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Legal Chat - By Andrew Padanyi B.A., LL.B.

The obligation on a vendor to provide a statement under section 32 of the Sale of Land Act 1962 (the Act), commonly referred to as the section 32 statement, is reasonably well-known. Intended to be a consumer protection device, the statement is required to set out various pieces of information regarding the property being sold, eg. land use information, a description of restrictions affecting the property, rates and other charges levied on the land etc.

A copy of the certificate of title and, where the land is the subject of a subdivision, the relevant plan of subdivision must be attached to the statement.

Many public authorities whose responsibilities concern or include land management in Victoria issue certificates in respect of specific properties, usually on payment of a fee. It is customary for a vendor’s conveyancer, in preparing the section 32 statement, to obtain certificates from relevant public authorities in relation to many of the matters required to be disclosed by the vendor and to attach copies of those certificates to the statement. There is no obligation to provide certificates but the reasons for doing so are essentially two-fold:

  1. Section 32 of the Act recognises that certificates are readily available for some of the matters requiring disclosure, and effectively provides that the vendor’s disclosure obligations in relation to certain specified matters (namely, planning, outgoings and notices/orders/approved proposals affecting land) are deemed to have been complied with if certificates (or copies thereof) are attached to the statement.
  2. Even where there is no ‘deemed’ compliance with disclosure obligations, provision of certificates from relevant authorities gives the vendor the comfort of knowing that they are likely to have complied with their duty to disclose.

Point 2 can be illustrated with the example of an unregistered easement, which under section 32 must be disclosed to the purchaser. The existence of water, sewerage or drainage pipes will usually constitute an unregistered easement. Obtaining an information certificate and a drainage plan from the relevant water authority showing the existence of drains and sewers will normally enable the vendor to meet their disclosure obligations in relation to the associated easement.

From the purchaser’s perspective, certificates give the assurance of independent confirmation of matters requiring disclosure and, often, useful additional information over and above the bare minimum that is required to be disclosed in relation to the property of interest. For example, an information certificate from the water authority will usually state whether or not a flood level has been declared for the property or its vicinity.

 

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