The 75% rule, and the missing middle remission
The Territory takes three quarters of the planning gain. Until 2029, in RZ1 and RZ2, it takes three eighths.
In most Australian jurisdictions, when a rezoning or a planning approval makes your land more valuable, you keep most of that gain. The ACT is different, and almost nobody models it.
Varying a Crown lease to permit more dwellings triggers the Lease Variation Charge. The codified schedule is deliberately calibrated to capture 75% of the value uplift. You keep 25%.
What that means arithmetically
Because the charge is 75% of the uplift, the charge itself tells you what the Territory thinks the uplift is:
implied uplift = codified charge ÷ 0.75
This is the only estimate of development uplift available to you before you commission a valuation, and it is published, per suburb, per dwelling count. It is the single most useful thing in the whole ACT planning system for a buyer, and it is sitting in a determination that hardly anyone reads.
The missing middle remission (DI2026-143)
From the 2026-27 Budget, RZ1 and RZ2 developments get a 50% remission of the codified charge. Your cash cost halves — and because the uplift does not change, your share of the planning gain goes from 25% to 62.5%. That is a 2.5× improvement and it is the largest change to ACT development economics in years.
Every one of these must hold
| Test | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Zone | RZ1 or RZ2 only. RZ3–RZ5 get nothing. |
| Dwellings added | One or more |
| Prior commitment | LVC not paid or deferred before 10 June 2026 |
| Approval | DA approved before 30 June 2029 |
| Completion | All dwellings constructed by 31 December 2030 |
The trap
Those last two are programme tests, and real ACT projects have taken four to five years from purchase to approval. If you buy in 2027 and run a normal timetable, you can miss the approval deadline without doing anything wrong. This tool asks you for your expected approval and completion years and tests them rather than assuming you will make it — and the Pattern Book is the most reliable way to take the DA off the critical path entirely.
The modelling subtlety
Keep two numbers, always. The codified charge drives the uplift. The payable charge drives your cashflow. Substituting one for the other halves your implied land value and makes the screen produce nonsense. A policy concession does not make the land less valuable — it makes it cheaper to unlock.
Last reviewed 1 August 2026. Every figure here should be verified against the current instrument — see sources and method.