Buying, selling, or leasing property in Melbourne involves legal contracts, construction risk, and tax obligations that are easy to get wrong and expensive to fix after settlement. This guide brings together the site's property law and property tax coverage in one place: what to check before you sign, the protections and risks specific to off-the-plan and construction, and the tax rules that catch out even experienced property owners.
Before You Sign: Contracts and Disclosure
Whether it's a commercial lease or a residential purchase, most property problems trace back to something in the contract that wasn't checked before signing. A Section 32 Vendor Statement is a mandatory disclosure document the seller must prepare, but it exists primarily to protect the purchaser, and errors or omissions in it can have serious consequences for both parties. A Section 27 Statement, by contrast, is what lets a vendor request early release of the deposit before settlement, and while it typically benefits the vendor, it directly affects the purchaser too.
Off-the-Plan Purchases and Construction Risk
Buying off the plan means committing to a property that doesn't exist yet, and Victorian law now gives purchasers significant protections against a developer using a sunset clause to cancel their contract and resell the property at a higher price. Once building is underway, a domestic building contract gives homeowners a substantial set of protections, but only if you know what they are and insist on them, and subcontractors and suppliers have stronger payment rights than most realise. If a builder goes into administration or liquidation, the first week after it happens determines what's recoverable.
- Retention and Variations in Construction: Getting Paid What You're Owed →
- Selling a Home With Owner-Builder Work? What Changed on 1 July 2026 →
The Tax Side of Property
Property decisions carry tax consequences long after settlement. Selling the family home is usually exempt from capital gains tax, but the exemption isn't automatic: renting it out, working from it, or buying it with renovation plans can turn a full exemption into a partial one. Selling an established residential property is input taxed with no GST, but selling new residential premises is a taxable sale that can trigger GST and a withholding obligation at settlement.
Why Does the ATO Already Know About Your Property Transaction?
The ATO's property data-matching programs cross-check property transaction data from land title registries, rental bond authorities, financial institutions, and property management software against what taxpayers report, without needing to open an audit first. In 2022–23 alone, this identified around 5,600 taxpayers whose property dealings hadn't been treated correctly.
- The ATO's Property Data-Matching Program: What It Checks and Why It Matters →
- ATO Property Management Data-Matching Program Protocol →
- ATO Data Matching: How the Tax Office Uses Third-Party Data →
How Phan Campbell & Associates Can Help
Our property law and accounting teams work together on the full property lifecycle: reviewing contracts and vendor statements before you sign, advising on construction disputes and payment claims, and managing the CGT, GST, and data-matching consequences that follow a sale or purchase. Because we're both a law firm and an accounting practice, you get one coordinated view of a transaction rather than two separate opinions.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What should I check before signing a property or lease contract in Victoria?
Review the Section 32 vendor statement carefully for a purchase, and the lease duration, rent review terms, and make-good obligations for a commercial lease.
2. What protections do off-the-plan buyers have against sunset clauses?
Victorian law gives significant protections against a developer using a sunset clause to cancel a contract and resell at a higher price.
3. Is selling the family home always exempt from capital gains tax?
Not automatically. Renting it out, working from it, or renovation plans can result in only a partial exemption.
4. Does GST apply when I sell a residential property?
Established homes are input taxed with no GST; new residential premises are a taxable sale.
5. Why does the ATO ask questions about property transactions years after they happen?
Its data-matching programs cross-check land title and rental data against tax returns without needing to open an audit first.