Buildings and site works
Warehouses, offices, hardstand, services and in-ground tanks all lift what a buyer pays. None of it is land.
Land tax objections · Victoria
Pay land tax on the land. Not on everything that came with it.
Land tax is charged on what your site would be worth as bare, empty ground. Valuers set that figure from nearby sales, and those prices often still carry buildings, permits, leases, GST and generous settlement terms. We strip every sale back to bare land, show your value is too high, and argue it down.
- No win, no fee
- Nothing to pay upfront
- We do all the work
Anatomy of a sale priceIndustrial · Melbourne north · 2025
$1,430 per sqm, as sold
- Bare land $715
- Development permit $260
- Buildings and site works $250
- Settlement terms $75
- GST in the headline price $130
Illustrative breakdown. Half of this price was never land.
Why your value may be too high
Four things a sale price carries that land tax shouldn't.
Your site value is meant to describe unimproved, unencumbered land. To get there from a real sale, every advantage the buyer paid for has to come out first. That step is where most valuations go wrong.
Development permits
A permit saves a buyer years of time and risk. Resales of the same sites show it can add a third or more to the price.
30 to 45%Leases and rent
A tenant paying rent after settlement covers the buyer's holding costs. That income gets baked into the price.
Settlement terms and GST
A two-year settlement is worth real money against 60 days cash. Headline prices often include GST.
Mass valuations anchor on headline prices. When the extras aren't stripped out, you're taxed every year on value your land doesn't have.
How it works
Five steps. Two of them are yours.
You send us the notice. We do the research, the paperwork and the arguing, and you hear from us when there's a decision.
- You
Send us your notice
Forward your land tax assessment, or just the address. That's the whole form.
5 minutes - Fairground
Free value check
We test your site value against recent sales nearby and tell you plainly whether there's a case.
Within days - Fairground
We build the evidence
Every comparable sale stripped back to bare land, with every figure linked to the record it came from.
Every figure sourced - Fairground
We object and argue
We lodge with the Valuer-General, meet their valuers, and take it to VCAT if it needs to go further.
Usually 4 to 6 months - You
You save. We get paid.
Your value comes down, your land tax comes down, and our fee comes out of the saving.
No reduction, no fee
Then we keep watching.
Victorian land is revalued every year. We check each new notice for you, so a hard-won reduction doesn't quietly drift back up.
Two months. That's how long you have to object after receiving your notice, and late objections can't be accepted. Send it to us early.
What it's worth
A lower site value pays you back every year.
Move the numbers to see what a reduction does to your land tax bill, and what that saving is worth to the value of your property.
What a lower value means
Land tax-$27k / yr
means
Net annual income+$27k / yr
means
Property value+$447k
- Land tax now
- $74,050
- Land tax after
- $47,232
- New site value
- $3,588,000
- Valued at a yield of
- 6%
Uses Victoria's general land tax rates for 2024 to 2033 and assumes this is your only taxable land. Land tax is charged on the combined value of everything you own, so on a larger holding each dollar of reduction usually saves more. Illustrative only.
Who it's for
Anyone carrying land tax on land that's earning, waiting or both.
Industrial and commercial owners
Warehouses, yards, offices and shops in areas where sales have run hot and valuations have followed.
Developers holding sites
Every year a site waits for a permit or a market, land tax is a holding cost you can't get back. Lower it while you wait.
Portfolio owners and syndicates
We review every property at once and put the effort where the case is strongest. One notice or fifty, it's the same five minutes for you.
Tenants paying outgoings
If your lease passes land tax through to you, an overvalued site is your cost too. Retail and logistics occupiers feel it across every site.
For brokers, lenders and advisors
Lower holding costs belong in every deal.
Land tax is one of the biggest fixed costs on a commercial property, and most owners never question it. Refer a client and Fairground handles everything from there.
- Stronger serviceability. Lower outgoings mean higher net income on the property you're financing.
- A reason to call. A free value check is a useful conversation to have with every borrower and client.
- Nothing to manage. We run the objection independently and keep you updated. Your relationship stays yours.
- Shared success. Your client pays nothing unless they save, and you receive a referral share when they do.
Coming to Vanillah AI for CRE finance
- A deal comes in. The property's site value and land tax are read from the deal documents.
- The platform flags it. If the value sits high against nearby sales, you see a land tax check on the deal.
- One click to refer. Fairground picks it up and contacts your client with your name on it.
- Your client saves. You see the outcome, and the referral share follows.
Why Fairground
The evidence of a full valuation. The speed of software.
Evidence
Every figure has a source
Each sale price, date, land area, zone and permit in your objection links to the record behind it, so valuers argue with the evidence instead of the adviser.
land_area 1,329 m² ✓ verified
source state title + planning map
permit Yes · 2 warehouses, 874 m²
source state title + planning map
permit Yes · 2 warehouses, 874 m²
Speed
Whole portfolios in days
Research that used to take half a day per objection now takes about an hour. That's what lets us check every property you own, inside the two-month window.
Advocacy
Argued by a valuer, not a bot
Your case is reviewed, signed and argued by a qualified valuer-advocate who has taken these objections all the way to the tribunal.
No win. No fee.
If your value doesn't come down, you pay nothing. When it does, our fee is a share of what you save, taken from the saving itself.
Questions
What owners ask us first.
How long do I have to object?
Two months from when you receive your land tax assessment notice. The State Revenue Office can't accept late objections, so send us the notice as soon as it arrives.
Do I keep paying my land tax while you object?
Yes. Pay on time as normal. If the value is reduced, the assessment is reissued and the overpaid tax comes back to you.
How long does it take?
The Valuer-General has four months to decide, and most decisions take around six. If we need to go to VCAT, we'll tell you before we do and what it involves.
What does it cost?
Nothing unless we reduce your value. If we do, our fee is a share of the saving. You'll know the exact share before we lodge anything.
Does a lower site value affect my property's sale price?
No. Site value is a statutory figure for bare land, used to calculate tax. It doesn't set what your property sells for, and lower holding costs make it more attractive to own.
Is this only for Victoria?
For now, yes. Every state values land differently, and we'd rather be very good at one system first.
Start here
Give us your property. We'll take it from here.
Send the address or your notice. You'll get a plain answer on whether there's a case, at no cost and with no obligation.