May 2017

In the 2017-2018 Federal Budget the Government announced several changes aimed at reducing pressure on housing affordability, some of which affect foreign ownership of Australian residential property. The biggest change is the introduction of a cap on foreign ownership in new developments, through a condition on New Dwelling Exemption Certificates…

On 5 April 2017, the New South Wales Government signed and sealed a Commencement Proclamation which will bring into effect the Retail Leases Amendment (Review) Act 2017 (NSW) (Act) on 1 July 2017 as the day on which that Act commences. Among other things, the Act will introduce tighter obligations…

In The Trustee for the Whitby Trust v Commissioner of taxation AATA 343 (20 March 2017), the AAT has held that an option fee paid by a developer do not form part of the consideration for acquiring the property for the purposes of calculating GST under the margin scheme in…