Buying property in Victoria involves more than just the purchase price — stamp duty, government fees, and lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) can add tens of thousands of dollars to your upfront costs. To make this easier to navigate, I’ve built a free Victorian Property Purchase Calculator using the latest 2025/26 rates. The calculator handles two...
CalculatorsConveyancingPropertyState Duties and Land Tax – real property – comparative tables and calculators
27 February 2026
Click the link for a comprehensive comparison between the States and Territories. Compare the highs and lows Link >> https://statetaxes-6e9nrngt.manus.space/ Whilst all care is taken to ensure accuracy, you still need to verify the figures independently. Also, many concessions, surcharges and possibly exemptions might apply. For example, for Victoria, below $750,000 there are multiple tiers of...
ConveyancingPropertyAustralia’s Housing Crisis Is Worse Than You Think — But It Can Be Fixed
27 February 2026
Australia is running out of homes. Not in some distant, theoretical sense — right now, today, the numbers tell a story of a system under severe and worsening strain. In the first year of the National Housing Accord, Australia completed roughly 174,000 new dwellings against a target of 240,000 — a shortfall of 66,000 homes...
Transferring property between spouses or domestic partners is a common occurrence, particularly when managing shared assets. In Victoria, Australia, the Duties Act 2000 provides for an exemption from land transfer duty (also known as stamp duty) on such transactions, which can result in significant savings. However, strict eligibility requirements must be met to qualify for...
Please note that as of January 1, 2026, Hayton Kosky Lawyers will not be accepting any new instructions for matters relating to adverse possession or boundary disputes. We will continue to provide our full range of other legal services. For information on our other areas of practice, please visit our website. Adverse possession and boundary...
Adverse PossessionPropertyGood Fences, Bad Blood: A Legal Look at the Rinehart Fence Dispute (NSW)
31 January 2026
Robert Frost’s famous line — “Good fences make good neighbours” — is often treated as rural gospel. Mark the boundary, keep the peace, and move on. But a dispute now heading through the NSW Supreme Court shows how quickly a fence can become something far bigger than timber, wire and posts. In a case attracting...
ConveyancingMortgagePropertyMortgage Fraud in Australia: How Fraudsters Exploit Banking Systems and Professional Networks
19 January 2026
The Australian mortgage market, valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, has become an increasingly attractive target for sophisticated fraudsters. Recent high-profile cases have exposed vulnerabilities in bank approval processes and revealed how corrupt professionals—including mortgage brokers, real estate agents, and lawyers—can work in coordinated networks to perpetrate massive fraud schemes. Understanding these tactics is...
ConveyancingPropertySuperannuationSERV Victoria: A Comprehensive Overview of Land Registry Services
7 January 2026
January 2026 Executive Summary This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Secure Electronic Registries Victoria (SERV), the private operator of Victoria’s Land Titles and Registry functions. It addresses key questions regarding SERV’s ownership structure, the range of services it provides, and the specific land registry functions the Victorian Government has retained since the 2018 privatisation....
ConveyancingPropertyThe Cost of Commercialisation: Why Home Owners Face Rising Land Registry Fees Despite the SERV Concession
7 January 2026
The Victorian government is facing renewed scrutiny over its management of the Land Registry, with a proposal to significantly increase fees raising concerns that the public is now paying the price for a 2018 concession sold to the private operator, SERV. Despite ceding control of land registry operations for 40 years, the government is moving...
ConveyancingEstate PlanningPropertyDownsize, Don’t Disappear: Seven Ways to Avoid the Pitfalls of Retirement Downsizing
22 December 2025
The promise of retirement downsizing is a delectable dream: no lawns to mow, a low-maintenance lifestyle, a hefty mortgage paid off, and cash left over for travel and fun. But for many Australians, the reality is a transition “soured by a lot of things that happened along the way,” turning into a “claustrophobic nightmare”. The...
