Published by Hayton Kosky Lawyers | Property & Taxation | May 2026 You did not leave the property vacant on purpose. Perhaps you inherited it and the estate took longer to administer than expected. Perhaps you moved interstate for work and could not find a suitable tenant. Perhaps the property needed repairs and the tradesperson...
Vacant Residential Land Tax in Victoria – The SRO’s “Data Model”: How the Tax Is Really Enforced In a previous post, I explored how Vacant Residential Land Tax (VRLT) operates under the Land Tax Act 2005 (Vic)—particularly the statutory concepts of “residential land” and “vacancy”. This follow-up focuses on something practitioners increasingly encounter in...
By Brett Hayton | Hayton Kosky — Property, Commercial & Estate Planning Lawyers, Bentleigh Stamp duty, formally known as land transfer duty, represents one of the most significant transaction costs when purchasing property in Victoria. For instance, a property purchased at $800,000 can incur duty exceeding $43,000 at the standard rate. However, a surprisingly large number of property...
By Hayton Kosky Lawyers | Property Law & Conveyancing, Bentleigh Victoria The idea of selling your own home — pocketing the commission, managing the process on your own terms — has never been more accessible. With online listing platforms, AI writing tools, and a wealth of freely available information, more Australian homeowners are asking the...
The High Cost of Governing: Taxpayers Footing the Bill for MPs' City Pads It is a basic expectation that politicians representing regional areas need a place to stay when parliament sits in the capital. However, the sheer volume of taxpayer money currently funding secondary residences for 18 regional Victorian MPs is raising eyebrows across the...
Purchasing property "off-the-plan" (OTP) means you are contracting to buy something that does not yet exist in its final form. While this offers benefits like lower deposits and potential capital growth, it carries unique risks because the finished product may differ from your expectations. Key Risks for Buyers Risk Area What You Need to Know...
It is a uniquely Australian dream, and perhaps even more specifically, a Victorian one: owning a primary home in the inner city, while maintaining a coastal retreat down the Great Ocean Road, the Mornington Peninsula, or the Bass Coast. Recently, a client presented a fascinating scenario: “We own a block of land in a coastal...
A surprising number of Victorian property owners still do not realise that Vacant Residential Land Tax (VRLT) carries its own compulsory notification regime. It is not just a tax that appears if the State Revenue Office happens to find you. If you own relevant vacant residential land, you may have to tell the SRO yourself,...
In the world of Victorian property law, three or four digits can be the difference between a routine tax assessment and a financial headache. Those digits make up the Australian Valuation Property Classification Code (AVPCC). While most owners focus on their property’s "Capital Improved Value" (CIV) or "Site Value" (SV), the AVPCC is the silent...
Some residential properties attract Vacant Residential Land Tax (VRLT) in Victoria because the tax is not really about whether a property looks residential from the street. It is about whether the land is treated as “residential land” under the Land Tax Act 2005 (Vic) and, if so, whether it was “vacant” in the relevant preceding...
