Queensland property sellers and buyers express mixed views on new disclosure law

ABC NEWS (Australia)

New disclosure laws for selling homes in Queensland are receiving mixed reviews from sellers and buyers. One of the complaints is the extra paperwork is stalling sales in Brisbane’s busy property market.

Transcript

00:00It's been two weeks since the seller disclosure scheme became law in Queensland. Vendors

00:08must now provide a statement to potential buyers, informing them of a range of issues

00:12that may impact their property. Real estate agents say the process is frustrating.

00:17Lots of buyers want to make offers, we can't get offers until they sign the disclosure,

00:22and solicitors have sort of had a bit of a backlog of them waiting on Brisbane City Council

00:27to do searches and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, it's been very frustrating.

00:30Industry leaders say it'll take time to streamline the system.

00:34I think as time marches on, we will get better at preparing these disclosure documents very soon.

00:42As soon as the real estate agent is appointed, I think that will be of key importance.

00:47Despite the new requirements, sellers don't have to disclose any information about previous termite

00:52or pest infestations or a flooding history. For those looking for a new home, that still means

00:59buyer beware. I think in a perfect world that would be included. But yeah, like I guess I'm never going

01:05to trust a disclosure on things like that that are very important. So I'll always probably get that

01:11done myself anyway. Honestly, I have to consider waiving the building and pest now because of the

01:18competitive, like the competitiveness of the market. Queensland's rules aren't as strict as other

01:23states. But experts say only time will tell if they've struck the right balance. Should we have

01:29gone further in Queensland just to protect our buyers? Possibly. But again, I think that's something

01:36that the Queensland Government will need to look at and need to review in the coming years.

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