Buyer’s guide · Queensland

Seller disclosure in Queensland: what every buyer needs to know

Since 1 August 2025, Queensland sellers must give buyers a disclosure statement and key certificates before a contract is signed. Here’s what you should receive and what to do if something is missing.

For decades, buying property in Queensland was largely “buyer beware”. Sellers had few obligations to tell you about the property, so it was up to you to search for problems. That changed on 1 August 2025, when the seller disclosure scheme in the Property Law Act 2023 started.

Now, before you sign a contract, the seller must give you a disclosure statement and a set of prescribed certificates. If they don’t, or if the information is wrong in an important way, you may be able to walk away from the contract before settlement and get your deposit back. This guide explains what you should receive, what it does and doesn’t cover, and your rights if something goes wrong.

What the seller disclosure scheme is

The scheme applies to contracts for the sale of land in Queensland entered into on or after 1 August 2025. It covers houses, units and townhouses in community titles schemes, vacant land and commercial property. It doesn’t apply to off-the-plan lots that don’t yet exist, which have their own disclosure rules.

The seller can’t contract out of the scheme. The Queensland Government’s guide sets out the basics, and the details are in the Act and the Property Law Regulation 2024.

What you should receive

Before you sign, the seller (or their agent) must give you a disclosure statement in the approved form, known as Form 2, signed by the seller. It must include information that’s true when it’s given, including:

• the seller’s name, the property address and its lot on plan description
• whether it’s in a community titles scheme or body corporate
• unregistered encumbrances, such as unregistered leases or easements
• zoning
• whether the land is on the Environmental Management Register or Contaminated Land Register, and any environmental notices
• tree orders, transport proposals, heritage listing and resumption notices
• whether there’s a pool and its safety certificate status
• rates and water charges
• for tenanted properties, the date of the last rent increase.

Prescribed certificates

The seller must also attach the prescribed certificates that apply to the property. These include:

• a title search and the registered survey plan
• any owner-builder notice
• any show-cause or enforcement notices, and notices or orders requiring work or money to be spent
• a pool compliance certificate, or a notice of no pool safety certificate
• for a unit or townhouse, the community management statement and a body corporate certificate.

The documents can be given in person, by post, by email if you consent, or through a link to download them. At an auction, they must be available before bidding starts.

What disclosure doesn’t cover

The disclosure statement is a starting point, not a full report on the property. The seller doesn’t have to tell you about, and doesn’t warrant:

• whether the building is structurally sound
• whether past building work was approved
• pests, such as termites
• flooding history
• asbestos.

That’s why you still need your own checks, including a building and pest inspection, flood searches and a careful review of the contract. Outside the scheme, the old “buyer beware” principle still largely applies.

Your right to terminate

Under section 104 of the Act, you may terminate the contract by written notice to the seller if:

• the seller didn’t give you the disclosure statement or a prescribed certificate that applies, before you signed, or
• the statement or a certificate was inaccurate or incomplete about a material matter, you weren’t aware of the correct position when you signed, and you wouldn’t have signed if you had been.

You can give the termination notice at any time before settlement. Inaccuracies in rates and water information aren’t treated as material for this purpose.

Getting your money back

If you terminate, the seller must repay the deposit and any other amounts you paid towards the purchase, plus any interest earned on them, within 14 days. If they don’t, you can recover the money as a debt.

Limits on your rights

• If another law sets its own consequence for the same failure, such as an environmental law, that consequence applies instead.
• If a body corporate certificate contains wrong information supplied by the body corporate, and the seller passed it on accurately, your only remedy against the seller is termination under the scheme.
• Once settlement happens, the termination right ends. If you have concerns, act quickly and get advice before settlement.

Cooling-off still applies

Seller disclosure sits alongside the cooling-off period for residential property. You generally have 5 business days after you receive the contract signed by both parties to change your mind, but you’ll forfeit up to 0.25% of the price. There’s no cooling-off if you buy at auction, and you can waive or shorten it by written notice.

Cooling-off lets you walk away for any reason during that short window. The disclosure termination right is different: it lasts until settlement, but only applies if the disclosure rules weren’t followed.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information only and is not legal advice. It reflects Queensland law at the date of publication. Please contact us for advice about your circumstances.

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