Land sale: 49 former Mr Fluffy blocks to go under the hammer

The auction, on April 5, will see house blocks offered from the suburbs of Downer, Hackett, Mawson, Narrabundah, O'Connor, Red Hill and Yarralumla.

It is the second mass auction this year. More than 90 blocks went under the hammer last month. A total of 93 blocks were were sold.

The smallest block in the latest sale is 6 Morris Street, Higgins, at 682 square metres, with four other blocks at 689 square metres each. The largest is 37 Victoria Street, Hall, at 2027 square metres.

The former Fluffy blocks over 700 square metres can be unit titled for two homes. Blocks zoned RZ2 can also be redeveloped for two homes.

The Fluffy sales have been the subject of some controversy lately, after two families who bought a former Mr Fluffy in Griffith were hit with thousands of dollars of unexpected fees after remnants of asbestos were uncovered on site. Bonded asbestos was also uncovered on a block in Macquarie that went under the hammer in the last land sale after flooding in the area.

Deputy director-general Geoffrey Rutledge said of the 1023 contaminated properties,

922 had been demolished by the government, and

22 privately.

The ACT government's Fluffy buyback and demolition program is beginning to wind down. At the end of February, only 13 of the 926 properties on the Asbestos Taskforce's schedule remained to be demolished.

To date, 721 suburban residential blocks have been sent to auction, not including the 49 blocks in April. Of those, 627 blocks have been sold, some back to former homeowners or to a government agency.

As of March 20, 138 blocks remained for sale.

The auction will be held at the Wooden Hellenic Club April 5 at 11am.