The Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2017 ('the Regulation') will commence on 1 September 2017, introducing changes to vendor disclosure obligations affecting contracts for the sale of land and options for the purchase of residential property.

The Regulation simplifies existing provisions, updates terminology and references to other Acts and introduces some new disclosure requirements.

Key changes are:

Prescribed Warranties and Adverse Affectations

Part 3 of Schedule 3 includes new items in the list of adverse affectations which a vendor warrants (unless disclosed) do not affect the land:

• Strata renewal (Item 15) - where the owners corporation has passed a motion under Part 10 of the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 that a strata renewal proposal warrants further investigation, a strata renewal committee has been or is required to be established to give effect to this resolution, and minutes of the meeting recording the resolution have not been prepared.
• Orders under s121B of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (Item 12).
• Rights of way under s235C of the Mining Act 1992 (Item 17).
• A mandatory code compliant certificate under Part 5A of the Local Land Services Act 2013 that requires the establishment of a set aside area (Item 23).
• A remediation order under Part 11 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (Item 30).

Prescribed Documents

Schedule 1 has been expanded to require additional documents to be attached to contracts for the sale of land and options for the purchase of residential property:

• An additional sewer diagram is required (if available) to show the location of sewer lines in relation to the subject property (Item 2).
• All strata by-laws in force for the scheme to be included in the contract (Item 6).
• Changes to prescribed warning statements (Item 16): ◦
  • A new warning statement in the prescribed form must be included in the Contract which alerts potential purchasers to the possible presence of Loose Fill Asbestos in certain properties;
  • The previous warning statement relating to Swimming Pools has been removed from the Regulation.

For more information, see the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2017.

Note: The Regulation commences on 1 September 2017.

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