The Canberra Liberals will undertake a review of lease variation charges if they win the ACT election, Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee has announced.
Ms Lee said the review would look at how the charge is calculated, how it is applied to all change of lease applications and how it affects housing affordability.
People who build on an existing block have to pay to change their crown lease. This applies when a second property is added to a block and can cost up to $250,000 in some areas of the territory.
"We know that it's those upfront costs that make homeownership so out of reach for many Canberrans," Ms Lee said.
The ACT government has changed its territory plan to allow for more development on RZ1 blocks. Under the changes, a dual occupancy can be built on blocks larger than 800 square metres but there are a number of other conditions that have to be met.
The second home can't be larger than 120 square metres.
Lease variation charges would apply to the second dwelling.
But this policy has been criticised by a tripartisan Legislative Assembly committee which found the policy "may be limited in its uptake".
The Liberals have promised to drop the 120 square metre limit on the second property.
"We are committed to a change to RZ1 blocks that are larger than 800 square metres to allow separately titled dual occupancies without an arbitrary restriction on the size of the second dwelling," Ms Lee said.
"We are committed to seeing sensible density on our larger blocks in our suburbs to give choice to older Canberrans who wish to continue living in the community that they know and love but who want the option of a smaller dwelling with a smaller garden."
Ms Lee gave the keynote address at the Property Council of Australia ACT's economic outlook event on Thursday.
She also told the event the Liberals would remove stamp duty for the second property for its first transfer.
The Opposition Leader has yet to reveal her party's policy around taxation for rates but has promised this would be shared before the October poll.
The ACT government is in the middle of a 20-year process to phase out stamp duty altogether and replace this revenue with rates.
Ms Lee said stamp duty would be considered as part of the Liberal's examination of tax policy.
"The Canberra Liberals have long advocated for a fairer rates system so of course in relation to that tax we will have more to say before the election," she said.
Purdon Planning chief executive Dan Stewart was part of a panel with Ms Lee, following her address, and he said lease variation charges had scuttled developments.
"There's a host of projects that would proceed if not for the lease variation charge, or the lease variation charge at its current level," he said.
"I've done plenty of feasibilities that support that so we have evidence that supports the suppliers being hindered by the lease variation charge."
The Opposition Leader took aim at Chief Minister and Treasurer Andrew Barr's economic management during her speech.
"The ACTs Treasurer has no plan to deviate from his trajectory of reckless spending of your money on infrastructure announcements that have not eventuated; on dodgy procurements; and on abandoned projects," Ms Lee said.
