Ganian Pty Ltd v Valuer General of New South Wales

Representation: Counsel:
L Waterson (Applicant)
M Carpenter (Respondent)
Solicitors:
Beatty Hughes and Associates (Applicant)
Crown Solicitor for NSW (Respondent)

File Number(s): 2024/415971

Publication restriction: Nil

Judgment

1. COMMISSIONER: On 8 November 2024 Ganian Pty Ltd (the Applicant) commenced proceedings against the Valuer General of New South Wales (the Respondent) pursuant to s 37 of the Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW) (the VLA) appealing the land value for the Valuing Year 1 July 2023 (the valuing year) in the Land Tax Assessment Notice issued for Lot 3008 in Deposited Plan 1272401 known as Astoria Street, Marsden Park (the Property).

The Property

2. The Property which is located in the local government area of Blacktown is an irregular shaped parcel of land comprising some 261,900 square metres with a curved frontage to Astoria Street of approximately 489.91 metres and a rear alignment in the order of 406.24 metres. Marsden Park is located some 49 kilometres north west of the Sydney Central Business District by road.

3. The parcel is predominantly vacant cleared land free of any buildings but includes some drainage and landfill infrastructure. The parcel is used in conjunction with an adjoining property for the purposes of the Applicant’s landfill business.

4. The Property is zoned part IN1 General Industrial (about 215,050 square metres), part B7 Business Park (in the order of 12,000 square metres in the separate parts) and part SP2 Infrastructure (approximately 16,850 square metres for local drainage) under the State Environmental Planning Policy (Precincts – Central River City) 2021, and State Environmental Planning Policy Amendment (Riverstone West Precinct) 2022.

5. The part of the land zoned SP2 severs the parcel.

Legislation

6. The relevant sections of the legislation applicable to these proceedings are set below.

Land Tax Management Act 1956 (NSW)

7. Section 14(1) of the Land Tax Act states as follows:

14 Assessments to be made

(1) Subject to this Act and the Taxation Administration Act 1996, the Chief Commissioner shall from the returns and from any other information in the Commissioner’s possession or from any one or both of those sources, and whether any return has been furnished or not, cause an assessment to be made of the taxable value of the land owned by any taxpayer and of the land tax payable thereon.

Taxation Administration Act 1996 (NSW)

8. Section 14(1) of the Taxation Administration Act provides as follows:

14 Notice of assessment, reassessment or withdrawal of assessment

(1) The Chief Commissioner may issue a notice of assessment (showing the amount of the assessment).

Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW)

9. The various sections of the VLA are:

6A Land value

(1)The land value of land is the capital sum which the fee-simple of the land might be expected to realise if offered for sale on such reasonable terms and conditions as a bona-fide seller would require, assuming that the improvements, if any, thereon or appertaining thereto, other than land improvements, and made or acquired by the owner or the owner’s predecessor in title had not been made.

29 Notice of valuations to owner

(1) On furnishing a valuation list to the council of a local government area, the Valuer-General must cause notice of each valuation contained in the list to be given to—

(a) the owner of the freehold estate in the land, and

(b) any lessee or occupier of the land who, under any Act, is liable to pay any rate or tax to a rating or taxing authority in respect of the land, and

(c) any lessee of the land under a written lease for a term exceeding 3 years who, under the lease, is liable to pay the whole or any part of any rate or tax to a rating or taxing authority in respect of the land, and

(d) any mortgagee in possession of the land.

(3A) A person to whom the Valuer-General has given written notice under subsection (1) may lodge with the Valuer-General written objection to any such valuation.

34 Grounds of objection

(1) In relation to land the only grounds upon which objection may be taken under this Act are—

(a) that the values assigned are too high or too low,

35 Time for lodging objection

(1) Except as provided by section 35A, an objection must be lodged with the Valuer-General, in accordance with the regulations, not later than 60 days after—

(a) the date of service of the notice of valuation under section 29, or

(b) in the case of a valuation for the purposes of the Land Tax Management Act 1956 or Property Tax (First Home Buyer Choice) Act 2022, the date of service of the relevant land tax assessment or property tax assessment under section 14 of the Taxation Administration Act 1996.

35AA Restrictions on objections to land tax valuations and property tax valuations

(1) In the case of a valuation for the purposes of the Land Tax Management Act 1956 or Property Tax (First Home Buyer Choice) Act 2022, a person is not entitled to object to any valuation used as the basis of a land tax assessment or property tax assessment if the valuation has previously been the subject of an objection, except with the permission of the Valuer-General.

35B Determination of objection

(1) The Valuer-General must consider an objection that has been duly made and either allow the objection or disallow the objection.

(2) If the Valuer-General delegates the functions conferred by this section, the delegate who considers the objection must be a different person from, and not subordinate to, the person who made the decision against which the objection is lodged.

35C Notice of determination

(1) The Valuer-General must give notice to the objector of the determination of the objection.

(2) The Valuer-General must, in the notice, give reasons for disallowing an objection or for allowing an objection in part only.

(3) The notice is to be in a form approved by the Valuer-General.

(4) For the purposes of section 37, an objection is taken to have been disallowed if notice of the Valuer-General’s determination of the objection has not been given within 90 days after the objection was lodged with the Valuer-General.

Part 4 Appeals to Land and Environment Court

Division 1 Appeals

37 Right of appeal

(1) Any person entitled under Part 3 to object to a valuation may appeal to the Land and Environment Court if the person is dissatisfied with the Valuer-General’s determination of any such objection to the valuation concerned (whether or not the person was the objector).

(2) An appeal may not be made on the ground that the objection is taken to have been disallowed, as referred to in section 35C (4), unless written notice of the objector’s intention to appeal on that ground has been given to the Valuer-General at least 14 days before the appeal is made.

(3) No person or body has jurisdiction or power to conduct a review or hear an appeal in respect of the determination of an objection except as provided by this Part.

38 Time for appeal

(1) An appeal must be made not later than 60 days after the date of issue of the notice of the Valuer-General’s determination of the objection.

(2) The Land and Environment Court may allow a person to appeal after the 60-day period.

39 Grounds of appeal

The appellant’s and respondent’s cases on an appeal are not limited to the grounds of the objection.

40 Powers of Land and Environment Court on appeal

(1) On an appeal, the Land and Environment Court may do any one or more of the following—

(a) confirm or revoke the decision to which the appeal relates,

(b) make a decision in place of the decision to which the appeal relates,

(c) remit the matter to the Valuer-General for determination in accordance with the Court’s finding or decision.

(2) On an appeal, the appellant has the onus of proving the appellant’s case.

Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (NSW)

10. The sections of the LEC Act are:

19 Class 3—land tenure, valuation, rating and compensation matters

The Court has jurisdiction (referred to in this Act as “Class 3” of its jurisdiction) to hear and dispose of the following—

(a) appeals, references or other matters that may be heard and disposed of by the Court under the Crown Land Management Act 2016 or Division 2 of Part 12 of the Roads Act 1993, being appeals, references or other matters that are not referred to in any other section of this Part,

(b) appeals under section 37(1) of the Valuation of Land Act 1916,

34 Conciliation conferences

(1) If proceedings are pending in Class 1, 2 or 3 of the Court’s jurisdiction, the Court—

(a) may arrange a conciliation conference between the parties or their representatives, with or without their consent, and

(b) if it does so, must notify the parties or their representatives of the time and place fixed for the conference.

(1A) It is the duty of each party to proceedings where a conciliation conference has been arranged under subsection (1) to participate, in good faith, in the conciliation conference.

(2) A conciliation conference is to be presided over by a single Commissioner.

(3) If, either at or after a conciliation conference, agreement is reached between the parties or their representatives as to the terms of a decision in the proceedings that would be acceptable to the parties (being a decision that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions), the Commissioner—

(a) must dispose of the proceedings in accordance with the decision, and

(b) must set out in writing the terms of the decision.

Procedural history in respect of the****se proceedings

11. On 5 March 2024, the Applicant was served a Land Tax Assessment Notice for the Property pursuant to s 14 of the Land Tax Management Act 1956 (NSW) (the LTA) and s 14 of the Taxation Administration Act 1966 (NSW) (the TAA).

12. The issued land value for the valuing year 1 July 2023 was $89,000,000.

13. The bases for an objection against an issued land value are set out in ss 29(3A) and 35(1)(b) of the VLA.

14. The Applicant was the registered owner of the Property at the time the Land Tax Assessment Notice was issued.

15. On 3 May 2025, the Applicant lodged an objection to the issued land value for the valuing year 1 July 2023 pursuant to ss 29(3A) and 34 of the VLA within the 60 day time period pursuant to s 35 of the VLA.

16. The Applicant’s objection was on the basis that the issued land value was too high and contended a land value of $29,000,000.

17. The issued land value in the Land Tax Assessment Notice had not been the subject of a prior objection and accordingly, the provisions of s 35AA of the VLA did not apply.

18. The Respondent allowed the Applicant’s objection on 25 September 2024 in accordance with the provisions of s 35B of the VLA and issued a Notice of Determination to the Applicant in accordance with s 35C of the VLA.

19. The Notice of Determination stated that the land value be amended to $73,600,000.

20. On 8 November 2024, the Applicant filed a Class 3 Application appealing the Respondent’s determination of its objection within the required 60 day period as required by s 38 of the VLA.

21. Pursuant to s 19(b) of the Land and Environment Act 1979 (NSW) (the LEC Act) the proceedings fall within Class 3 of the jurisdiction of the Court.

22. The statutory power or function to be exercised in determining the proceedings are s 34(3)(a) of the LEC Act and s 40(1)(b) of the VLA.

Section 34 Conciliation Conference

23. The Court arranged a conciliation conference under s 34(1) of the LEC Act between the parties, which was held on 16 April 2025 and 2 July 2025, and I presided over the conciliation conference.

24. At the conciliation conference on 2 July 2025, the parties reached an in-principle agreement that the land value of the Property for the Valuing Year 2023 was $21,000,000.

25. I adjourned the conciliation conference to 20 August 2025 to give the parties time to prepare and provide the Court with a jurisdictional statement and an agreement for these proceedings.

26. The agreement for these proceedings was filed in Court on 14 August 2025.

27. Pursuant to s 34(3) of the LEC Act, I must dispose of these proceedings in accordance with the decision of the parties if that decision could have been made by the Court in the proper exercise of its functions.

28. I am satisfied that the jurisdictional prerequisites for these proceedings as set out in the Legislation at [6] to [10] have been met as described in Procedural history in respect of these proceedings at [11] to [22].

29. Consequently, I am satisfied that the decision by the partes is one that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions, as required by ss 34(3)(a) and (b) of the LEC Act.

Orders:

30. The Court orders:

31. The appeal is upheld.

32. Pursuant to s 40(1)(b) of the Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW), for the valuation year of 1 July 2023 the land value of Lot 3008 in Deposited Plan 1272401, known as Astoria Street, Marsden Park 2765 is determined to be $21,000,000 in accordance with s 6A of the Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW).

Notation:

31. The Court notes:

32. Each party is to bear its own costs in relation to the proceedings.

33. These proceedings were heard in together with proceedings 2024/415969 and 2024/415970 (between the same parties with the same representatives).

34. Proceedings 2024/415970 were discontinued in accordance with orders made by the Court on 5 September 2025.

35. Proceedings 2024/415969 are the subject of a separate agreement and a separate judgment.

P Kempthorne

Acting Commissioner of the Court

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Amendments

31 October 2025

Pursuant to r 36.17 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (the “slip” rule), made on the behalf of the Applicant with the consent of the Responder. The slip rule seeks to: (1) To correct the value of the land at [30(2)] in the judgment from $21,00,000 to ‘$21,000,000’. (2) To correct the typographical error from ‘Marsen Park’ to ‘Marsden Park’ at [2] and [30(2)] in the judgment. (3) To amended the representation on the cover page to L Watson of Counsel appeared the Applicant and M Carpenter appeared for the Respondent.