Land Contracts in Queensland remains the definitive guide to the law of buying and selling freehold land in Queensland. This fifth edition has been comprehensively updated to address the most significant reform of Queensland property law in a generation, the Property Law Act 2023, and its wide-ranging implications for conveyancing practice.
A new Chapter 3 analyses the operation of the new seller disclosure regime, examining its application to both land and strata transactions and the consequential changes required to conveyancing practice. This edition incorporates the new REIQ Residential and Commercial Contracts, which represent a significant departure from their predecessors, having been drafted specifically for compliance with seller disclosure and the broader reforms introduced by the Property Law Act 2023. Significant changes to instalment contracts, contract formation and conveyancing practice arising from the Property Law Act 2023 are analysed and explained.
The chapters on real estate agents, special conditions, and remedies have been extensively reviewed and updated. Legislative developments under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, Land Sales Act 1984, Planning Act 2016 and Australian Consumer Law are incorporated throughout.
The fifth edition of this work, like its predecessors, is an essential part of the library of all practitioners who practise in the area of land transactions in Queensland.
1. Introduction
2. The Real Estate Agent
3. Seller Disclosure Before Contract
4. Formation of Contract and Deposit
5. Subject Matter of Sale
6. Contract to Settlement
7. Settlement
8. Special Conditions
9. Remedies
10. GST and Duties in Real Estate Transactions
11. Options to Purchase and Rights of Pre-emption
Reviews of previous editions
The fourth edition of this work is, like its predecessors, an essential part of the library of all practitioners’ who practice in the area of conveyancing and land transfers. It is also of great use and relevance in relation to contractual matters generally. This latest edition deals with the substantial changes wrought by the repeal of the relevant PAMDA provisions and the enactment of the Property Occupations Act 2014 and the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014. Those legislative changes have necessitated the deletion of substantial parts found in the third edition concerning warning statements. There is additional material concerning the proposed amendments to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act and related legislation. Numerous other pieces of legislation which have been recently enacted and which impact on land sales contracts have been considered, analysed and explained. Most importantly, this edition references the most up-to-date land contracts for residential properties.
It goes without saying that the book is extremely well researched and carefully structured. The writing style is relatively uniform and always concise. It is unashamedly a practitioner’s book but nevertheless complete with extensive and thoughtful analysis. As with the earlier editions it is brilliantly referenced and provides a most valuable research tool for both barristers and solicitors.
This latest edition of the work lives up to the description of a “Queensland legal classic” given to the earlier editions.
Queensland Law Reporter – 29 July 2016 – [2016] 29 QLR
Reviews of previous editions:
The writing is clear and accessible but thoroughly supported by footnoted references. … This is a substantial text of 600 pages written for use by practitioners. It is not a practice manual or practice guide but rather the law a practitioner needs in practice.
Tim Tierney, Law Society of Tasmania, Law Letter, Summer 2011
This book has now become a Queensland legal classic. … An up to date edition of this text is an essential tool for those who have to deal with legal issues in real estate contracts on a daily basis in Queensland.
The Queensland Lawyer, April 2008
The seminal volume of this work, published in 1978, was The Standard Land Contract and Conveyancing Thereunder in Queensland by Duncan & Weld. I still have my copy. It is well thumbed – tattered really. Should you purchase a copy of Land Contracts in Queensland, it will quickly reach a similar condition. … There are now four separate standard contracts for houses and land, residential and commercial lots in a Community Title Scheme, and commercial sales. Needless to say the courts have had occasion to consider the area frequently since 1996. All of these changes and the relevant case law have been addressed. … The scholarly and lucid fashion in which the subject’s many issues are approached would see few practitioners requiring further research on a frequent basis. The book therefore fulfils its comprehensive purposes, taking the reader from the initial involvement in a conveyance by a real estate agent to the remedies, which are available upon breach of contract, and provides a valuable aid and first port of call for all who practise in the area.
The Queensland Lawyer, December 2004
