A year of seller disclosure: Law Society says the scheme is working

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The Queensland Law Society marked the first anniversary of the State's seller disclosure scheme on 31 July 2026 with a statement saying the reform is doing what it was designed to do. The scheme began on 1 August 2025 under the Property Law Act 2023 and is the first statutory seller disclosure regime Queensland has had.

The Society's President, Peter Jolly, said members report that giving buyers key information before they sign is leading to better-informed decisions and fewer contracts running into trouble later. The statement carried a comment from the Attorney-General, Deb Frecklington, who said the Government is listening to the feedback and recommendations of industry bodies. It did not include figures on how many contracts have been terminated under the new rules, and no official count has been published.

Queensland Government seller disclosure guidance; refund period as described by the REIQ's legal counsel, June 2025.

What the Law Society said

The statement is an assessment, not a data release. Mr Jolly called the reforms the most important change to Queensland's property transaction framework in a generation and said they bring the State into line with other Australian jurisdictions. His central argument was about what happens after signing. "Certainty matters in the property market," he said in the statement, adding that sellers want confidence that a signed contract is likely to proceed.

That framing treats disclosure as something that helps sellers as much as buyers. If a planning restriction, an easement or a body corporate problem is on the table before the contract is signed, the buyer who would have walked away does so before anyone has paid for searches, booked removalists or made an offer on another home. The Society said the early identification of issues is preventing them from derailing transactions later.

The statement also places the reform in a longer story. The Society said it had advocated for seller disclosure for more than a decade, and described the result as one of the most significant modernisations of Queensland property law in decades. It said it continues to work with practitioners, the real estate profession and government on how the scheme is applied.

The Government's position

The Attorney-General's contribution was brief. Ms Frecklington acknowledged the input the Government has received from the Law Society and other industry stakeholders about how the scheme is operating, and said officials are listening to that feedback and to the recommendations made.

The statement does not announce a review, a change to Form 2 or an amendment to the legislation. It records that feedback has been given and received, and nothing more specific than that.

How the scheme works, twelve months in

Under the Queensland Government's published guidance, a seller of residential property, commercial property or vacant land must give the buyer a completed disclosure statement, Form 2, and a set of prescribed certificates before the buyer signs the contract. At an auction, the documents must be given or made available before the hammer falls. They can be handed over in person, posted or sent electronically, and the guidance warns sellers that they must be able to prove the documents were given.

The statement has four parts. The first identifies the seller and the lot. The second deals with title and encumbrances, including unregistered ones such as an informal lease or easement, and any residential tenancy. The third covers land use, planning and the environment: zoning, transport infrastructure and resumption notices, contaminated land listings, tree orders and heritage status. The fourth covers buildings and structures, including whether there is a pool and whether notices have been issued under building and planning laws.

The certificates include a title search and survey plan, a pool safety certificate where one applies, and, for a lot in a community titles scheme, a body corporate certificate. The guidance lists a small number of exceptions: sales to government bodies and listed corporations, sales between related parties, and sales above $10 million where the buyer agrees to waive disclosure.

The debate that ran through autumn

The anniversary statement follows a public argument earlier in the year about whether the scheme was slowing sales. In April the Law Society issued a statement rejecting the claim that disclosure was causing gazumping, the practice of a seller accepting a higher offer after agreeing a price verbally but before a contract is signed. Mr Jolly said then that gazumping comes from how properties are marketed and how offers are managed, not from disclosure, because a Queensland sale has never been binding until the contract is signed.

In the same month the Society's journal, Proctor, published an article by Professor Sharon Christensen, who worked on the reform, making the wider case. She wrote that many of the matters in Form 2 were already the subject of seller warranties in the standard contract, that failure to disclose them had always been capable of giving a buyer a right to terminate, and that the scheme moves the same information to a point where a problem can be dealt with before anyone is committed. She pointed to Victoria, which has required vendor disclosure since 1962, and New South Wales, since 1985, as markets that absorbed the same change.

Her article also acknowledged the complaint heard most often from the industry: the documents are long and take time to assemble. Her answer was that the length reflects matters that bear directly on the property, such as pool safety compliance, and not speculative risks.

What the statement still leaves out

The sharpest open question after a year is what the scheme does not cover. The Government's guidance says plainly that sellers are not required to disclose a property's structural soundness, its flooding history or past building and development approvals.

The gap on natural hazards was raised in Parliament this year. In Question on Notice 563, asked on 14 May 2026, the Opposition's Shannon Fentiman asked whether the Government supports a legal requirement for sellers to disclose if a property is affected by natural hazards, including flood and landslide risk. The Attorney-General's written answer said the scheme does not require a seller to disclose information about natural hazards, that it was based on a 2017 Queensland University of Technology report on seller disclosure, and that the Government supports the existing disclosure requirements. The answer noted that Form 2 carries a warning telling buyers that flood and hazard information can be obtained from the local council, and pointed to the FloodCheck Queensland portal and the Australian Flood Risk Information portal.

The same answer confirmed that the scheme applies to freehold land. Buyers of proposed lots sold off the plan are covered by separate disclosure rules under other legislation.

The right that gives the scheme its teeth

What makes the scheme more than paperwork is the remedy. As the REIQ's legal counsel set out for agents before commencement, section 104 of the Property Law Act gives a buyer two grounds to terminate at any time before settlement, and the right cannot be removed by a term of the contract.

The first ground is simple: the seller did not give the disclosure statement and the prescribed certificates before the buyer signed. The buyer does not have to show any loss. The second applies where the documents were given but were inaccurate or incomplete about a material matter. There the buyer must also show that they did not know the true position when they signed and would not have signed if they had. Spelling mistakes and similar slips do not meet that test, and the REIQ's summary says information about rates and water services is expressly excluded from it.

If a buyer validly terminates, the deposit is refunded with any interest within 14 days. The REIQ has also warned agents that a commission which depends on settlement may be lost with the sale.

Whether those rights are being used often is the figure nobody has published. The Law Society's account is that the certainty runs the other way: because buyers see the documents first, fewer contracts are being signed that later fall over.

What comes next

The scheme enters its second year on 1 August 2026 with the same form, the same certificates and the same termination rights it started with. The Attorney-General has said the Government is listening to industry recommendations, without naming any it intends to adopt. The Law Society says it will keep working with the profession, the real estate industry and government on implementation.

For sellers listing in the second half of 2026, the practical position is unchanged: the statement and certificates have to be complete and in the buyer's hands before the buyer signs. For buyers, the first year's lesson is to read what is handed over, and to remember the short list of things it was never meant to say.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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