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Acquiring your space

Leasehold in the ACT.

A presentation by

Elizabeth Estbergs of Archives ACT

for the

ACT Heritage Festival 7 April 2009

Pre-colonial era

English land law• All land of a British possession belongs to the

Crown• No-one except the Crown can have absolute

ownership of the land

1788• The land in NSW belonged to the Crown

Henry George Publications

• The conditions of labour• Progress & poverty• The single tax: what it is, and why we urge it• Social problems

Private ownership of land• Fundamental evil• Perverted and distorted the fee enterprise economy

Did not advocate land nationalisation Toured Australia 1889-890 Labor Party did not espouse Single Tax

Federation Political philosophy & groups of the 1890s• Free trade or protection• Labour movement• Australian Natives Association• Womanhood Suffrage League• Temperance groups• Anti-imperialists

Experience of Washington, District of Columbia• 10 square miles• 100 square miles

Leasehold principle Political platform from 1901

• Edmund Barton• Land within the federal area will not be sold. Its ownership will be

retained by the Commonwealth.

Reasons • to limit speculation in undeveloped land• ensure increasing values contributed to the cost of a federal

capital territory• Allow unearned increments in land value to be retained by the

Australian people• Ensure orderly growth through lease purpose clauses

Leases are sold or disposed of, not the land itself

Constitution Imperial legislation• An Act to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia

[9th July 1900](63 & 64 Victoria - Chapter 12)

Seat of Government• 52. The Parliament shall, subject to this

Constitution, have exclusive power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to--

• (i) The seat of the government of the Commonwealth, and all places acquired by the Commonwealth for public purposes:

• ….

Seat of Government Acts

Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909 (NSW)• Counties of Murray and Cowley, area about

900 square miles • The right of the State or of the residents

therein to the use and control of the waters of the Queanbeyan and Molonglo Rivers and their tributaries ...

Seat of Government Acts (2) Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909

(Cwlth)• Continuance of laws

Subject to this Act, all laws in force in the Territory immediatelybefore the proclaimed day shall, so far as applicable, continue inforce until other provision is made.

• Continuance of interests in landAll estates and interests in any land in the Territory which are heldby any person from the State immediately before the proclaimedday shall, subject to any law of the Commonwealth, continue to

beheld from the Commonwealth on the same terms and conditions

as they were held from the State

Seat of Government (Administration) Act 1910 (Cwlth) Section 9 of the Act provides that no land in

the Territory can be held by freehold• legislating the leasehold system that continues

today.

The ACT is the only self-governing territory in Australia established under a system of leasehold.

No disposal or sale of freehold land in the ACT by Government since 1910

Acquisition of freehold

All crown lands transferred without payment Private freehold compensated First acquisitions were for:• The City• Streams for water supply

City Area Leases Ordinance 1921

Ordinances made under Seat of Government (Administration) Act 1910• Empowered Minister to grant leases within the city

area for periods not exceeding 90 years• Lessees were to erect boundary fences• Annual rent not less than 5% unimproved value of

the land• Erection of an approved building

No leases granted under this Ordinance

City Area Leases Ordinance 1924

Amended 1921 Ordinance 99 year leases Rental 5 per cent per annum Bidding at auction Unimproved capital value to be re-appraised Appeal provision Churches received perpetual leases

Leases Ordinance 1918 Lands outside the City area Not exceeding 25 years for agricultural or

grazing purposes Rental 5 per cent per annum Special conditions• Extermination of weeds• Extermination of noxious animals

40,000 acres for returned servicemen Tenant rights in improvements Appeal rights to the Land Commissioner

Before the auction – the plan

Auctions

Advertisement from the Argus, 1 November 1924

By order of the Right Honourable G. F. Pearce, F.C. Minister for Home and Territories, Commonwealth of Australia.

The Territory for the Seat of Government.

Canberra

The Capital City of the Commonwealth

30 June 1925Subdivisi

onResident

ialBusine

ssCapital

Value £

Ainslie 37 6 15,414

Blandfordia 16 6,635

Civic Centre

20 14,700

Eastlake 68 12 26,150

Manuka 23 10,282

Red Hill 32 11,302

Total 154 61 £84,483

30 June 1926Subdivision Residenti

alBusiness/

IndustrialCapital Value

£

Ainslie 74 20 30,297

Blandfordia 40 6 16,545

Civic Centre 48 59,500

Eastlake 68 12 26,150

Manuka 24 11,582

Red Hill 42 14,252

South Ainslie

20 5,505

Telopea 7 2,560

166,311

Lessees 29 May 1926

Civic Centre – Business blocks• Lease no. 4 Upset value £875 McGill £1400• Lease no. 5 (500) Oakley and Parkes architects 1300• Lease no. 6 (1800) John Deans 1800• Lease no. 7 (500) C.O’Keefe 1400• Lease no. 8 (500) G. Adams 1300• Lease no. 9 (500) Hutchinson Bros. 1300• Lease no. 10 (500) Pringle 1450

etc

Canberra Leases 9 April 1927

Ainslie Boarding House site• Section 57 Block 1 J. Burcham Clamp £1100

North Ainslie – Canberra Avenue Subdivision• Section 6 Block 6 Canberra Building and

Investment Co. Ltd £160• Section 6 Block 12 ditto• Section 6 Block 13 ditto

Eastlake Circle - Motor Service Station• Section 25 Block 1 H. Brodie, Bredbo (upset price

£2000) £11,300

The Lease

Lease conditions

Lessee buys• the rights to the use of the land• During a certain period of time• In a certain way

• Purpose clause• Development condition

Business leases 50 sites ready 1973• 7 suburbs without shops• 15 service station sites• 32 industrial sites• 33 service trade sites

100 business sites by 1974 Problem of release technique Minister for the Capital Territory, Kep Enderby

suspended land auctions 1 August 1973 Commission of Inquiry into Land Tenure

Integrated shopping centres

Innovative retailing 1980s recession Commercial relationships• Property owners & tenants• Property owners & government

Finding the pot of gold Mining Act 1906 (NSW)

• NSW unable to grant licences to prospect or mine for minerals because Territory land was “exempted Crown Lands”

Mining Ordinance 1930• Issue miners’ rights• Authority to prospect• Mining lease• Exempted areas:

• Canberra City district

• Cotter River catchment

• Parts of the Molonglo & Queanbeyan River catchments

• No Warden’s Court

Railway line and border

FreeholdLocality plan showing Canberra freeholds estate and its relation to the Federal territory, prepared and published by Henry F. Halloran & Co., Auctioneers & Sydney, 1926.

Queanbeyan Racecourse

Tharwa Road

Land rent

…“Similarly, time tends to erode the understanding on which the system was based and this was evidenced by the changes made in Canberra such as the abolition of land rent which gave it some of the characteristics of freehold.”…

John Gorton – abolition• http://www.crispinhull.com.au/2002/05/05/2002_05_may_land-rent-gorton/

Expenditure/Revenue 1952 Total expenditure to 30 June 1952• (a) lands £ 921,235.16.5• (b) engineering works 9,057,270. 4.4• (c) architectural works 12,257,974.12.6• (d) miscellaneous 2,022,218.12.6

Total capital expenditure 24,258,699.5.9• (e) maintenance 19,244,001.13.1

Total £43,502,700.18.10 Revenue £10,312,394.12. 8 Net expenditure £33,190,306. 3. 2

Municipal charges 1952

rate of 1/3 in the £1 on the unimproved value of the land• 7d. for general rate• 2d. for lighting• 3 ½d for water• 2 ½d for sewerage

Rural landholders general rate 3 ½d in the £1 for unimproved assessed value

Inquiry into Land Tenure 1973

“The effectiveness of the system depends on an understanding of and adherence to the essence of the leasehold concept i.e. a lease is a contract between landlord and lessee.”

Self-Government 1989 Australian Capital Territory (Planning and Land

Management) Act 1989 (Cwlth)• National land• Territory land

• ACT Executive is responsible for Territory land

Land Act 1991• Repealed all former leasing ordinances relating to Territory

land• Administered by Lease Administration Branch of DELP

(Department of Environment, Land and Planning)• DELP abolished 1995

• Land Division of Department of Urban Services

• Planning and Land Management (PALM)

2003 - 2009

Planning and Land Act 2002• ACT Planning and Land Authority

Formed 1 July 2003

• Land Development Agency • Formed 1 July 2003 – sells the land• Formed from

– Land Group of Department of Urban Services

– Gungahlin Development Authority

– Kingston Foreshore Development Authority

Planning and Development Act 2007