Western Sydney Airport landowners unable to sell as rates soar
Landowners around the new Western Sydney Airport are being slugged up to $24,000 in rates for land they can’t sell forcing some residents to come out of retirement.
NSW
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They are the hidden victims of Sydney’s property boom.
Some landowners feel they’ve lost their kids’ inheritance while others have been forced to come out of retirement to pay their bills.
All the while real estate agents laugh at the prospect of finding someone to buy their farms, located around the incoming Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.
However, landowners around the airport may be able to sell-up sooner, overcome a virtual freeze on improving their properties, and receive personalised planning advice under a bold plan being considered by the NSW Independent Community Commissioner.
It’s hoped Professor Roberta Ryan’s draft recommendations will avoid what some owners describe as the “thievery” of councils which charge more than $24,000 per year in rates (at 7 per cent interest) for land that can’t be sold or improved.
Prof Ryan was appointed by NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes earlier this year to address community concerns that landowners were being short-changed by the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.
“The circumstances of this group of people have not been appreciated and some are at their wits’ end,” Prof Ryan said in her first interview since taking on the role. “At the moment some people – especially those in zoned environment or recreation areas – are prevented from improving their land by building on it.
“I will be recommending the government consider transitional uses so people can, for example, build a granny flat or put a second storey on their home.”
Prof Ryan said she wants people to have more certainty around the timing if they need to, for personal reasons, move on before the government requires their land.
This would likely involve selling property early.
“In each precinct there needs to be a go-to person where things can be explained and property owners can access information,” Prof Ryan said.
“It can’t be someone who says ‘that’s not my role, I don’t know’. It needs to be someone who says ‘I will find out for you’.
“We need to build back a sense of trust that has been lost.”
Truck drivers Joe Leonello, 73, and his brother Andy, 76, have been forced out of retirement to pay rates to Penrith Council on their 9.1ha site at Luddenham.
Their Italian migrant parents purchased the land for £12,000 in 1962 ($357,230 in today’s money) and the boys were working from their early teens to help pay it off.
While today it’s worth $8.6m on paper, there is nobody willing to buy it because the vast majority of the land is classed as open space/parkland for the purposes of the aerotropolis, which is the city surrounding the new $5.3bn airport.
In the past year their rates have increased from $14,243 to $24,412 per year.
“It’s complete outrageous thievery,” Joe said. “I don’t think we can survive for too long. I’ve got bills also like everybody else just to live.”
Joe said he and his brother are ineligible for the aged pension because of their land asset.
“We would like the government to step in and do something because they devalued our land for parkland – we can’t improve the land,” he said. “And they won’t tell us if they want to buy it off us or not. Because when they feel that they want to buy, it could be in two or 20 years.
“I don’t think I have got that much life in me.”
Penrith Council says ratepayers can make alternative payment arrangements such as weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments, or an extension of time to pay at a later date.
The council said “this includes postponing their rates until a future sale is achieved”.
The airport is due to open in 2026, with the Western Sydney Aerotropolis Draft Precinct Plans expected to be finalised by the end of the year.
That plan will lock-in zonings for each precinct, whether that be open space, agribusiness, residential or industrial/employment.
A Department of Planning spokesman said they expect the Valuer General – who sets official land values in NSW – will conduct new valuations “on all land impacted by zoning changes”.
Another huge variable on land prices will be the flight paths, which have not been finalised despite the direction of runways already being set.
Cynics say this decision – which will dictate which areas cop the worst aircraft noise – won’t be done until after the federal election.
“We are currently in the preliminary design phase, which is a complex process,” a federal government spokeswoman said. “The flight path design … is progressing well and is on track for the airport’s scheduled late 2026 opening.”
Bringelly grandmother Keren Wilson, 67, has watched her 75-year-old husband’s health deteriorate after he struggled to recover from a hernia operation last year.
His ongoing nursing home care will cost up to $100,000 a year which is currently being paid for by rapidly diminishing superannuation.
The couple purchased their 5ha block for $400,000 in 1994. About five years ago 2ha properties were selling for about $3m “but we were not ready to sell”, Mrs Wilson said. Their property has since been classed in draft plans as “green zone with no access to roads”.
“Our house remains unsellable, locked inside the aerotropolis core green zone, with no plans of government acquisition and skyrocketing land rates,” Mrs Wilson said, adding her annual rates from Liverpool Council have just gone up from $3113 to $4138.
“I feel stuck, in a situation I can’t control. The situation weighs heavily on mine and my son’s day-to-day lives.”
The part-time piano teacher said her parents “left us financially secure and my husband and I thought we would be able to do the same for our boys”.
“But it looks impossible,” Mrs Wilson said.
“I feel I have lost their inheritance and am a failure.”
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