Contract Review Guide for Queensland Buyers

The REIQ contract is Queensland's standard residential sale contract: the Contract for Houses and Residential Land for freestanding homes, and the Contract for Lots in a Community Titles Scheme for units and townhouses, prepared by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland with the Queensland Law Society. The forms are licensed rather than offered as a free official download. Buyers should obtain the seller’s completed contract and all separate disclosure material, then have a Queensland solicitor review the transaction documents before signing.

Yes, for most residential sales. Since 1 August 2025 the Property Law Act 2023 has required the seller to give the buyer a completed seller disclosure statement (Form 2) and the prescribed certificates before the buyer signs the contract, and at an auction before the fall of the hammer. Some sales are exempt: for example where the buyer is the State or a listed corporation, where every buyer and seller are related and the buyer gives a written waiver before signing, or where the price is over $10 million and the buyer waives disclosure. Have a Queensland solicitor check whether the requirements and any exception apply to your sale.

Queensland Government guidance describes Form 2 as covering, among other things, seller and property details, title and encumbrances, any residential tenancy or rooming accommodation agreement, rates and water charges, zoning, proposed transport infrastructure and resumption notices, contaminated land register listings, tree applications or orders, heritage listing, and pool and building matters. The prescribed certificates that come with it include the title search and survey plan, applicable notices under environment, building, QBCC and planning legislation, a pool compliance certificate or no-certificate notice where the lot has a pool, and the community management statement and body corporate certificate for a lot in a community titles scheme. It is not a complete picture: the guidance lists structural soundness, flooding history and previous building or development approvals as things the statement is not required to include, so those still need your own enquiries.

Where the required disclosure documents were not given before signing, the buyer may have a right to terminate the contract at any time up to settlement. Where the documents were given but the information is inaccurate or incomplete, the termination right depends on a statutory test: the issue must be material, the buyer must have been unaware of it when they signed, and the buyer must show they would not have signed had they known. Timing and detail matter here, so raise any suspected disclosure defect with your solicitor promptly rather than assuming a right exists.

Yes. The seller disclosure statement did not replace the contract warning statement under the Property Occupations Act 2014. The warning statement must still appear in the contract on the same page the buyer signs, directly above the space for the signature. They are separate requirements: Form 2 is about what the seller must disclose before signing, while the warning statement is about what the contract itself must display.

Not yet. Realestate Lens is pre-launch. Its planned first-pass report is intended to organise fields in a supplied Form 2 and identify possible inconsistencies for a Queensland solicitor to verify. It will not determine whether disclosure is legally complete or whether a termination right exists.

The REIQ Contract for Lots in a Community Titles Scheme is within the planned product scope, but the service is not yet publicly available. The intended first pass would organise information stated in supplied body corporate documents; buyers will still need current records and Queensland legal advice.

The planned report is intended to organise stated dates, parties and any apparent waiver in supplied documents. A Queensland solicitor should interpret non-standard wording and confirm how and when a condition may be used.

The planned report is intended to note whether a supplied document set contains a pool safety certificate or a notice of no certificate. A solicitor and qualified pool professional should verify the current compliance position and any buyer obligations.

Buyers in Queensland generally have 5 business days, starting the day they receive a copy of the contract signed by both parties (or the next business day if that lands on a weekend or public holiday) and ending at 5pm on the fifth day. It does not apply at auction, and a buyer can waive or shorten it by giving written notice to the seller or the agent. Confirm the exact deadline and any exception immediately with a Queensland solicitor.