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Seller Disclosure Obligations When Selling a House in Queensland

Queensland has specific legal requirements for vendors before a property can be sold. Understanding what you must disclose, what certificates you need, and who is responsible for what will save you time and stress during your campaign.

One of the more common sources of stress during a property sale is discovering — partway through the campaign, or worse, partway through the contract — that there was something you needed to provide, attach, or disclose that nobody told you about upfront. Queensland has a reasonably clear framework for seller obligations, but it is spread across multiple pieces of legislation and not always explained in plain terms. This article covers the main requirements so you can go into your sale knowing what is expected. It is not a substitute for advice from your property solicitor, who will walk you through the specifics for your property.

Material facts: what you must disclose

Under Queensland property law, a seller is required to disclose any material facts about the property to a prospective buyer before the contract is entered into. A material fact is anything that a reasonable buyer would consider important when deciding whether to buy the property and at what price. The obligation sits with the seller, not the agent, but your agent should understand it and will raise relevant items with you during listing preparation.

Examples of material facts that must be disclosed include: knowledge that the property has been used to manufacture drugs (even if remediated), whether the property is subject to a neighbourhood dispute or dispute resolution order, awareness of significant structural defects not visible to a buyer at inspection, and any encumbrances or easements affecting the land beyond what is registered on title. The Property Occupations Act 2014 and the Land Sales Act 1984 govern these requirements in Queensland.

What counts as a material fact is not always obvious, and there is some judgement involved. The safest approach is to tell your solicitor everything you know about the property's history that might affect a buyer's decision, and let them advise you on what must be formally disclosed. Being open early is far preferable to having a buyer seek to terminate or claim compensation after the fact.

Contaminated land and environmental matters

The Environmental Protection Act 1994 requires that certain properties be disclosed as contaminated land if they appear on the Environmental Management Register (EMR) or the Contaminated Land Register (CLR). Your solicitor will search these registers as part of the contract preparation process. If your property appears on either register, it must be disclosed in the contract. For most residential properties in Brisbane's inner east this will not apply, but properties that have had prior commercial or industrial use warrant a check.

Environmental matters such as flood overlays, overland flow paths, and bushfire hazard designations are generally dealt with through the planning scheme and title search, which your solicitor manages. These are not seller disclosures in the strict sense — they are matters a diligent buyer's solicitor will identify — but being aware of them means you are not caught off guard when a buyer raises them.

Pool safety certificates

If your property has a pool, you must have a current pool safety certificate before you can sell it, or alternatively provide the buyer with a Form 36 — a notice that a safety certificate does not exist — which then gives the buyer 90 days after settlement to obtain the certificate themselves. In practice, most sellers choose to get the certificate before selling rather than passing the obligation on, because buyers factor in unknown compliance costs when they do not have a certificate.

A pool safety certificate is issued by a licensed pool safety inspector. It confirms that your pool fence and barriers meet Queensland's requirements under the Building Act 1975 and the Building Regulation 2021. Certificates are valid for two years for non-shared pools and one year for shared pools. If your certificate has expired, you will need a new inspection. Common failure items include gate self-closing and self-latching mechanisms, non-climbable zones around the fence perimeter, and gaps under or between fence panels. Most inspectors will identify issues on a first visit and give you the opportunity to rectify before they issue the certificate.

Your agent cannot list the property as under contract until a certificate or Form 36 is in place. Budget at least two to three weeks to arrange an inspection, address any defects, and get the certificate issued — longer if the work needed is significant.

Smoke alarm compliance

Queensland's smoke alarm legislation was updated significantly, with new requirements phased in from January 2022 and full compliance required for all dwellings by January 2027. For properties being sold, the relevant requirement is that interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms must be installed on each storey and in each bedroom, or in the hallway outside bedrooms. Older ionisation alarms do not comply. Battery-only alarms do not comply for new installations.

When selling, you are required to provide the buyer with a Form 24 — the Transfer of Lots Form — which includes a declaration about smoke alarm compliance. If the property does not comply, you must either bring it into compliance before settlement, or the buyer may be able to reduce the purchase price by a prescribed amount equivalent to the cost of compliance. The compliance cost reduction is capped at 0.15% of the purchase price under the legislation. That said, having non-compliant alarms identified during a building and pest inspection is a common negotiation trigger for buyers, so it is almost always worth addressing the alarms before you go to market.

Smoke alarm compliance specialists can inspect, supply, and install within a few days and typically cost a few hundred dollars for a standard house. This is not a complex or expensive item to resolve, and it removes a buyer objection before it arises.

FIRB and foreign buyer requirements

If you have reason to believe the buyer is a foreign person for the purposes of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975, the buyer is responsible for obtaining Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval before purchasing. As a seller, you do not have a disclosure obligation here — it is the buyer's responsibility to determine whether they need approval and to obtain it. However, your agent and solicitor will typically include a special condition in the contract if there is any indication a foreign buyer is involved, so the transaction is not complicated by an approval that was not obtained.

What your agent handles versus what your solicitor handles

Understanding who is responsible for what will prevent things from falling through the cracks. Your real estate agent is responsible for the marketing and negotiation of the sale, managing open homes and buyer enquiries, presenting and communicating offers, and ensuring that statutory cooling-off and other notices under the Property Occupations Act are properly delivered. Your agent is not a legal adviser and cannot give you legal advice about your disclosure obligations.

Your property solicitor is responsible for preparing the contract, including attaching all required statutory documents and disclosures. They will conduct the title search, check the EMR and CLR, prepare the transfer documents, and manage settlement. They will also advise you on what must be disclosed based on your specific property and circumstances, and ensure the Form 24 smoke alarm declaration is correctly completed.

Pool safety certificates sit in between — your agent will ask whether you have a current certificate early in the listing process, because they need to know before going to contract. But arranging the inspection and obtaining the certificate is your responsibility, not your agent's. Your solicitor will attach the certificate to the contract.

A practical pre-sale checklist

Before your listing goes live, work through these items with your agent and solicitor:

• Confirm your property is not on the EMR or CLR (your solicitor will search this)
• Consider whether you are aware of any material facts that could affect a buyer's decision — tell your solicitor about anything relevant to the property's history
• Check whether your pool safety certificate is current; if not, book an inspection before listing
• Have your smoke alarms inspected and updated to comply with the photoelectric interconnected requirements
• Ensure your solicitor knows about any neighbourhood disputes, easements, or encumbrances that may need to be disclosed
• Confirm your solicitor will prepare a compliant Form 24 smoke alarm declaration for settlement

None of these are difficult to manage. The key is doing them early, before your listing is live, rather than discovering an issue once a buyer is in contract and using it as leverage. A well-prepared vendor who has addressed compliance items upfront runs a smoother campaign and is in a stronger negotiating position throughout.