Victorian planning resource · VCAT submission

Appealing a planning decision to VCAT in Victoria

VCAT does not review whether the council made a reasonable decision — it decides the application again, on the planning merits, as if for the first time. The first question is which section you are under, because that single fact sets your deadline, your role at the hearing, and whether you have a right at all. Applicants get 60 days. Objectors get 28.

Victorian permit applicants who have been refused or conditioned, and objectors who have received a Notice of Decision to Grant a Permit — both of whom need to know which review right they hold and how many days are left on it.

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Five different review rights, five different deadlines

Victorians talk about “appealing to VCAT” as though it were one thing. The Planning and Environment Act 1987 actually creates several separate rights, each in its own section, and the Planning and Environment Interim Regulations 2026 attach a different period to each. Identifying yours correctly is not a formality — lodge under the wrong section, or count from the wrong date, and the period can expire while you are preparing.

The two that matter to most people are at opposite ends of the scale. An applicant refused a permit has 60 days under section 77. An objector who has received a Notice of Decision to Grant a Permit has 28 days under section 82. The objector's period is less than half the applicant's, and it starts running from the date on the notice rather than the day it arrives.

Section 77 — the applicant seeks review of a refusal. 60 days after the responsible authority gave notice of the refusal under section 65 (reg 30)
Section 80 — the applicant seeks review of a condition. 60 days after the section 64 notice, or if no such notice was required, 60 days after the permit was issued (reg 33)
Section 79 — the applicant seeks review of a failure to decide within the prescribed time. The prescribed time is 60 days, or 10 business days for a VicSmart application (reg 32)
Section 82 — an objector seeks review of a decision to grant a permit. 28 days after the date of the notice of that decision (reg 35)
Section 82B — a person affected, who did not object, seeks leave to apply for review where a written objection was received
Section 78 — the applicant challenges a requirement to give notice (30 days) or to provide more information (60 days)

If you were refused: section 77, and the 60 days

Section 77 lets an applicant for a permit apply to the Tribunal for review of a decision by a responsible authority to refuse to grant the permit. Regulation 30 requires the application to be made within 60 days after the responsible authority gave notice of the refusal under section 65 of the Act. That notice must set out the specific grounds of refusal, and whether those grounds were the council's own or a determining referral authority's — a distinction worth reading closely, because a referral authority's objection is not something the council can be argued out of at the hearing.

Before spending the 60 days on a review, weigh the alternative. Most refusals identify specific, addressable grounds, and a redesigned application lodged afresh is often faster and cheaper than a contested hearing — particularly where the refusal turns on a standard the proposal could meet with a modest change. A review is worth running where the grounds are genuinely arguable on the planning merits, where the council has departed from the scheme's own standards, or where the proposal cannot be changed without destroying its economics.

A condition you cannot live with is a separate right. Section 80(1) covers review of any condition in a permit the responsible authority has issued or decided to grant, with 60 days under regulation 33. It does not apply to a condition included under section 62(1)(aa), and it does not reopen the permit as a whole — the Tribunal is being asked about the condition.

If the council has not decided: section 79

An application that sits undecided is reviewable in its own right. Section 79 lets an applicant apply to the Tribunal for review of the responsible authority's failure to grant the permit within the prescribed time. Regulation 32(1) sets that prescribed time at 60 days, or 10 business days for a VicSmart application.

What matters here is that the clock does not run continuously. Under regulation 32(2) it starts on the day the responsible authority receives the application, or — where the council required further information under section 54 and the applicant supplied it — on the day the information is given. Under regulation 32(3) it does not run at all while notice under section 52 is being given, nor during an extension granted to a referral authority. So a council that appears to be months late is frequently not late at all, and a failure review lodged too early fails on that point before the merits are reached.

If a permit was granted over your objection: section 82, and the 28 days

Section 82(1) lets an objector apply to the Tribunal for review of a decision of the responsible authority to grant a permit. Regulation 35 requires that application to be made within 28 days after the date of the notice of that decision. Two features of this period catch people out. It runs from the date of the notice, not from the day you receive it. And it is less than half the applicant's period, even though the objector usually has had far less contact with the file.

The compensating feature is section 64(3): the responsible authority must not issue the permit until that period has ended, or — if an application for review is made within it — until the Tribunal determines the review or it is withdrawn. For those 28 days nothing can be built, and that is the practical value of the right whether or not you ultimately run it to a hearing.

The figure changed recently and a lot of material has not caught up. Under the revoked Planning and Environment Regulations 2015 the objector period was 21 days, and that number is still widely repeated in council guidance and general articles. Regulation 35 of the Interim Regulations 2026 and the prescribed form of the Notice of Decision both say 28. If the notice in front of you states a shorter period, work to the shorter one and raise it with the council immediately.

When there is no review right at all

A planning scheme can take objector review away. Section 82(2) lets a scheme set out classes of permit application whose decisions are exempt from section 82(1), and section 82(3) provides that where it does, an application for review cannot be made. In the residential zones the exemption bites where every applicable standard under Clause 55.02, Clauses 55.04-1 to 55.04-4 and Clause 55.05-2 is met: the application is then exempt from both the section 64(1) to (3) notice requirements and the section 82(1) review rights. No notice of decision is given, and no review can be sought.

VicSmart applications carry no third-party review right either, because they are exempt from public notice in the first place — there are no objectors to have one. The applicant's own review rights survive.

If you did not object but the decision affects you, section 82B is the remaining route: any person who is affected may apply to the Tribunal for leave to apply for review of a decision to grant a permit, in any case in which a written objection to the grant was received by the responsible authority. It is leave, not an entitlement, and the Tribunal must give the permit applicant, the council and you an opportunity to be heard before deciding, unless the permit applicant consents.

What decides a VCAT planning review

VCAT conducts a fresh merits review. It is not asking whether the council erred; it stands in the council's place and decides the application again against the planning scheme as it stands at the time of the hearing. That cuts both ways. New material, amended plans and a better-argued case can carry a proposal the council refused — and an objector who argued well at council can lose on a point that was never properly tested there.

What persuades is a case organised around provisions. The zone and its schedule, the overlays, the applicable Clause 54, 55 or 57 standards, the decision guidelines, and the specific findings the proposal does or does not satisfy. Victorian practice places real weight on comparable Tribunal decisions, but a case citing a decision against its actual holding does more harm than citing none, so each authority has to be read for what it actually found rather than what its headnote suggests.

Most matters pass through a compulsory conference or mediation before any hearing. A written case that already sets out the provisions, the standards and the outcome sought is what gives you something to negotiate with there, and it is the same document that carries the hearing if the matter does not resolve.

Real example

Worked example — the same decision, two very different clocks

A council issues a Notice of Decision to Grant a Permit for a three-dwelling development, with conditions the owner dislikes. The owner has 60 days from that notice to seek review of the conditions under section 80. The neighbour who objected has 28 days from the date of the same notice to seek review of the decision to grant under section 82. If the neighbour lets 28 days pass, the permit issues and the owner's 60 days become academic; if the neighbour lodges, both the grant and the conditions are back before the Tribunal and the permit stays unissued until it is resolved. Same piece of paper, two deadlines, and the shorter one belongs to the party with the least information.

The statutory basis

Review rights sit in Part 4, Division 2 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic): section 77 (refusal), section 78 (requirements for notice or further information), section 79 (failure to decide within the prescribed time), section 80 (conditions), section 81 (extensions of time), section 82 (objector review, and the scheme's power to exempt), section 82AAA (recommending referral authorities) and section 82B (leave for an affected person). Section 64(3) is what keeps the permit from issuing while an objector's period runs. Read from Authorised Version No. 168, incorporating amendments as at 28 October 2026.

Every period is prescribed by regulation, not by the Act: regulation 30 (section 77 — 60 days), regulation 31 (section 78 — 30 and 60 days), regulation 32 (section 79 — the prescribed time of 60 days, or 10 business days for VicSmart, and the events that start and suspend it), regulation 33 (section 80 — 60 days), regulation 35 (section 82 — 28 days) and regulation 36 (section 82AAA — 21 days). All from the Planning and Environment Interim Regulations 2026 (S.R. No. 40/2026), Authorised Version No. 003 as at 28 October 2026, which replaced the Planning and Environment Regulations 2015.

Procedure at the Tribunal is governed by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic), including Schedule 1 Part 16 for proceedings under a planning enactment. VCAT sets and publishes its own application fees. This page is general information, not advice on a particular review — and because these periods are strict, confirm the date on your own notice rather than relying on any general description of it.

Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) s 77 + reg 30

Applicant review of a refusal — within 60 days after the notice of refusal under s 65

Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) s 80 + reg 33

Applicant review of a condition — within 60 days after the s 64 notice, or after the permit was issued

Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) s 79 + reg 32

Failure to decide — prescribed time of 60 days, or 10 business days for VicSmart; the clock pauses while s 52 notice is given

Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) s 82 + reg 35

Objector review of a decision to grant — within 28 days after the date of the notice of that decision

Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) s 64(3)

The permit must not be issued until the objector review period ends, or the review is determined or withdrawn

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic), Sch 1 Pt 16

Constitution of the Tribunal and procedure in proceedings under a planning enactment

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to appeal a planning permit refusal in Victoria?

60 days. Section 77 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 gives an applicant the right to seek review of a refusal, and regulation 30 of the Planning and Environment Interim Regulations 2026 requires the application to be made within 60 days after the responsible authority gave notice of the refusal under section 65.

How long does an objector have to appeal to VCAT?

28 days after the date of the Notice of Decision to Grant a Permit — section 82(1) of the Act with regulation 35 of the Interim Regulations 2026. It runs from the date on the notice, not from when you receive it. Guidance written before the Interim Regulations commenced often still says 21 days, which was the period under the revoked 2015 Regulations.

What is the difference between section 77, section 79 and section 82?

Section 77 is an applicant's review of a refusal. Section 79 is an applicant's review of the council's failure to decide within the prescribed time. Section 82 is an objector's review of a decision to grant a permit. A condition is section 80. They are genuinely different rights with different deadlines, so getting the section right is the first step, not a technicality.

Can I appeal if the council has not decided my application?

Yes, under section 79, once the prescribed time has passed — 60 days, or 10 business days for a VicSmart application. But the clock starts from receipt of the application or from the day you supplied required further information, and it does not run while notice under section 52 is being given or while a referral authority has an extension. Many applications that look overdue are not, so confirm where the clock actually stands before lodging.

Can an objector be shut out of VCAT entirely?

Yes. Section 82(2) lets a planning scheme exempt classes of application from objector review, and section 82(3) makes that exemption absolute. In the residential zones, a proposal meeting every applicable standard under Clause 55.02, Clauses 55.04-1 to 55.04-4 and Clause 55.05-2 is exempt from both the notice-of-decision requirements and objector review. VicSmart applications are exempt from notice and third-party review altogether.

Can the permit be issued while my appeal period runs?

No. Section 64(3) prevents the responsible authority from issuing the permit until the objector review period has ended, or — where an application for review is made within that period — until VCAT determines it or it is withdrawn. Nothing can lawfully be built in the meantime.

Does VCAT reconsider the whole application or just the council's reasons?

The whole application. A planning review at VCAT is a fresh merits review: the Tribunal decides the application again against the planning scheme, rather than auditing the council's reasoning. That is why amended plans and new expert material can change the outcome, and why a point that went unchallenged at council can be lost at the Tribunal.

Do I need a lawyer or a planner at VCAT?

You can represent yourself, and many parties do. But the Tribunal decides on planning merits, so a case organised around the zone, the overlays, the applicable standards and the decision guidelines — with comparable Tribunal decisions read for what they actually held — carries far more weight than a narrative of events. That written case is also what you negotiate with at the compulsory conference.

VCAT submission — ready when you are

A written planning case for your review — the proposal tested against the zone, the overlays and the applicable standards, with the grounds set out the way the Tribunal reads them.