NSW Vendor Disclosure

Broadly speaking there are two requirements of vendor disclosure under the NSW legislative regime:

First, certain documents must be annexed to the contract of sale before the purchaser signs it:
• a certificate disclosing the planning status of the land, issued pursuant to s 149 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979;
• a copy of the folio of the register comprising the title;
• a copy of any registered plan;
• a sewerage diagram;
• copies of all deeds, dealings and other instruments lodged or registered in the Land Tiles Office relating to: easements, profits a prendre, restrictions on the use of the land and positive covenants that affect the land; and
• additional documents that must be disclosed for Crown land and strata lots.
Failure to annex the prescribed documents does not render the contract void. Rather, the purchaser can rescind within 14 days of entry into the contract, unless the contract has been completed. This remedy is available regardless of whether the purchaser can show that the failure amounted to conduct that misled or deceived
them.

Secondly, the vendor is deemed to make a prescribed warranty to the effect that:
• except as disclosed in the contract, the land is not subject to an ‘adverse affectation’;
• the land does not contain a sewer vested in a public sewerage authority;
• the planning certificate annexed to the contract specifies the true planning status of the land; and
• there is no matter in relation to any building or structure on the land that would justify the making of any upgrading or demolition order, or if there is such a matter, a building certificate has been issued.

If this warranty is breached the purchaser may rescind the contract at any time before completion provided that the purchaser was unaware of the matter which ought to have been disclosed when the contract was made and the purchaser would not have entered into the contract if they had been aware of the matter. The purchaser loses their right to rescission if they elect to affirm the contract.

Source Tas Law Reform Paper on Vendor Disclosure p.13