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Prefab and modular housing reforms top priorities for Land Lease NSW’s new leadership.
Land Lease Living NSW has appointed Wayne Lange as its new Chief Executive Officer, marking a leadership transition aligned with the Association’s intensifying campaign to reform planning rules for manufactured home estates across the state—particularly in the Sydney metropolitan region. (main pic: Parkwood Modular Buildings manufacturers for Land Lease Living NSW.)
Lange, who has served as the Association’s Chief Operating Officer since 2022, was selected following a recruitment process that attracted more than 100 applicants. He brings more than two decades of experience across the tourism and operations sectors, including his tenure as General Manager – Operations at the Caravan & Camping Industry Association of NSW.
While the appointment signals continuity in leadership, it arrives at a key moment in the Association’s policy agenda. Land Lease Living NSW is seeking urgent changes to planning regulations that it argues are hampering the growth of modular prefab home developments and undermining the viability of land lease communities in areas with high housing demand.
Chief among the Association’s proposals is the removal of a longstanding restriction under the State Housing Planning Policy that currently prohibits the development of manufactured home estates within the Sydney region. The Association says lifting this restriction would unlock supply in strategically located sites and facilitate more efficient use of land for modular housing developments.
It is also calling for a broader, more flexible definition of manufactured homes that reflects contemporary building methods, including both offsite and onsite modular construction. The current definition limits these homes to buildings produced away from the site, a constraint the Association believes no longer aligns with how modular prefab homes are delivered today.
Recent briefings from Building Commission NSW suggest the government is considering updates to Part 6 of the Consolidated Building Bill. These changes could align approval processes for land lease communities with those of traditional building developments, reducing regulatory complexity under Section 68 of the Local Government Act.
However, the Association continues to stress the importance of implementing building and planning reforms concurrently and in consultation with industry. It has warned against any reclassification of manufactured homes as fixtures, which could affect residents’ eligibility for Commonwealth Rental Assistance and disrupt leasing or tax frameworks for operators under the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013.
With more than 500 land lease communities currently housing over 34,000 people in NSW, industry advocates maintain that reforms are essential to expanding housing supply and fully realising the potential of modular prefab homes in the land lease sector.
