Whilst a lot of mid-size and smaller “developed commercial land/developed commercial assets” do not exceed the FIRB threshold nor trigger any FIRB approval requirements, most vacant commercial and industrial sites very often will require a foreign investor to go through a “no objection notification” process with The Treasury (with reference to the national interest test as per the FATA Act) and the department will very often impose development and reporting conditions as part of the approval. This will also involve negotiation and fine-tuning of “development conditions” and careful forward thinking town planning and environment/DA advice depending on the client’s development proposals and requirements.
This process is entirely different to the FIRB application process for residential assets.
Ensure Legal has recently guided a foreign corporate investor in going through the entire process obtaining a satisfactory outcome.
