Queensland prepares for new Property Law Act and seller disclosure regime

Queensland prepares for new Property Law Act and seller disclosure regime

1 August 2025 will mark the advent of important new real estate laws in Queensland. All applicable legislation, and approved forms, have now been released, and so there is now only a nine-month period for the property industry to prepare.

So, let’s unpack what industry professionals will need to do.

Property Law Act 2023

This act was long in the making, with substantive recommendations for law reform generated by the Queensland University of Technology’s Commercial and Property Law Research Centre in 2018. In 2020 the Government released multiple ‘issues papers’ for public consultation and ultimately passed the new act in October 2023.

This legislation brings into effect many major changes in relation to common property transactions or other agreements about property. They include:

• Property Sales – There will be a comprehensive seller disclosure regime requiring a Seller Disclosure Statement to be provided to a buyer before the contract is signed. While there are differences from the content of disclosure applicable in other states or territories, this new requirement will arm buyers with far more information about their proposed property purchase than is presently required to be provided by the seller.
• Easements – Controversially, certain provisions in relation to easements have retrospective effect. These are the provisions which will enable the present owners of a property benefited by an easement, or the owner of the property subjected to an easement, to enforce obligations in relation to maintenance or construction of improvements or infrastructure, or to enforce obligations in relation to insuring or paying rates (or reimbursing the other party who has met these costs). This will overcome some rules arising by common-law (‘judge-made law’) or prior legislation which prevented ‘successors in title’ being bound by explicit obligations in an easement about these matters.
• Leases – There is now a new law relieving the original lessee of liability under a lease which has been assigned on multiple occasions. Where the original lessee’s interest has been assigned twice, that is, firstly to an assignee from the original lessee, and then secondly from that assignee to a successive assignee, then the original lessee’s liability will be cancelled.

Also, there are other important provisions which apply where the lessee exercises an option to renew a lease. If the lessee has given the lessor a notice in accordance with the lease exercising the lessee’s option to renew it for a further period, then the lessor will have a strict ten business day period to notify the lessee of prior breaches of the lease (or non-satisfaction or some other condition precedent of renewal) disentitling the lessee to renew the lease. If the breach of lease occurs after the giving of the renewal notice (or the condition precedent for renewal is not satisfied after that date), then likewise the lessor must give the lessee an applicable notice of its intention not to honour the renewal. If the lessor does not give the applicable notice then it will be obliged to renew the lease. If the lessor gives the lessee a notice of the type mentioned then the lessee will have 1 month from receipt of the notice to apply to Court for a determination of the lessee’s entitlement to renew the lease in the circumstances.

There are other important reforms of common law (‘judge-made law’) or prevailing prior legislation in relation to leases which will come into effect from 1 August 2025.

New government forms

On 1 October 2024 the Government released all the forms required to be used under the Property Law Act 2023. Some of them are replacements of the currently mandated forms, for example notices by mortgagees in relation to the exercise of a power of sale over a property, or by lessors in relation to a lessee’s breach of the lease. But also included are the forms for seller disclosure. At the minimum, this will require the provision to the buyer of PLA Form 2. If the property being sold as part of a strata scheme, then :

• the Form 2 must be accompanied by the latest Community Management Statement (CMS) for the scheme; and
• that form must also be accompanied by a ‘prescribed certificate’ issued by the body corporate, see below.

Prescribed certificates – Strata title disclosure

Where the body corporate is regulated by the ‘common’ Regulation Modules (Commercial Module, Accommodation Module, Standard Module or Small Schemes Module) then the prescribed certificate is new Form 33. In the case of properties regulated by the ‘Specified Two-Lot Schemes Module’ (mainly duplexes), which dispenses with many of the formalities of body corporate administration otherwise applicable, then new Form 34 must be issued by one of the two owners of the lots responsible for record-keeping.

It should also be noted that some schemes which predate the 13 July 2000 commencement of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 potentially might not have registered a detailed Community Management Statements (CMS) containing all of their bylaws, including bylaws allocating to owners exclusive use of specific parts of common property. There will be a clear incentive for those schemes to update their records to a detailed CMS before 1 August 2025. If they have not done so there are complicated methods of disclosure required.

Some substantial strata schemes which were in existence before 13 July 2000 have continued to be managed under the Building Units in Group Titles Act 1980 rather than the BCCMA, which will continue after 1 August 2025. The Government has created a dedicated prescribed certificate for those schemes.

Broadly, there is considerably more information required to be contained in any of the prescribed certificates than is currently required.

All applicable forms can be seen here:

Property Law Act 2023 Forms – for use from 1 August 2025

https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/property-law-act-2023-forms

Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 Prescribed Certificates – for use from 1 August 2025

Body corporate certificates – BCCM – Dataset – Publications | Queensland Government

Building Units In Group Titles Act Prescribed Certificate – for use from 1 August 2025

BUGTA forms – Dataset – Publications | Queensland Government

NB: all information contained in this article is of a general nature only and you should obtain specific legal advice in relation to any property-related affairs on any of the topics mentioned.

—Phil Pennington