views across canals as do mansions with absolute beach frontage and ocean views. They do not suffer a view tax.

The council acknowledges that it is far less expensive to maintain infrastructure for apartment owners than for low density suburban areas. Yet it singles us out to grossly
subsidise those suburban areas.

You receive higher rates depending on your floor

It is up to owners to protest this anachronistic, unfair and discriminatory view tax. Many of us have already written to our local councillor and our Member of Parliament.

We have also written to the state Minister for Local Government responsible for the legislation that lets the council impose this tax, and importantly, given the impending state election, the Shadow Minister for Local Government.

All owners need to write to ALL of these representatives telling them what we think of this and demanding the repeal of this tax.

Click here to protest to the council.

Email Ms Meaghan Scanlon, Minister for Local Government, Queensland 4000, housing@ministerial.qld.gov.au.

There’s also Ms Ann Leahy, Shadow Minister for Local Government, Queensland 4000, warrego@parliament.qld.gov.au.

Tell them that higher floors don’t equal an ability to pay up to 50% more in rates than a property owner in the suburbs or a multi-millionaire living on a canal.

Do it now!

In 2023 the body corporate committee sought to enter into a 60-month agreement with Locality Planning Energy Pty Ltd (LPE) to be the designated power provider at the complex from January 1, 2024 until December 31, 2028.

Our view was that this is lengthy agreement, especially given the lack of transparency on aspects of this would operate.

For example, the then proposal made no mention of the ‘offset’ arrangement it had negotiated with LPE for common property electricity.

We were told in official Newsletter No.27 that “the body corporate is expecting to receive an annual offset of approximately $291,155 including GST to be applied against common property electricity charges . . . which is expected to cover all future common area electricity charges.”

A one-year initial agreement would have been wiser, especially considering possible electricity charges that we could be locked into paying.

Nevertheless, the committee’s motion passed at the 2023 Annual General Meeting unamended. The motion said:

That the body corporate agrees:

to enter into a 60-month Agreement with Locality Planning Energy Pty Ltd ACN 148 958 061 (LPE), for a term commencing on 1 January 2024 and expiring on 31 December 2028, in the terms and conditions of the attached Agreement and Schedules, to continue as the retailer for the scheme’s existing embedded network for the supply and billing of electricity, water heating and cooker gas to the common property and all lots;
that LPE will operate a tender for the energy supply through an independent third Party;
that the committee has the authority to do all things necessary to provide relevant information to LPE and to sign any documentation to allow the tender to be conducted by LPE;
that LPE will endeavour to achieve agreement for all parent meter NMIs to be included in one contract to ensure that the best wholesale rate is secured and all NMIs align with the same contract end date;
that LPE will endeavour to ensure the electricity rate applied will be same across all Community Titles Schemes on the site;
that the committee has the authority to accept the best available wholesale offer received through the tender process;
that the committee has the authority to agree to the wholesale energy rate within 7 days of receiving the results of the tender process;
that LPE will bill electricity at Passthrough (cost price) plus the recovery cost of the tender process and the billing fee;
that all residential customers will have access to consumer rights, protections, and financial support in accordance with current legislation;
that the seal of the body corporate is to be affixed to the Agreement and two members of the committee be authorised to sign it.

Tag Archives: southport

How the nasty council ‘view tax’ works

LPE power deal isn’t transparent