The ABC published a piece this month flagging concerns about the Queensland seller disclosure regime. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland has voiced frustration about implementation. A Brisbane agent told the broadcaster that disclosure statements are now sometimes exceeding 250 pages. The word “gazumping” has re-entered the conversation.
Eight months into the Property Law Act 2023, that’s the public discussion. As someone who runs a PropTech business built specifically around this regime, I want to make a few observations - because I think the debate is asking the wrong question.
The question isn’t whether the law is too onerous. The question is why some implementations of it are.
What the criticism gets right
There are real pain points in the market right now and it would be wrong to dismiss them.
Disclosure preparation has added time and cost to the listing process. Some sellers have been caught off-guard by how much information they’re being asked to surface. Some agents are uncertain about where their compliance responsibility ends and where their solicitor’s begins. Some transactions that would have moved quickly a year ago are now moving slowly while documents are gathered.
That’s the cost of a transition.
Eight months is not long enough for a market to fully absorb its biggest property law reform in decades.
Michael Kollosche - managing director of Kollosche on the Gold Coast and Queensland’s number one residential agent - raised the substantive concern in the same news cycle: even minor, inadvertent or purely technical omissions in disclosure material can give a buyer a termination right up to settlement. He’s right. That’s the law as drafted, and it does create exposure for agencies that don’t have rigorous processes.
These are legitimate concerns from senior operators like Mr Kollosche and they deserve a serious response.
What the criticism gets wrong
The framing that the disclosure regime itself is causing unethical behaviour - gazumping in particular - doesn’t survive scrutiny.
Queensland Law Society President Peter Jolly addressed this directly in late April. Gazumping, he pointed out, “is a feature of competitive property markets and driven by how properties are marketed and how offers are managed by sellers and agents.” The disclosure regime doesn’t change listing strategies, offer deadlines or negotiation processes. The dynamics that produce gazumping existed well before 1 August 2025 and exist now.
Professor Sharon Christensen - who played a key role in drafting the legislation - made the broader point. Every other Australian jurisdiction and most comparable overseas markets have had pre-contract seller disclosure for years or decades:
NSW since 1986.
Victoria via section 32 going back generations.
South Australia through Form 1 since the early 1990s.
Queensland was not out on a limb introducing this regime. Queensland was catching up.
The buyer perspective also deserves airtime. First home buyer Sarah De Jong told media that the new disclosure documents “gave us a real sense of comfort that we really knew what we were buying.” That’s not a niche reaction. It’s the reaction the regime was designed to produce.
The actual problem: tooling, not legislation
Here’s where I want to be direct.
When a seller disclosure pack is 250 pages long, that’s not a problem with the disclosure regime.
That’s a problem with how the pack was prepared.
A properly assembled Form 2 for a residential property is typically 60 to 120 pages including all prescribed certificates. The certificates themselves account for most of the page count - title search, survey plan, body corporate Form 33, Community management statement (CMS), council rates notice, pool safety certificate, and any other council or environmental notices. None of those are within the seller's control to shorten.
When a pack hits 250 pages, it's usually one of two things:
Sometimes someone has stuffed it with redundant material - for example, 60 unnecessary pages of Dial Before You Dig terms and conditions instead of simply extracting the statutory encumbrance maps; but other times the page count is legitimate.
With the volume of high-rise buildings being developed across South East Queensland, the CMS for the body corporate alone can run to 100+ pages. That may seem superfluous, but the CMS is the document that prescribes the by-laws and the rules that directly impact how a buyer is allowed to occupy a unit.
The largest Form 2 we have ever prepared at SearchX was 456 pages. It was a new development in Brisbane with two separate Community Management Statements, each running over 200 pages. Yes, I'm sure no one reads the full 456 pages cover to cover. But if the buyer needs to know whether pets are permitted, what restrictions apply to parking, or how common property can be used, the CMS (or in this case the two CMS’) is the document that prescribes those rules.
Bec Petroff at Sunstate Conveyancing said the quiet part out loud in a Real Estate Business interview: cheaper Form 2 providers are cutting corners. Inconsistency across the market is leaving agents and sellers exposed without realising. That’s the real story behind the public backlash.
When a vendor pays $400 for a “cheap Form 2” and gets a 250-page bloated pack with errors in it, three things happen. The pack is harder for buyers to digest. The errors create termination rights the seller didn’t know they had. And when the deal falls over, the agent gets blamed.
The agent then complains - entirely understandably - that the disclosure regime is a problem. But the regime isn’t the problem. The cheap pack is the problem.
What good disclosure actually looks like
A well-prepared Form 2 has three properties. It is complete - every prescribed certificate is current and present. It is accurate - every statement of fact has been verified against an authoritative source. And it is curated - the document is the right length to convey the necessary information without burying the buyer in noise.
It is also legally reviewed.
Not by an admin assistant.
Not by a search provider who is not an independent legal practice with no insurance or liability cover.
Not by a junior paralegal rubber-stamping a template.
BUT, by a property lawyer who reads the pack and signs off on it.
This costs more than $400 to produce.
The agencies who use disclosure platforms with proper legal review built in - are not the agencies featuring in the news stories or with war stories from deals having fallen over. They’re the ones listing, contracting and settling.
Where this debate goes next
The Queensland disclosure regime is here to stay.
It is consistent with every other major jurisdiction in Australia. It is consistent with international practice. It has the support of the Queensland Law Society, the lawyers who drafted it, and - when surveyed - the buyers it was designed to protect.
What needs to evolve is the supply side. The market needs more agencies adopting rigorous disclosure platforms. It needs more conveyancers and solicitors signalling clearly to their clients which preparers they trust. It needs more industry training on what good disclosure actually looks like. And it needs the principals of Queensland real estate businesses to take a position on disclosure quality the same way they take a position on contract quality, marketing quality and trust accounting quality.
FAQS
Is the Queensland seller disclosure regime too onerous?
The argument in this piece is that the regime is not the problem - the way some packs are prepared is. The regime is consistent with every other major Australian jurisdiction and with international practice, and it has the support of the Queensland Law Society, the lawyers who drafted it and, when surveyed, the buyers it was designed to protect.
Why are some Form 2 packs 250 pages long?
Usually one of two reasons. Sometimes redundant material has been stuffed in, such as dozens of pages of Dial Before You Dig terms instead of the statutory encumbrance maps. Other times the length is legitimate - a high-rise scheme's community management statement alone can run to 100+ pages because it prescribes the by-laws that govern how a buyer may occupy a unit.
Does seller disclosure cause gazumping?
No. The piece argues gazumping is a feature of competitive property markets, driven by how properties are marketed and how offers are managed by sellers and agents. The disclosure regime does not change listing strategies, offer deadlines or negotiation processes, and the dynamics that produce gazumping existed before the regime began.
How long should a properly prepared Form 2 be?
A well-assembled residential Form 2 is typically 60 to 120 pages including all prescribed certificates. The certificates - title search, survey plan, body corporate Form 33, CMS, council rates notice, pool safety certificate and other notices - account for most of the length and are not within the seller's control to shorten.
Was Queensland an outlier introducing seller disclosure?
No. New South Wales has had pre-contract vendor disclosure since 1986, Victoria via section 32 for generations, and South Australia through Form 1 since the early 1990s. Queensland was catching up, not leading.
What does good disclosure actually look like?
It is complete - every prescribed certificate current and present; accurate - every statement of fact verified against an authoritative source; and curated - the right length to convey necessary information without burying the buyer. It is also legally reviewed by a property lawyer who reads the pack and signs off on it, rather than by an admin assistant, a non-legal search provider, or a junior rubber-stamping a template.