New Year, New REIQ Contracts, New Era: Is time no longer of the essence?

New editions of the REIQ contracts for residential sales (house and land and residential lots in community title schemes) will be released on 20 January 2022.

Noteworthy amendments include the following:

1. a no default grace period for payment of the deposit via direct debit;
2. a rollover of settlement date if the computer system required for settlement is either “inoperative or unavailable”;
3. providing an opportunity to delay settlement specifically if the “computer system operated by the ATO for the GST withholding notifications is inoperative”;
4. a requirement for the seller to provide a local government rate account number for the land upon request by the buyer;
5. requirements for smoke alarms to take into account the changes in smoke alarm regulations which have recently come into effect;
6. the imposition of a contractual obligation on the seller to install smoke alarms in compliance with the new requirements; and
7. a party may obtain a short extension to settlement if the party is unable to settle due to the inaction or delay of a financier or for other reasons.

Our property services team is ready to assist if you have any enquiries about the new REIQ contracts.

We will publish more about this once the new contracts are released on 20 January 2022.

---

Broadley Rees Hogan (BRH Lawyers) is an independent firm, specialising in corporate, commercial, property, construction and litigation. Based in Brisbane, we act for clients across the country and internationally – for an unassuming firm, we know how to deal big.

For more information, please visit www.brhlawyers.com.au or contact us on (07) 3223 9100.