A record of your property as it was on 30 June 2027 — that you keep, and anyone can verify.
The 1 July 2027 capital gains tax changes make 30 June 2027 a reference date for property held across it. A valuation establishes what a property was worth. A property evidence record keeps what it was like — the documents and the condition — so that a valuation done years later, when the property is finally sold, rests on something contemporary rather than on recollection.
That date happens once. A record made now shows the property in the run-up to it; one attempted afterwards is reconstruction from whatever survived. That is the reason to start before June 2027 rather than after — and why a record created today carries today’s date, not a future one.
Why the condition matters, not just the value#
For many owners the 2027 valuation is optional: there is a statutory formula, and for a plain holding it may be enough. The formula cannot capture capital improvements made before the reset — a renovation, an extension, work that changed the property. Those improvements are argued from evidence: invoices, contracts, council approvals, plans, and photographs of what was actually there.
Evidence of improvements is exactly what a formula has no way to know. That is where a record earns its keep.
What goes in one#
- Documents — renovation invoices and contracts, council and development approvals, floor plans, leases and rental statements, the contract of purchase
- Photographs — the property’s condition. These can be photographs you already have, or ones taken against a fixed shot guide so the coverage is consistent rather than whatever was to hand
- A manifest — every file listed with its SHA-256 digest, so a change to any file is detectable
Three ways to make one#
They produce the same thing. Pick whichever suits how you work.
Send us what you have. Email the documents and photographs, or share a folder link, and we assemble the record. Nothing to install, nothing to learn. This is the only route that has a person checking the collection before it is sealed.
Build it yourself on a computer. If you photographed the property with a camera and the files are on a PC, make the record in your browser. It walks the same twelve-item shot guide, reads each photograph’s own capture time where the file carries one, records the SHA-256 of every file, and writes the manifest for you to save alongside them. Nothing is uploaded — the files are read on your machine and never sent anywhere. Many owners find a camera and a computer easier than a phone, and this is for them.
Use the phone app. A guided capture that walks the same shot guide and takes the photographs directly. It is not released yet — see the status note at the end.
Whichever route you take, you can check the record yourself at any time: choose the folder and every digest is recomputed in your browser and compared against the manifest. No account, no network, and nothing from us.
What building it yourself does and does not give you#
A record you build yourself carries the integrity half: the digests mean any later change to any file is detectable, and anyone can confirm that without us.
It does not carry the date half. Fixing when the record existed needs a signature from an independent timestamp authority and a commitment to a public randomness value — neither of which a browser on your own computer can provide for you, because the whole point is that the date is not set by the person it speaks for. That part is what we add.
So: build it yourself to get the collection made and its integrity locked while the property still looks the way it does. Send it to us when you want the date fixed too.
How the date is established#
Two independent bounds, which together place the record inside a known window:
- Not later than. The manifest’s digest is submitted to a commercial timestamp authority, which returns a signed RFC 3161 token. That proves the record existed by the moment it was signed.
- Not earlier than. Before it is sealed, the manifest commits to a public randomness value published by an independent network. Nobody can know that value in advance, so the record cannot have been assembled before it was published.
Only the digest — a 64-character fingerprint — is sent to the timestamp authority. It never sees your documents or photographs, and could not read them if it did.
To have us store and date the record, you do send us the files — by email or a folder link. Email to us is routed through a third-party mail forwarding service before it reaches our mailbox, and our mailbox provider may store or process it outside Australia; the privacy policy sets out who handles it and where.
Why not just put it in Google Drive#
You could, and you should keep your own copy wherever suits you. A drive keeps files safe. What it cannot do is show when they were made.
- The date on a drive is one you can change. Whoever owns the account sets it — and that is the same person the date is meant to speak for. Ours is set by an independent party, and neither you nor we can move it afterwards.
- If a file is altered later, this shows it. A drive will store the changed version without comment. Here, anyone comparing the record will see that something moved.
- You can check it yourself, years from now. The record comes with everything needed to confirm it — no account, no subscription, and no need for us to still exist.
Storage is free because storage is not the point. Being able to show the date, and show nothing has changed since, is the point.
What it proves, and what it does not#
Being precise about this matters more than the marketing would.
It proves: that these exact files existed, unaltered, within a known window of time. Anyone can check that themselves, with standard tools, without us.
That is a stronger claim than it sounds in 2026. Convincing images of a property can now be generated in minutes, and a photograph on its own no longer establishes much. What cannot be generated is a photograph that already existed on a date fixed by someone else. Once a file is in the record, changing it is detectable and back-dating a replacement is not possible — so nothing can be quietly swapped, improved or fabricated after the fact.
It does not prove: that what you sent was genuine when you sent it. If a fabricated image is deposited on day one, the record will faithfully show that the fabrication existed on day one. It fixes the evidence at a moment; it does not vouch for it. Nor does it prove that the photographs are of the stated property, that they show its true condition, or that the collection is complete. No timestamp can establish any of that. Only a person who was there can attest to it — which is why a record prepared alongside an on-site valuation, where a qualified valuer attends, carries more weight than one assembled by an owner alone.
We would rather say that plainly than let a technical mechanism imply more than it can carry.
You keep it#
The record is issued to you as a self-contained folder: the files, the manifest, the timestamp, and a verification script that needs no network, no account, and nothing from us. The method is also written out in plain words, so it can be checked with any SHA-256 tool if the script itself is no longer runnable.
Timestamp certificates expire. The folder carries a dated note and the means to renew its own timestamp, against free public authorities, so the record stays checkable for as long as you need it — whether or not we are still here.
A record of the property as it was
Australia’s capital gains tax rules make 30 June 2027 a reference date for property held across it. What shows the condition of a property on a date is the paperwork that already exists — invoices, approvals, plans, rates notices, photographs. We take what you send, keep it, and date it so it can be relied on later.
Why keep it with us as well as yourself
You keep your own copy. We keep one too, at no charge, because of when this record is used: not now, but whenever the property is eventually sold — which may be years or decades away.
- A checksum proves nothing if the file is gone. The record works because every file carries a checksum anyone can re-compute. That only helps while the files still exist, and a folder on a laptop rarely survives ten years of replaced devices, closed email accounts and lapsed subscriptions.
- The person who needs it may not be the person who made it. Property is often sold by an executor, a trustee or a family member years later. A second copy held somewhere deliberate is one they can be pointed to.
- Your accountant or a valuer can be sent it directly. When you engage us for a valuation we provide the record to the valuer carrying it out, and we will disclose it later at your request or your accountant’s to a valuer you appoint.
- It stays verifiable without us. The record is self-contained and carries its own checker, so everything in it can be confirmed by anyone even if we are not here. Storing with us adds a copy; it does not make you depend on us.
The two ways to do it
| What you get | Stored and dated | Assembled |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $295, invoiced on delivery. No GST. |
| Storage | Free, until 2050 or 5 years after you report a sale | Free, until 2050 or 5 years after you report a sale |
| How you send it | Email, or share a folder link | Email, or share a folder link |
| Who puts it together | You. We keep it exactly as sent. | We do. |
| A list of what is missing | No | Yes — against the checklist for your property type |
| Capture app | No | Included when it is released |
| Checksum for every file | Yes | Yes |
| Independent date stamp | Yes | Yes |
| Verifiable without us | Yes | Yes |
| Do we check your evidence? | No. We record what you send and when. We do not open, review or vouch for the contents, and the record says so about itself. | Yes. We review every file, check the record against the checklist for your property type, tell you what is missing or unusable, and check the documents you send relate to the property you have named. |
| What our review does not establish | Reviewing a photograph cannot prove it is truthful — not by us, and not by a valuer. What we check is that the record is complete and internally consistent. We do not certify that a photograph depicts what it appears to, and this is not a valuation or an opinion of value. | |
This is not a valuation and it is not tax advice. It is the evidence a valuer would want if you ask for a valuation later. Send documents you already hold — please do not photograph the inside of a tenanted property without your tenant’s written consent.
How long we keep it#
Until five years after you tell us the property has been sold, or 31 December 2050, whichever comes first — the same terms as the privacy policy. Telling us about a sale is what starts the five-year clock, so if you would rather we kept it to 2050, you need not tell us at all.
How to start#
Email us what you already have, or share a folder link, and say which of the two you want. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to install.
If you would rather assemble it yourself first, use the browser builder and send us the folder it produces.
The assembled record is invoiced after it is delivered, not before.
Current status#
The capture app is not yet released. The browser builder above is available and follows the same shot guide — but that shot guide has not yet been reviewed by a registered valuer, so it is a checklist we wrote ourselves, whichever route produces the photographs. A record we assemble from what you already hold is checked against the same checklist. We will say so plainly rather than imply otherwise.
Related#
- CGT property valuation — when a valuation is needed at all
- Desktop vs on-site — an on-site inspection is what allows a valuer to attest to condition