Melbourne’s got a rep for culture, coffee, and sprawling suburbs—but at what cost? From Werribee’s plains to Pakenham’s paddocks, the city’s rapid expansion is consuming the countryside in all directions. New housing estates promise affordable homes and backyards, yet they quietly exact a heavy toll on the environment, strain roads and services, and erase precious...

If you’re planning to sell your residential property in 2025 or beyond, there’s an important new tax requirement you need to be aware of. As of 1 January 2025, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has made it compulsory for all property vendors—regardless of sale price—to provide a clearance certificate to avoid automatic tax withholding at...

  Introduction: A New Era of Property Settlement Buying or selling a home is a big moment, and in Australia, the way these property settlements happen has transformed in the past decade. Today, most property transactions are completed online through a platform called PEXA (Property Exchange Australia). In fact, PEXA handles nearly all electronic property...

Victoria’s rental market has seen a dramatic shake‑up. In 2024 the state recorded its sharpest fall in rental supply on record – roughly 21,000–25,000 fewer rental homes on the market. Industry sources say this ‘landlord exodus’ is linked to recent policy changes. Over 130 tenancy law reforms since 2019 have added new landlord obligations, while...

Recent budget measures have upended Victoria’s long-settled land tax regime. Under the government’s “COVID Debt Repayment Plan”, the tax-free threshold was slashed from $300,000 down to $50,000 as of 1 January 2024. In practical terms, many thousands of additional homes and small properties are now being taxed for the first time. As KHQ Lawyers explains,...

Stamp duty is a cost most property buyers anticipate, but what if your transaction does not attract duty At Hayton Kosky Lawyers, we frequently assist clients in securing legitimate exemptions and concessions under Victoria’s Duties Act 2000 This article provides a clear breakdown of property transfers that may be exempt from stamp duty or eligible...

Despite decades of recommendations and reviews, Australia’s tax system remains remarkably unreformed since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2000. The last major reform before that came in 1985, when the Hawke/Keating government introduced a capital gains tax (CGT), recognising asset growth as a legitimate and necessary target for taxation. But...

The Land Titles Office Victoria is transitioning to the digital age. As of August 2024, the LTO will not issue any further paper duplicate titles. Homage to the Past It’s a small reminder of how the Colony of Victoria by the legislative Real Property Act of 1862 transitioned to the Torrens system of title by...

Medibank failed to implement the following specific security measures: ​ Multi-factor authentication for its Virtual Private Network (VPN): Medibank did not require two or more ways of proving a user’s identity for accessing its VPN. ​ This means that the hackers only needed someone’s username and password to gain access to Medibank’s corporate network. ​...

A shared equity program designed to help aspiring first home buyers enter a prohibitive housing market will be cut off in a year. It was in and now its out Dumping rubbish will cost Victorians an extra half a billion dollars over three years under an increase to the state’s waste levy. This levy (TAX)...