Section 52A of the Conveyancing Act 1919 and the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2005 put an obligation on the vendor to disclose prescribed information about the property (Being Statutory Disclosure).
Disclosure is sharing information and facts about a property between the vendor and the purchaser. This includes information that wouldn’t ordinarily be known under normal circumstances. This information is often referred to as material fact and is simply letting all of the interested parties know of information that can impact the buying or selling of a property.
Deciding what should be disclosed and what should can be a bit of a grey area. There are a number of important statutory disclosure requirements that are to be included into a marketing contract by the seller and failure to comply with these requirements could lead to the sale being annulled or damages being paid to the buyer, or both. The main requirements are hidden/latent defects, easements or rights of way, tenancies, approvals etc.
Details that are generally not required to be disclosed are ones that are not relevant to the actual property. A dispute with you neighbour over a barking dog that was resolved years ago or a recent family tragedy that has lead you to sell are things that you legally do not need to disclose.
