A Form 2 tells you the legal position of a property. It does not tell you whether the building is sound. It is important to keep those two things apart when you read the document.
What the statement discloses
The Form 2 and its prescribed supporting certificates disclose specified information about the property before the buyer signs the contract. Broadly, that covers:
- Title and registered interests — who owns the land and what is registered against it, such as easements and leases.
- Planning and zoning — how the land is zoned and the planning information that attaches to it.
- Notices and orders — government notices, orders or proposals affecting the property.
- Contamination — the property's status on the relevant register.
- Pool safety — where the property has a regulated pool, either a pool safety certificate or, if there isn't one, a Form 36 notice of no pool safety certificate.
- Rates and water charges. These are deemed not material, so an error here doesn't on its own let a buyer terminate (see buyer termination rights under Form 2).
- Body corporate details — for a lot in a community titles scheme, including the scheme's management statement and a body corporate certificate.
What it generally does not cover
It is equally important to understand the limits of the disclosure. Disclosure in Queensland concerns the legal position of the land, and it generally does not extend to the physical condition of what is built on it. In practice that leaves the following to you:
- Structural soundness and building defects.
- Whether past building work was approved or done to standard. One exception to watch: if a council has issued a show-cause or enforcement notice about unapproved building work, the seller must disclose that notice. No notice doesn't mean the work was approved.
- Flood history and flood risk — the information required here is limited, so the absence of a flood-related entry should not be taken as confirmation that there is no flood risk.
- Pests, asbestos and other physical hazards.
One distinction inside that list is worth drawing out. The condition of building work is different from a government notice or order relating to that work. Any applicable notice or order falls within the disclosure categories described above, so where one exists it should surface.
A clean Form 2 is not a clean bill of health. More precisely: it provides the prescribed legal disclosures, but it does not establish that the building is free from defects. The checks that answer the physical questions are a building and pest inspection and your own searches, and the time to arrange them is before signing, where possible.
Why that distinction protects you
It also sets your expectations about remedies. If the statement is missing or materially wrong, you may be able to terminate the contract, as set out in buyer termination rights under Form 2. Note that not every error carries the same weight: rates and water information is treated differently from the rest, which that page explains.
A building defect is a separate issue from whether the prescribed information was disclosed correctly. The remedies available depend on the nature of the disclosure issue and the circumstances.
Before you sign
Have the Form 2 and the contract reviewed together. The statement is one document inside a larger deal, and a review catches both what the statement says and what the contract does with it. Get a quote and a contract review, or read more about conveyancing in Queensland.
General information only, not legal advice. What must be disclosed about a particular property depends on its circumstances.
