Vacant property tax expected to raise $80 million

Foreign owners of Victorian property  will be slugged with an annual fee if their property is left vacant for six months or more in a calendar year. 

The Victorian Government’s  vacant residential property tax (VRPT) which will commence on January 1st 2018 will apply annually at a rate of 1 per cent of the property’s capital improved value, and be payable on a calendar-year basis – as with land tax and is expected to raise about $80 million over four years.

The new proposed tax will be self-reporting.

That is, owners of vacant residential property will be required to notify the SRO of any vacant properties that they own.

Exemptions 

There will be specific exemptions, including for holiday homes (owned by those with a principal place of residence in Australia), a city unit for work purposes, properties in deceased estates and homes subject to legitimate temporary absences (e.g. medical care, overseas appointments).

Premier Daniel Andrews said the tax would send a strong message to owners who were “effectively banking an empty property and denying that to the market”

Apparently there are 20,000 properties empty across inner Melbourne – this is were they are situated:

Source: The Age