If the Victorian Government gets its way, from 1 October 2026 you will not be able to take your home to auction without first publishing your auction reserve price, the lowest figure you are willing to accept.
That is the headline change in the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic). It would be the first law of its kind in Australia. It has provoked a public argument between the Premier and the state’s peak real estate body, and it is one of five significant changes the Bill would make to how property is sold in Victoria.
The Bill has not passed. It sits at second reading in the Legislative Assembly and could still be amended or defeated. But with the first changes proposed to start in around ten weeks, anyone thinking about selling by auction in the next 18 months needs to understand the new auction reserve price rules and what else is coming.
This article explains each change, when it would start, and what it would mean in practice.
What the Bill is and where it currently sits
The Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 is an omnibus Bill. It amends five separate Acts: the Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic), the Estate Agents Act 1980 (Vic), the Conveyancers Act 2006 (Vic), the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic) and the Motor Car Traders Act 1986 (Vic).
The Minister for Consumer Affairs, the Hon Paul Edbrooke, introduced it on 3 June 2026. It passed its first reading the same day, and the second reading was moved on 4 June 2026.
That is where it stopped. The second reading debate was adjourned and Parliament rose for the winter break. Sittings are due to resume on 28 July 2026.
This matters, because some commentary already describes these reforms as settled law. They are not. The Bill has not cleared the Legislative Assembly, let alone the Legislative Council. Amendments are possible, and given the strength of industry opposition to one part of it, amendments are plausible. Every date in this article should be read as proposed.
The headline change: publishing your auction reserve price
Under the Bill, the auction reserve price would have to be confirmed in writing, expressed as a single dollar figure, and published at least seven days before an auction or fixed date sale. If it has not been published for the full seven days, the auction cannot go ahead.
This is a genuine change to how Victorian auctions work. At present your reserve is confidential and you can set it, or move it, right up until the auctioneer starts. Most sellers do exactly that. You watch the campaign, count the contract requests, gauge the crowd, and settle on a number the morning of the auction or in the room itself.
The proposal would remove that. You would have to commit to a figure a week out, in writing, in public.
The stated aim is to stamp out underquoting. Buyers who repeatedly attend auctions for properties advertised well below what they eventually sell for lose both money on inspections and faith in the process.
Why it is contested
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria has opposed the measure in strong terms, arguing it will reduce transparency rather than improve it. Its position rests on three predictions.
Sellers will move away from auctions to private sale, where negotiations happen behind closed doors and buyers see less, not more.
Sellers forced to nominate a figure early will set it high to protect themselves, so published reserves become inflated and stop telling buyers anything useful.
Clearance rates fall and more properties sell before auction.
The REIV commissioned research from 1,000 Victorians. It reports that 94 per cent of property owners surveyed said they would fundamentally change their selling strategy if the rule came in, with around a quarter saying it would effectively take the decision out of the owner’s hands.
The Institute has put forward an alternative: instead of a single figure seven days out, vendors would confirm three clear business days before auction that their reserve sits within a ten per cent advertised price range.
The argument has not stayed polite. Premier Jacinta Allan and the REIV have traded public criticism over whether the change helps or hurts. An RMIT economist has also questioned whether it will work, pointing out that publishing a reserve will not stop homes selling far above it, and that sellers carry the risk of being locked into the wrong number at the wrong moment.
Notably, the industry is not defending underquoting. The REIV reports that more than 30 per cent of complaints to the Government’s Underquoting Taskforce come from agents themselves. The disagreement is about the remedy, not the problem.
What the auction reserve price rule would mean for you
If you are selling by auction after the auction reserve price rule starts, three things follow.
Your reserve becomes a decision you make a week out, with less information than you have today, and you are stuck with it. Setting it well becomes a more consequential piece of advice than it is now.
Your negotiating position changes. Every buyer knows your floor. Whether that costs you depends on the property and the market, and reasonable people disagree about it.
Private sale becomes relatively more attractive for some sellers. That is not a recommendation, and it carries its own trade-offs, but it is a conversation worth having with your agent and your lawyer before you commit to a method of sale.
The 14 day vendor statement rule
From 1 June 2027, the Bill would require the section 32 vendor statement to be available at least 14 days before an auction or fixed date sale, or at least 14 days before a contract is signed.
Today the obligation is simply that the buyer must receive it before signing. In practice, statements are often finalised late in the campaign, and it is not unusual for one to be handed over days before an auction while a missing certificate is chased.
A 14 day rule ends that. The statement would need to be complete and available before the campaign is well underway, which in turn means the underlying work has to start earlier. Council certificates, title searches, owners corporation certificates and planning information all take time to obtain, and none of it can be rushed reliably.
Of everything in the Bill, this is the change most likely to catch out sellers who leave their legal preparation until they have chosen an agent.
Section 27 goes, and agents lose access to the deposit
Two related changes are proposed from 1 June 2027.
Section 27 of the Sale of Land Act would be repealed in full. Section 27 currently sets out how a vendor can obtain early release of the deposit before settlement, and the parties cannot contract out of it. In its place, early release would become a matter for negotiation, dealt with by a special condition in the contract.
That is a meaningful shift. At the moment section 27 gives sellers a statutory route to their deposit that does not depend on what the contract says. Remove it and the answer depends entirely on what you negotiated, which puts a premium on having the contract reviewed properly before it goes out.
The second change is that agents would be prohibited from retaining commission and costs out of the deposit before settlement. It has been common practice for an agent holding the deposit to deduct their fee before passing the balance to the vendor. Under the Bill they could not.
The property price statement
Also from 1 October 2026, the statement of information would be renamed the property price statement, and its role would expand.
The property price statement and the indicative selling price would have to be displayed prominently in internet advertising rather than tucked away. It would need to set out the key features of the property being sold and of each comparable property. The sale price would have to be added within seven days of the sale going unconditional, and the statement would have to stay published free of charge for at least 18 months after the sale.
A further change, proposed from 1 December 2027, would require agents to give sale information including the price and key features to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria within seven days of a sale going unconditional, and allow the Director to publish it.
Taken together, these provisions would create a public, searchable record of what Victorian properties actually sold for, maintained for a year and a half after each sale.
What else is in the Bill
Three other groups of changes are worth knowing about.
Licence suspension for trust account failures. From the day after Royal Assent, the Business Licensing Authority would be able to suspend a conveyancer’s licence or an estate agent’s licence for failing to comply with trust account audit requirements. This is a direct consumer protection measure aimed at the handling of client money.
Residential tenancies. The Bill would cap the compensation the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal can order for early termination of a residential rental agreement, prevent rental providers from unreasonably refusing a renter’s request for an additional key or security fob, and allow the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority to take bond payments directly from renters rather than through the rental provider.
Motor car traders. The Bill also reforms how claims against the Motor Car Traders Guarantee Fund are determined, moving that function to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria, along with changes to used car warranty periods and odometer tampering obligations.
What sellers should do now
Nothing in the Bill is law yet, so nothing requires action today. But three things are worth doing regardless of whether it passes.
Start your vendor statement earlier than you think you need to. Whether the 14 day rule arrives in June 2027 or not at all, a section 32 assembled properly at the outset is the single best protection against a buyer finding a reason to walk. An incomplete statement lets a purchaser rescind at any time before settlement.
Have the method of sale conversation early. If you are planning an auction in late 2026 or 2027, the auction reserve price rule is directly relevant to whether auction remains the right approach for your property. That is a decision to make with your agent and your lawyer, not one to discover three weeks out.
Get the contract reviewed, not just the disclosure. If section 27 is repealed, deposit release becomes a negotiated term. Contracts that were fine under the old default will not necessarily serve you under the new one.
Will it actually pass?
Honestly, the auction reserve price element is the least certain part of the Bill. It faces organised industry opposition backed by commissioned research, a credible alternative proposal on the table, and a state election approaching. The rest of the Bill is far less contentious and would be expected to pass largely as drafted.
The most likely outcomes are that the Bill passes broadly intact, or that it passes with the reserve price provision amended, perhaps along something closer to the lines the REIV has proposed. Outright defeat of the whole Bill would be unusual for a government Bill of this kind.
We will update this article as the Bill moves through Parliament.
How we can help
We act for sellers and buyers across Frankston, Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. On the changes discussed here, that means:
- preparing section 32 vendor statements early enough to meet a tightening disclosure timetable
- reviewing contracts of sale, including deposit release and special conditions
- advising on the practical consequences of the auction reserve price rule for your chosen method of sale
- acting on the sale or purchase through to settlement
- dealing with disputes where a buyer says the disclosure was defective
If you are planning to sell in the next 18 months, the preparation you do now is what determines whether these changes are a nuisance or a problem. Call us on 1800 PRO LAW (776 529) or email admin@prolawyers.com.au. You can also read more on our Practice Areas page or get in touch through our Contact page.
Buying rather than selling? See our companion guide, Buying Property in Victoria: What Your Conveyancing Lawyer Does for You.
This article is general legal information current as at 24 July 2026. It is not legal advice. The Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic) had not been passed at the date of publication and its provisions may change before it becomes law. Obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting.
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