Be Prepared for Significant Changes to Queensland Property Law | Property Law Act 2023 (QLD)

Authored by Shaun Burmester, Legal Writer, Property, Practical Guidance

One of the most significant overhauls in Queensland property law in over 50 years is set to take effect on 1 August 2025.

The Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) (PLA 23), and its associated Property Law Regulation 2024 and various approved forms, commence and are intended to modernise and streamline key aspects of Queensland property law. With it comes:

• a new seller disclosure regime;
• changes to leases and leasing practice; and
• a range of other reforms affecting property settlements, easements, and even limitation periods.

Everyone involved in Queensland property law must keep up with the new implications of PLA 23. As these changes take effect, understanding their impact is crucial to remaining competitive in an ever-evolving legal landscape.

Seller Disclosure Regime

A highly discussed change is the new “seller disclosure regime”. The regime applies to contracts for the sale of registered lots, which include options, agreements, and other promises for the sale of those lots, and requires the following documents to be given to buyers before they sign the contract:

• a signed disclosure statement on the approved form, and containing all prescribed information and prescribed warnings and statements; and
• all applicable prescribed certificates.

The regime aims to enhance transparency and reduce post-contractual disputes by ensuring buyers receive critical information upfront.

Some exceptions apply. However, while some exceptions apply automatically, others only apply if certain preconditions are met, such as the buyer giving a notice waiving compliance with the regime before the buyer signs the contract.

Failure to comply with the regime can give buyers termination rights, provided that right is exercised before settlement.

Practical Guidance Property’s Seller Disclosure Regime Flowchart gives a quick overview of the regime and can help direct participants through the key steps.

For a more in-depth look at the regime, including what prescribed information and prescribed certificates actually mean, and what exceptions may apply, see Practical Guidance Property’s Quick Reference Guide: PLA 23 Seller Disclosure Regime and its accompanying Checklists:

• Checklist One: Does an exception to the seller disclosure regime apply? 
• Checklist Two: Prescribed information  
• Checklist Three: Prescribed certificates

Leases and Leasing Practice Updates

Leases of real property are also facing some significant changes. These include:

• how lessees can request lessor consent for things like assignments, subleases, alterations or other works, and changes to permitted use, and what steps lessors must take to consider and respond to such requests;
• abolishment of the touch and concern rule for lessee and lessor covenants;
• the release of liability for lessees and guarantors on subsequent assignments;
• new rules regarding relief against refusal to renew or extend term, or sell reversion; and
• new processes for termination of leases by lessors, and lessee’s applications for relief against forfeiture.

Failure to apply and follow these changes could lead to defective processes, deemed consents, and exposure to liabilities or claims.

Practical Guidance Property’s Quick Reference Guide: Key Updates for Leasing summarises these and some other leasing updates.

Additional Significant Changes

In addition to the seller disclosure regime and leasing updates, the PLA 23 brings about a host of further changes to property law, some of which include:

• certain types of positive covenants in easements being enforceable against subsequent landowners;
• extensions in time for property settlements for things like inoperative computers at the land registry or other property transaction participants, or adverse events at settlement; and
• changes to perpetuity periods and limitation periods for deeds.

Practical Guidance Property’s Quick Reference Guide: Additional Significant Changes covers some of these further material updates.

Preparing for the Key Changes

The PLA 23 commences on 1 August 2025, but some changes apply to agreements and transactions entered into before that date. For example:

• the seller disclosure regime only applies to contracts for the sale of lots signed by buyers on and from 1 August 2025;
• many of the leasing changes apply from 1 August 2025, but they apply to leases entered into before and after 1 August 2025; and
• positive covenants in easements relating to the use, ownership, or maintenance of the burdened land become enforceable from 1 August 2025, but that includes such covenants in easements registered prior to 1 August 2025.

Ensure your teams are trained on the new requirements and that any precedents, templates, checklists, automated systems, and document generation tools are updated accordingly.

Seller Disclosure Regime

• Investigate how to order prescribed certificates and otherwise obtain all prescribed information. Various providers have set up workflows and tools through which all relevant prescribed certificates can be ordered.
• Check and update client intake forms. Questionnaires and similar should be updated to ensure all relevant information is being asked from clients, so disclosure statements can be completed accurately and all applicable prescribed certificates ordered.
• Familiarise yourself with the new disclosure form, what all the prescribed information is, and what all the prescribed certificates are.
• Use the latest approved forms from the Queensland government, and standard form contracts from industry bodies that have been updated to incorporate relevant PLA 23 requirements.
• Update workflows to build in the necessary checks to ensure prescribed certificates are being ordered with enough time to prepare the disclosure statement, and all necessary disclosure materials are being provided to buyers before they sign any contracts. Check and confirm that accurate and adequate disclosure was made before signing, and if it was not, ensure sellers and buyers are advised of the potential consequences.
• Consider what to do for contracts that may be signed close to 1 August 2025. If an applicable contract cannot be signed by the buyer until on or after 1 August 2025, even if it is signed by the seller before that date, the seller disclosure regime must be complied with. It may be prudent to defer signing until after 1 August 2025, and once all seller disclosure requirements have been met.

Leasing Updates

• Familiarise yourself with the changes made to leases and leasing practise. Consider whether any clients or others need to be advised of the changes and what the impacts might be.
• Update leasing precedents, include template leases, lease clauses, and relevant notices, to align with the new requirements.
• Ensure parties and their representatives are aware of the new timeframes for things like lessor consent requests and responding to purported exercises of options of renewal, and diarise any that come through.

Additional Significant Changes

• Check precedents and update as required. For example, do any special conditions for contracts of sale need to be amended to align with the new PLA 23’s provisions around certain settlement extensions, instalment contracts, or damage to residential dwellings prior to settlement?
• Consider if prior advice needs to be updated, such as advice on the enforceability of certain positive covenants in easements which may not be enforceable from 1 August 2025.
• Update any checklists, workflows, or similar that are affected by the PLA 23 to avoid outdated steps being taken or important steps being missed.

Practical Guidance Property’s Seller Disclosure Regime Flowchart, Checklists, and Quick Reference Guides provide fast reference tools to see what some of the bigger changes are. For more tailored information on the PLA 23 or property law in general, see Practical Guidance Property if you're a subscriber or contact a LexisNexis^® representative by filling out our contact form here.