February 18, 2015
Property owners on the failed Memerambi Estate have been given a deadline to either agree to a South Burnett Regional Council plan to fix the estate’s infrastructure problems or do the work themselves.
At today’s council general meeting, Finance portfolio chair Cr Keith Campbell said the council had been attempting to get agreement from property owners to have the estate declared a “benefitted area” for several months.
If the agreement was accepted, Council would borrow money to build missing infrastructure on the Estate through a long-term, low-interest loan from Queensland Treasury.
Owners could then move into their properties and repay their share of the total bill – estimated to be between $26,000 and $30,000 per lot – either in a lump sum or as an addition to their normal rates bill over an extended period.
One group of owners, who have mounted several court actions since the estate’s developer went into liquidation in August 2013, have been sent an offer which is conditional on them agreeing to waive any future legal actions against the Council.
The remaining owners, who have not been involved in court proceedings, have been sent a letter outlining the Council’s proposal.
Cr Campbell said today all owners will now be given a fixed deadline of March 31 to respond to the Council’s offer.
If it was not taken up, the “benefitted area” proposal would lapse and the property owners would need to raise an estimated $2.1 million to construct the missing infrastructure themselves.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann, who has been adamant South Burnett ratepayers should not pay the cost of remedying the estate’s problems, said there had been a lot of correspondence between Council’s lawyers and lawyers representing the first group of owners.
“The courts have found repeatedly that Council has no responsibility in this matter, and this has cost our ratepayers a lot of money,” he said.
“So we’re not going to borrow money to fix things up if we’re going to find ourselves back in court at some future date. There has to be a line drawn somewhere.”
The Mayor said another factor that councillors had to take into consideration was that it was possible some of the Estate’s investors would simply “walk away” from their investments, leaving the Council with the properties.
In such a case, he said, the Council would likely sell any abandoned properties for “around $40,000 each” to recover each property’s share of infrastructure costs plus outstanding rates.
Most houses on the estate had originally been marketed for more than $200,000 each with a 12-month rental guarantee.
Related articles:
- Memerambi Deadline Drawing Close
- Council Plugs Memerambi ‘Hole’
- Delays Anger Owners
- Memerambi Owners Offered A Way Out
- Memerambi Solution Inches Closer
- Council Puts An End To Historical Sub-Divisions
- Court Clears Way For Memerambi Solution
- TV Ambush ‘Un-Australian’
- Which Way Now For Memerambi?
- Drainage Problems ‘May Be Solved’
- Memerambi Homes ‘Not For Refugees’
That’s fair, purchasers should always remember ‘Caveat Emptor’
I think council is doing the right thing. The community in general should not have to pay for these investors being hoodwinked by a crooked developer. It is most unfortunate for these investors but sometimes you need to take responsibility for your actions and not blame everyone else. That old saying comes to mind: “Buyer beware!”