The Victorian Government is introducing legislation to stop development on a property if heritage buildings are illegally demolished.

The legislation is designed to cover buildings that have been unlawfully demolished in full or in part and in instances where owners are charged with unlawful demolition.

Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne said it targets developers who do the wrong thing.

“These new laws remove the financial incentive to illegally demolish buildings by potentially stopping development of the land for up to 10 years,” he said.

“This means that they can no longer expect to reap windfall gains from just selling or rebuilding on their land.”