Earlier this year the Victorian government made changes to the Duties Act 2000 (Vic) (Act) to impose an additional 3% of duty on foreign purchasers of Victorian land used or intended to be used as residential property. These chang...

New state planning rules in NSW have freed up design options for multi-residential units in NSW to help improve housing affordability and supply. In the Sydney area, six local councils (Waverley, The Hills, Botany Bay, Rockdale, ...

Version 3 of the Model Participation Rules (MPR) removes the nexus between verifying identity and witnessing transaction signatures. Lenders and those involved in the finance industry will be greatly relieved by the Australian...

There is a common misconception that self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) cannot engage in property development. However there are no provisions in the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (SIS Act), the Su...

A recent decision in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Hume CC v Ecotec Woodwaste Pty Ltd [2015] VCAT 599 ("Hume") has again highlighted the strict liability application of section 126 of the Planning and Environ...

Private short-term letting in strata. Increasing numbers of strata unit investor owners are trading traditional letting arrangements for private holiday letting. The recent surge in popularity of websites such as Airbnb and Stayz ...