New Queensland Laws Create Chaos While Ignoring Critical Building Defects

New body corporate and seller disclosure rules in Queensland are wreaking havoc in the apartment real estate market.

Strata managers and SCA (Qld)are aggrieved by the amount of additional work they have to do for an uncommercial prescribed fee. Lawyers are at odds about how much detail and documentation must be provided. Agents are confused about what to provide buyers and how to do so. The sales process is slowing down, and agents are anxious about losing sales as a result.

The winners are strata searchers, who are now being engaged to prepare reports for lawyers and sellers to meet their obligations. Lawyers are also picking up new work preparing seller disclosure statements, in addition to their fees for conveyancing. The result, as always: more consumer protection laws, more work, more costs to consumers, less profit to managers. And to what end?

The text of the prescribed form for body corporate disclosure, Form 33, itself identifies the shortcomings of this reform. It proudly declares what the disclosure doesn’t do –

‘This certificate does not include information about:

·      physical defects in common property or buildings in the scheme

·      body corporate expenses and liabilities for which the body corporate has not fixed contributions

·      current, past or planned body corporate disputes or court actions

·      orders made against the body corporate by an adjudicator, a tribunal or a court

·      matters raised at recent committee meetings or body corporate meetings, and

·      the lawful use of lots, including whether a lot can be used for short-term letting.’

These omissions, freely admitted, are the very things buyers need to know about the body corporate they are about to join.

A nationwide comparative study of strata disclosure requirements demonstrates how poorly the Queensland government has performed on this reform. My study scores each state and territory against seven criteria for effective body corporate disclosure. Queensland ranks equal 6^thof eight states and territories with a score of just two out of seven. In other words, the additional work for strata managers in Qld is disclosing the wrong things.

The most important things missed in Qld, and indeed by every state and territory, is disclosure about known building defects and unfunded repairs and maintenance. I spoke about this at the recent 2025 Strata Impact Conference in my presentation Beyond band-aid solutions: addressing the systemic failures in progressive repairs and maintenance of collectively owned properties worldwide.

While sellers must make disclosure about these things in Qld, disclosure by bodies corporate would make them more accountable for their strict liability obligations to comply with the laws about doing and funding work.

It's probably too late to turn back time in Qld: another example of a lost opportunity because of a lack of comparative studies. However, for the other states and territories considering reform, this is one area where reform is needed. It could make a big difference to the lives of all who live and work in strata.

It’s time to make disclosure of the things that really matter.

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