Selling a unit title: what you have to disclose

The pre contract disclosure statement

This goes to the buyer before the agreement is signed, and ideally before marketing starts so it is ready the moment a buyer is. Its contents are prescribed by regulation 33 of the Unit Titles Regulations 2011, so it is prepared against that list rather than from memory.

If either statement is not given, the Unit Titles Act 2010 gives the buyer rights to delay settlement or to cancel. The exact rights and the notice periods are your lawyer's territory, which is why the statements are prepared before the property is listed rather than chased once an offer is in.

The pre settlement disclosure statement

This one is given no later than the fifth working day before the settlement date. Its contents are prescribed by regulation 34, and it must be accompanied by a body corporate certificate certifying that the information is correct.

If it is not given, the same rights to delay settlement or to cancel arise, and your lawyer will tell you exactly what applies on your sale. The certificate has to come from the body corporate, which works to its own timetable, and that is the most common reason this statement runs late. Put the request in as soon as the agreement is signed.

There are two statements now, not three

The additional disclosure statement was abolished on 9 May 2023, when the Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2022 came into force. Any article, checklist or template describing three disclosure statements is out of date, and a good deal of what is still online describes three.

Where the lawyer comes in

A lawyer is needed on a unit title sale, and from before the property is listed. This is a statutory disclosure process with cancellation rights attached to getting it wrong, not a courtesy to the buyer. Your lawyer prepares the statements and the body corporate supplies the underlying information and the certificate.

Two practical points beyond the statutory ones. Order the body corporate records early, because levies, the long term maintenance plan, minutes and any proposed works are what a serious buyer reads first. And the general duty to disclose known defects still applies, so anything you know about the building, including a matter the body corporate is dealing with, goes to the buyer.