Quick Summary
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Town planning in Victoria has changed more in the last two years than in the eight years before them, and the new rules now decide how fast your home extension or subdivision gets approved.
For most of the past decade, one rulebook called ResCode covered almost every house, extension and small development, and a lot of it came down to whether your design fitted the look of the neighbourhood. That made it hard to know in advance if council would say yes.
Since 2025, the state has replaced much of it with clear tick-the-box rules for townhouses and single homes. It has also sped up approvals for smaller projects and given neighbours fewer chances to challenge a design that follows the rules. More changes are due in 2026 and 2027.
At SilverPoint Building Designers & Planning Consultants, we have worked with Victoria's planning rules for more than 40 years, so we have seen how each round of change affects real projects.
In this blog, we will understand how town planning in Victoria looked a decade ago, why the rules were changed, what changed in 2025 and what is coming next, and what it all means for your project, so you know where you stand before you apply.
What Did Victoria's Planning System Look Like Between 2016 and 2020?
For most of the last decade, Victoria's planning rules barely changed at all. A set of rules called ResCode, covering Clauses 54 and 55, applied to almost every house, extension and small development. The problem was that ResCode leaned heavily on neighbourhood character, a fairly subjective idea of what fits in with the area, which made it hard to know in advance whether a design would be approved.
In 2017, new rules called the Better Apartments Design Standards set clearer minimums for apartment size, storage, natural light and comfort, the first real update in years. There was also a fast-track option called VicSmart, but it only covered a small list of simple, straightforward applications. For anything more complex, a town planning consultant in Victoria was mainly there to manage that uncertainty, making the case for neighbourhood character, negotiating with council planners, and preparing for a possible VCAT hearing if a neighbour objected.
Why Did the Pressure to Change Planning Rules Build Up Between 2021 and 2024?
During the pandemic, councils started accepting digital applications and holding VCAT hearings online, a shift that stuck around and permanently sped things up.
The bigger driver, though, was housing supply. In September 2023, the Victorian Government released its Housing Statement, setting a public target of 800,000 new homes over the next decade. It made clear that the old planning system, built for a slower-growing city, simply was not going to get there fast enough. That statement is the direct starting point for almost every one of Victoria's planning reforms since.
What Changed in Victoria's Planning Regulations in 2025?
2025 is when Victoria's planning regulations were substantially rewritten, after two decades of only small tweaks.
Plan for Victoria, released on 28 February 2025, replaced the old Plan Melbourne strategy and aims to put around 70 per cent of new housing in established suburbs, close to existing transport and services, instead of on the outer edges of the city. The Townhouse and Low-Rise Code, in effect from 31 March 2025, is the biggest change for homeowners and small developers building a dual occupancy or townhouse project. Instead of the old, subjective character test, it uses clear, tick-the-box style rules for developments of two or more dwellings up to three storeys, and if a design meets the rules, a neighbour can no longer challenge it at VCAT.
The Single Home Code, from 8 September 2025, applies the same tick-the-box approach to single homes and smaller second dwellings, including granny flats, again removing a neighbour's right to challenge a compliant design at VCAT. VicSmart was expanded on 16 October 2025 to include two-dwelling developments in its fast, ten-business-day process, with no public notice and no appeal rights for neighbours. New Housing Choice and Transport Zones, along with a Built Form Overlay introduced on 25 February 2025, allow taller, denser buildings, roughly 11 to 21.5 metres depending on the area, near Victoria's designated activity centres. The Housing Statement Reform Act 2025, passed 18 March 2025 and started 25 November 2025, gave planning permits more time to run, generally three years to start work, up from two, and five years to finish, up from four, and gave VCAT stronger tools to keep hearings moving on schedule.
What Is Coming for Victoria's Planning Permit Process in 2026 and Beyond?
The Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Act 2026 was passed on 17 February 2026 and will be fully in place by 29 October 2027, rolling out step by step. It sets up three simple assessment streams that will eventually cover most residential applications. Stream 1 covers single homes and duplexes, generally around ten business days with no public notice and no appeal rights for neighbours. Stream 2 covers townhouses and low-rise developments, generally around 30 days with similar limits on notice and appeals. Stream 3 covers bigger apartment buildings, generally around 60 days, with some appeal rights kept for directly notified neighbours.
Alongside the new streams, a Mid-Rise Code for four-storey apartment buildings was introduced in March 2026, VCAT was given more power to limit lengthy cross-examination and set clearer timeframes, and stricter rules were introduced around affordable housing contributions and enforcement against non-compliant developments. This next phase of the planning permit process Victoria-wide is still rolling out, which is exactly why getting good advice at the start of a project matters more than it used to.
What Does This Mean If You Are Planning a Project?
For homeowners and small developers across Boroondara, Whitehorse, Monash, Stonnington, Knox, Yarra, Bayside, Port Phillip and Kingston, here is what it comes down to in practice.
Well-designed projects that meet the rules now move faster. A straightforward extension, dual occupancy or small subdivision that ticks the boxes under the new codes can be approved in weeks rather than months, with much less risk of a neighbour dragging things out at VCAT. Getting the design right from the start matters more than ever, too. Under the old system, there was often room to negotiate a non-compliant design later in the process. Under the new codes, a design that does not meet the rules can mean a full, slower assessment, with real risk of a VCAT appeal, instead of a fast, protected pathway.
Local council rules still apply on top of the statewide codes. Heritage rules in areas like Boroondara, foreshore rules around Kingston, and neighbourhood character rules elsewhere all still apply alongside the new codes, so local knowledge still matters. And VCAT is not going away, even though its role is changing. For bigger or non-compliant projects, VCAT is still the final decision-maker, but hearings are now managed more tightly, and neighbours have fewer grounds to object than they did five years ago. Navigating a planning permit Victoria application through this much change is exactly where a second opinion from an experienced consultant earns its keep.
Why Choose SilverPoint Building Designers & Planning Consultants?
With a permit system mid-change, two brand new residential codes already in place, and a third on the way by 2027, there is less room for error going it alone, or working with someone who is not across the latest rules. This is exactly the situation SilverPoint Building Designers & Planning Consultants was built to handle.
We combine town planning with in-house building design and project management, so one team manages a client's permit and design from concept through to approval, rather than coordinating a separate building designer and planner who may not be talking to each other. Homeowners and investors searching for town planning consultants Melbourne-wide often come to us partway through a project that has stalled elsewhere, and our first job is always the same: an honest assessment of whether the site qualifies for a fast, protected pathway under the new codes or needs a fuller planning case built from scratch. Backed by more than 40 years of combined experience, over 1,800 completed projects and a 4.9-star rating, our town planning consultant Victoria clients rely on work alongside our building design team so nothing gets lost between disciplines.
Conclusion
Victoria's planning system has moved from a slow, subjective, character based process to a faster, rules based one, and that shift is still under way, with a third wave of reform due by October 2027. A design that meets the new codes can now move through council in weeks with far less risk of a VCAT challenge, but a design that misses the mark still faces the full, slower process. Getting good advice before a design is finalised, not after, is what separates a smooth approval from a stalled one. If you are considering a dual occupancy or subdivision under the new codes, or you would like to understand what a town planning consultant actually does versus a building surveyor, SilverPoint Building Designers & Planning Consultants offers a free feasibility check to confirm which pathway applies to your site.
