In October this year, the Queensland Government passed the Property Law Bill (2023), replacing the Property Law Act (1974).
This Bill, which will commence on a yet-to-be announced date, will constitute a drastic change to conveyancing in Queensland.
The new legislation introduces a new disclosure regime for vendors in Queensland. Vendors will be required to provide a detailed disclosure statement and prescribed certificates in relation to the property they are selling to prospective buyers - before a contract of sale is signed.
The buyer may be entitled to terminate a contract for sale any time before settlement if the disclosure documents are not provided correctly, or if there is a mistake or omission that relates to a material matter; whereby if the buyer was not aware of, and had they been made aware, they would have never entered into the contract.
The disclosure statement will need to include the following information:
1. a title search,
2. a registered survey plan,
3. any adjudicator's orders - for example, QCAT orders in relation to trees and fences,
and, if it is in a community title scheme,
4. body corporate information certificate, community management statement (CMS), and
5. bylaws not included in the CMS.
In addition, pool safety compliance, QBCC notices, environmental protection notices and current rates and water documentation will need to be provided.
The new laws champion greater transparency for buyers, potentially allowing Queensland property sales to proceed with more certainty as Queensland seems to moving more towards the 'buyer beware' model in New South Wales.
The unknown question is whether or not real estate agents in Queensland will remain confident in putting together these contracts for sale, now that the stakes are higher with respect to buyer's remedies if the contracts are defective in any way.
