Local governments have claimed they are not to blame for a drop in building approvals in Western Australia since the introduction of the controversial Building Act in April.
Since the Act was introduced, approvals have slumped as builders and councils struggled with the new rules.
But approvals have almost recovered to levels before the change.
Western Australian Local Government Association president Troy Pickard said the introduction of the Act had not been without its teething problems.
“However, claims by the building industry that the reduction in approved applications was due to a backlog in processing by local governments have proven to be untrue,” Mr Pickard said.
Speaking at the state conference of the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors, he said recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed that delays in building approvals were the result of fewer applications being submitted to local governments.
WALGA conducted a study of 54 its member councils, representing 39 per cent of local governments, and the approvals they received and processed between April and June.
The study showed that in April 1,167 applications were lodged and 1,218 passed. In May, 2,227 applications were lodged and 2,395 processed and in June 2,526 applications were lodged and 2456 processed.
The survey also investigated the number of developers who used private certifiers for their building approvals, as allowed under the new Act.
Responses revealed that only 375 out of 8,035 applications used certified surveyors; more than 95 per cent used the relevant local government.
“It is interesting to note that despite clamouring for private certification as an essential part of change to the WA system, the building industry does not seem to have as much appetite for using this method,” Mr Pickard said.
Master Builders Association housing director Gavan Forster disputed this interpretation, saying the use of private certifiers was growing.
“This is particularly the case when builders have work in areas which they regard as being administered by uncooperative or recalcitrant local authorities and/or their staff,” Mr Forster said.
He also acknowledged there was a tendency by some builders to stick with what they knew and use a local authority to certify the plans.
Mr Forster said builders and building surveyors had to come to grips with the new system and, in many instances, it was an incorrect interpretation of the legislation by council building surveyors and local authorities creating their own “rules on the run” which contributed to the delays.
Mr Forster said Mr Pickard’s conclusions on the limited use of private certifiers was based on too short a period of analysis and was an inaccurate assessment of industry requirements.
Housing Industry Association WA president John Dastlik said the new Act had slowed the building industry and that people were still having difficulty interpreting it five months on.
“For WALGA to come out and say the crisis caused by the introduction of this Building Act is a fallacy is far from correct,” Mr Dastlik said.
HIA new home sales figures released this week show sales in the three months to July were 6.4 per cent higher than the previous three months. Housing sales since April have increased while building approvals dropped.
“When you look at the sales figures, the trend has clearly been upwards and we should not have had this drop in activity levels,” Mr Dastlik said.
“Building approvals should have clearly kept improving.”
Only 950 building applications were passed in April when the Act came in, down from 1,781 the month before.
“It created an enormous amount of work for builders to get their applications in and an enormous amount of work for local governments to have them passed,” Mr Dastlik said.
He said the situation had improved and was showing further signs of recovery.
“One set of amendments has already occurred and further amendments are scheduled to go through parliament soon,” he said.
However, Mr Dastlik warned that the market still had not recovered from the initial shock in April.
“If WALGA thinks everything is hunky dory, they may want to go out and talk to the builders and contractors who are only just starting to recover from April,” he said.