‘Build-to-Rent’ (BTR) is an alternative residential tenancy model, where units in a complex are purpose built for long-term leases, held cumulatively and continuously by one owner and managed by a single manager. This post provides a brief overview as well as highlighting the emergence of BTR developments in Australia. Read more

The Victorian Government (Government) is progressing on its 2018 election commitment to ban embedded networks in new residential apartment buildings, by releasing an Issues Paper to commence formal stakeholder consultation into this issue. What is an embedded network? Embedded networks are private electricity networks, where electricity is supplied to an area or building through a … Read more

The Victorian Government has announced as part of the Victorian budget for 2020/21, the Big Housing Build, the largest ever investment in public and community housing in Victoria. The Big Housing Build will involve a $5.3b investment in social housing, creating: 9,300 new social housing dwellings; and 2,900 new affordable and market homes for first … Read more

In a welcome move to the real estate sector, the Victorian Budget 2020/21 includes numerous measures to stimulate construction and increase the housing supply. Read more

The State Governments of New South Wales and Victoria have recently announced shake-ups to their respective stamp duty regimes as part of their 2020-21 State Budgets, with NSW in particular proposing significant changes to property transfer taxes. Read more

There is no doubt that Covid-19 will have a significant and long lasting effect on the real estate sector. The sector will not return to the way it was and we will see the impact of the pandemic permeate all parts of the industry for years to come. It is important for real estate players to pre-empt some of these predicted future trends so that they can be ahead of the game in both taking defensive positions on risk areas and pursuing new opportunities. One thing Covid-19 has shown the world is how quickly things can change and imagination can create possibility for things which were never considered possible before now. Read more

On 1 May 2020, substantial changes to the Strata Titles Act 1985 (WA) came into effect. Those changes to the Act are included in the Strata Titles Amendment Act 2018 (WA) – which was passed some time ago but has remained inoperative until the corresponding updated regulations were prepared.  The Strata Titles General Regulations 1996 (WA) will be repealed by the Strata Titles (General) Regulations 2019 (WA), also with effect from 1 May 2020. Read more

1. What is the new community titles legislation in Western Australia? The Community Titles Act 2018 (WA) (Community Titles Act) was passed by the Parliament of Western Australia in November 2018. However, the Community Titles Act is not yet in operation. As set out further below, regulations associated with the Community Titles Act need to … Read more