What the statement asks the seller
The Property Law Regulation 2024 sets out the information the statement must include, and form 2 groups it into six parts. Under the Property Law Act 2023, the statement must be completed with information that is true at the time it is given to the buyer, and signed by the seller; it may be an electronic document and may be electronically signed.
- Part 1Seller and property
The seller’s name, the address and lot-on-plan description, and whether the lot is in a community titles scheme or a BUGTA scheme.
- Part 2Title and encumbrances
Whether the title search and the registered plan of survey have been given, details of each unregistered encumbrance, and, if the lot was under a residential tenancy or rooming accommodation agreement in the 12 months before the buyer signed, the day of the last rent increase, if any.
- Part 3Land use, planning and environment
Zoning; contamination and environmental protection matters; any tree application or order; any government notice given to the seller about a transport infrastructure proposal; whether the Queensland Heritage Act 1992 affects the lot or it is on the World Heritage List; and any notice of intention to resume.
- Part 4Buildings and structures
Among them: whether there is a pool on the lot or, for a lot in a scheme, on the common property; owner builder work finished in the last 6 years, which the seller must tell buyers about in a notice under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991; and any unsatisfied show cause or enforcement notice under the Building Act 1975 or the Planning Act 2016.
- Part 5Rates and water
The total rates and charges, without any discount, from the most recent rate notice, or a statement that the lot is rates exempt or has no separate rates assessment; and the water services charges from the most recent notice or, where no separate notice is issued, an estimate.
- Part 6Community titles and BUGTA schemes
Whether the lot is in one and, if it is, whether the body corporate certificate (or, where it cannot be obtained for a reason set out in section 6 or 7 of the regulation, an explanatory statement) and, for a community titles scheme, the most recent community management statement are given.
The papers that go with it
Prescribed certificates can be given separately from the statement, but every one that applies must reach the buyer before the buyer signs. Among those the Property Law Regulation 2024 prescribes:
- a title search showing interests registered under the Land Title Act 1994, and a copy of the registered plan of survey;
- a copy of any document given to the seller about a tree application or order, a transport infrastructure proposal or a notice of intention to resume, and a copy of any Environmental Protection Act 1994 notice the seller must give the buyer about the sale;
- where there is a pool on the lot or the scheme’s common property, a pool compliance certificate or a notice that no pool safety certificate is in effect; a copy of any notice the seller must give under section 47 of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991; a copy of any show cause or enforcement notice under the Building Act 1975 or the Planning Act 2016 still in effect; and a copy of any notice or order still in effect requiring work to be done or money to be spent on the lot;
- for a lot in a community titles scheme, the most recent community management statement and the body corporate certificate.
The full list, in section 5 of the regulation, also covers a lot in a BUGTA scheme.
Where a body corporate certificate cannot be obtained, form 2 provides for an explanatory statement saying it is not attached and giving the reason, under the Property Law Regulation 2024, why the seller could not get one.
Matters the scheme does not ask about
The Property Law Regulation 2024 also prescribes the warnings form 2 must carry, and the first is about the gaps. Among the matters the statement does not include information about are a property’s flooding or other natural hazard history, whether the building is structurally sound or has pests, how the property is or was used, its building or development approvals past and present, the limits planning laws place on the land, and the services that are or may be connected. Form 2 tells the buyer this in the same terms.
From handing it over to the last day
- Before the buyer signs
The documents go across
The seller must be able to prove the statement was given; the Queensland Government suggests keeping proof of delivery, such as a read receipt or signed acknowledgement. At an auction, a buyer who registered as a bidder before it started must get the documents before the auction starts.
- Up to settlement
The buyer’s right to terminate
Under the Property Law Act 2023, a buyer may terminate, by notice, at any time before settlement if the seller did not give the statement or an applicable certificate before the buyer signed. A buyer may also terminate where all of these apply: the statement or certificate was inaccurate or incomplete about a material matter affecting the lot when it was given; the buyer did not know the correct state of affairs when they signed; and the buyer would not have signed had they known. Rates and water services information is not a material matter affecting a lot. The right to terminate does not apply where the failure, or the inaccurate or incomplete statement or certificate, is also a failure to comply with another Act and that Act provides a consequence to the seller for it, such as a remedy for the buyer; the other Act making it an offence is not enough on its own.
- Within 14 days of termination
The money goes back
The seller must repay what the buyer paid towards the lot, with any interest that accrued while it was held by or for the seller.
Examples the Queensland Government gives: the buyer is the State, a government body, a constructing authority or a listed corporation; buyer and seller are related parties; the price is over $10 million and the buyer waives disclosure; or the seller is a council recovering unpaid rates. The Property Law Act 2023 sets conditions on some of these: a related buyer must also waive disclosure, the $10 million figure includes GST, and a council must give the buyer a notice saying the buyer needs to make their own enquiries and the council need not comply. In each case the waiver or notice must be given before the buyer signs. Whether a sale fits one is a question for the seller’s lawyer.
A private seller has one more piece of wording to add: a Queensland contract of sale must carry a warning statement directly above where the buyer signs, and a seller selling privately is responsible for including it.