Conveyancing Works in Queensland

Effective from 1 July 2010, there are new versions of the REIQ Contract for House and Land and Community Titles Scheme (CTS) properties (Units).

There is good reason for the change in the Contract additions so it is important that you use the correct versions.

The Queensland Law Society has drafted a comprehensive comparison table showing the differences between the 6th and 7th editions of the House and Land Contracts as well as the 2nd and 3rd editions of the CTS Contracts.

For most people the key change is to the “Building and Pest Inspection Reports” Clause. In the 6th edition the Buyer was deemed to be satisfied with these reports if they did not terminate the contact before the end of the day on the Inspection due date. The new edition contracts remove this element and now operate in a way similar to the finance clause, requiring that the Buyer advises of satisfaction of the reports, failing which the seller will have the right to terminate the contract.

Using the 6th edition contacts because you want the “Building and Pest Inspection Reports” clause to be deemed satisfied may not produce the outcome you expect. This is because the reason for these changes is the introduction of a new Law (Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Act No. 1 2010) requiring greater fairness to be observed in Contracts. You will see from the documents linked above that the “Building and Pest Inspection Reports” clause could be potentially considered an unfair term under the new Law.

The REIQ have published sample versions of the updated forms on their RealWorks website. RealWorks have also provided a Fact Sheet on the changes.