Victoria's auction reserve rules from 1 October 2026

From 1 October 2026, a Victorian auction reserve stops being a number the vendor hands you on the morning. It becomes one dollar figure, agreed in writing, and public for at least seven days before the auction. If it hasn't been public for the full seven days, the agent must not conduct the sale.

That's the part almost nobody's explaining. This article goes section by section. It says which campaigns are caught, and gives you the dates to count back from.

This is Victorian law. It amends the Estate Agents Act 1980 (Vic). It doesn't apply in NSW or Queensland, which run their own rules.

What changed, and when

The Consumer Legislation Amendment Act 2026 (Vic), No. 36 of 2026, got Royal Assent on 8 September 2026.

Section 2(2) starts the reserve price, Property Price Statement and residential advertising changes on 1 October 2026. Other parts start later. The vendor statement changes wait on proclamation, or 1 June 2027 at the latest.

Everything below is residential property only. The reserve rules apply to auctions and fixed-date sales. A fixed-date sale is one where the vendor sets a date and time by which offers have to be made.

The written reserve exchange (section 47AG)

Before an auction or fixed-date sale, the agent, or the agent's representative, has to ask the vendor for their reserve price in writing.

The request has to say three things. The reserve you propose. Your reasons. And that it has to be one dollar figure, with no extra words or symbols.

The vendor then does one of three things, in writing. Accepts it, signed. Rejects it and names a different figure, signed. Or asks you for another proposal.

The Act sets no deadline on the vendor's reply. The only clock is the publication clock below. The written exchange has to be done before that clock can start.

Seven days public, as one figure (section 47AH)

For at least seven days before the auction or fixed-date sale, and right up until it, the reserve has to be in any advertisement that carries a price. Online, it has to be prominent.

The reserve has to be one dollar figure, with no words or symbols around it. The Act's own examples are "from", "over", "starting at" and "+".

Before the seven days, the reserve doesn't have to be public. The indicative selling price still has to be shown, as now.

If it isn't published, the agent must not conduct the sale (section 47AI)

This is the line to read twice.

Section 47AI says an agent must not conduct the auction or fixed-date sale if the reserve hasn't been published under section 47AH for the seven days right before it.

The prohibition sits on the agent conducting the sale. It's not a vendor obligation. The penalty for a breach is 240 penalty units.

So a reserve that's changed inside the last seven days isn't the vendor's problem on the day. It's the agent's.

Which auctions are caught: the 14-day window (section 110)

The new rules don't apply to an auction or fixed-date sale held within 14 days after 1 October 2026. For those sales, the old statement of information and advertising rules still apply.

Consumer Affairs Victoria puts it plainly: the new requirements apply to auctions and fixed-date sales on and from 16 October 2026.

So sales held from 1 to 15 October are exempt. A sale on 16 October needs its reserve public by 9 October.

A four-week campaign with its first open on Saturday 19 September 2026 goes to auction on Saturday 17 October. That campaign is caught. Its reserve has to be public by 10 October. The written exchange has to be done before that.

The question the Act doesn't answer: changing a published reserve

The Act has no clause about what happens if the reserve changes after it's been published.

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria raised this publicly in early September. Its chief executive, Toby Balazs, reads it this way: if the reserve goes up, the seven days have to run again. The REIV also noted the Act doesn't say whether a decrease works the same way.

On the face of the Act, a new reserve is a new vendor's reserve price. Section 47AI needs that price public for the seven days right before the sale. So the safe reading is that a change restarts the seven days. But that's a reading, not a ruling. Watch the Consumer Affairs Victoria page, and ask your director before you rely on anything here.

The Property Price Statement

The statement of information becomes the Property Price Statement.

It has to include the key features of the property. Once the vendor has confirmed it, the reserve goes on as one dollar figure.

Online, the statement has to sit on the first visible part of the page, right next to the advertised price. Physical advertising has to carry a web address or QR code that links to it.

After the sale, the sale price goes on within seven days of the unconditional date. The statement stays online for at least 18 months. Victoria's sold price rule has its own guide.

These Property Price Statement rules apply to every residential listing from 1 October, including private treaty. Only the reserve rules are limited to auctions and fixed-date sales.

What to do on your current campaigns

First, list every auction and fixed-date sale on your board dated 16 October or later. For each one, count back seven days. That's the day the reserve has to be public. Count back one more week. That's when the written exchange needs to be done. Put both dates in the file.

Second, move the reserve to the week-two vendor report, and have it in writing. Propose a figure, attach the comparable sales, and ask for a signed reply. The Act wants your reasons in the request anyway. So the comparables you'd normally talk through at the kitchen table now go in the message. If you want a script for the number conversation itself, the appraisal number conversation is the place to start.

Third, tell the vendor on the day they sign the authority, not the Wednesday before the auction. For an auction from 16 October, the reserve goes public a week out. If it moves inside that week, the auction may not be able to run on the day.

Fourth, put a note in the file the day the reserve is confirmed, with the date it went public. That note is the one that matters if anyone asks later. The follow-up system that books appraisals covers what belongs in a property file and why.

And if the vendor answers all of it with "then I'll wait until next year", what to say when a vendor isn't ready to sell is the next conversation.

None of this is legal advice. Read the Consumer Affairs Victoria page for agents, read the Act, and ask your director.