[Ron Peters]

Hi Maria,

By ‘notification’ do you mean a 603 Certificate was issued but the 603 certificate did not show the K&G costs? If so, then we suggest the answer to your question may depend on the timing of the work the cost being recoverable, see s603 (3) (c) of the Act.

As Simone suggests above, which one of the following 2 cases applies:

Either – if at the time of the S603 certificate the K&G work had NOT been carried out on the land by the council and the cost was NOT recoverable from the owner or occupier for the work – then the new owner will be liable to pay the costs.

Or – if at the time of the S603 certificate the K&G work had indeed been carried out on the land by the council and the cost was already recoverable from the owner – then the new owner would have a case to argue for no liability.

If the later case applies, then to be pragmatic the size of the K&D debt might guide the action you take; if the debt is small you may wish to write it off, or if it is substantial we would normally give more formal legal advice.

If the former case is true, then we would agree with Ian that the new owners are liable. We manage a similar matter where an owner was charged for K&G. The owner then sold the property to his parents (without a 603 certificate) apparently hoping to avoid payment of the debt. The new owners/parents have been invoiced for the debt and are now paying under a payment arrangement offered by Council.

Best wishes

Richard McLean
0434 222 032