Planning shake-up to slash approval times, fees for landowners who want to subdivide

Landowners wishing to subdivide or build a second dwelling on their properties will be able to gain approval in just two weeks from next month.

On Thursday, Premier Jacinta Allan will announce changes to fast-track approvals for Victorians who want to subdivide their block and sell the land or build a second home on their land.

The new rules, details of which have been provided to The Age before the announcement, will include these applications in the Vic Smart approval process, which takes 10 business days. Currently, applications of this type take more than 60 days. It is estimated the change will save applicants more than $2400 in fees.

To access the faster approval process, applications will need to meet key standards for siting, privacy and design, and existing heritage and environmental overlays will remain in place.

The changes will come into effect from the middle of next month.

Allan said: “I want to get Millennials into homes – and so many people in their 30s are looking at new townhouses and homes on subdivided blocks that have a couple of bedrooms and space for the kids to run around. It works for them.

“Every time a new home is approved faster, a door opens for young people to live where they want – near the things they need and the people they love.”

The announcement comes a day after the Allan government unveiled maps for its next 25 activity centres, where it will encourage higher-density living by allowing buildings up to 16 storeys tall in areas serviced by trains and tram lines.

Since the government committed in 2023 to build 800,000 homes over the next decade, plans for high-rise buildings across Melbourne’s developed suburbs have attracted the most attention as the state has sought to reach its target of 70 per cent of homes developed in established areas.

The tallest height limits introduced through various policy proposals have been based around main roads, railway stations and the site of future stations on the Suburban Rail Loop.

A key part of this ambition has also been the unlocking of townhouses and low-rise apartments in a wider footprint around these hubs, with height limits tapering off for properties the further they are from transport connections.

To support this increase in density, the government has pledged to speed up townhouses and low-rise apartments up to three stories with a new “deemed to comply” code that will limit the rights of locals to appeal if designs meet key standards.

Allan’s announcement on Thursday will build on this commitment by streamlining the process of subdividing and building homes on sites large enough to do so.

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said the fast turnaround would boost supply in a way that was still sensitive to the difference between each street.

“For many people, the biggest housing opportunity is right behind them – in their own backyard,” she said. “That’s an opportunity for someone else, too – a young family, a first home buyer or a downsizer.”

The government has already made it possible to build granny flats and small second homes on a block without a planning permit.

This change, introduced in December 2023, has delivered more than 500 small second homes since it was introduced.

Responding to the activity centre maps, opposition housing spokesman Richard Riordan said onerous property taxes were still hampering affordability.

“The single biggest barrier to buying a house is affordability,” he said. “This is a problem the Allan Labor government refuses to address, with 45 per cent of the cost of a new home being made up of taxes, charges and regulations.

“The Liberals and Nationals will help improve affordability by abolishing stamp duty on homes worth up to $1 million for first-time buyers, giving young Victorians a fair shot at home ownership.”

Shadow treasurer James Newbury, who has criticised higher-density plans within his electorate of Brighton, said the government’s activity centres plans risked destroying local character.

“Jacinta Allan is trying to turn Bayside into the Gold Coast. No one asked for that,” he said.

“I don’t think broader Melbourne wants to turn Bayside into the Gold Coast, but that’s what the government’s planning to do.

“We don’t want to have uniform suburbs across our city with massive high-rise towers simply because the premier has picked those certain suburbs to house the entirety of her population growth.”

Newbury said Victoria’s 79 councils had come up with their own plans for housing hubs that were sensitive to community needs, and that these would deliver more homes than the government’s plans.

“This is just an attack on suburbs she doesn’t like,” he said.

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