Required documents ACT: the 4 reports every seller must prepare before listing
In the ACT, a seller must have a complete set of required documents ready before the property is even advertised, not just before a buyer signs. Four of them are physical reports the seller has to personally commission and pay for: a building and compliance inspection, a pest inspection, an energy efficiency rating, and, for older homes, an asbestos report. This guide explains what each one covers, when you can skip it, and what happens if you try to sell without them.
General information about the ACT's required documents regime. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific sale or purchase, speak with a licensed ACT solicitor. About our editorial standards.
Which situation describes you?
The required documents are the same list in every ACT sale, but what matters most depends on the property. Find your situation below.
| Situation | What to focus on |
|---|---|
| Selling an established house | You need all four reports: building and compliance, pest, energy efficiency, and (if built before 1991) asbestos. |
| Selling a class A unit | The building and compliance report and the pest report are not required, but you still need the energy efficiency rating and unit-specific title documents. |
| Selling a never-occupied or new home | The building and compliance report and the pest report are not required, since there is no occupation history to inspect. You still need the EER. |
| Buying an established house | Read the building and compliance report closely: it flags unapproved extensions, decks or pools, which the seller's contract already warrants do not exist unless disclosed. |
| Buying at auction or by tender | Everything, before you bid or tender. There is no cooling-off period, so your solicitor must review all required documents beforehand. |
What the required documents are
"Required documents" is the ACT's own defined term, set out in section 9 of the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003 (ACT). They are the documents the seller must attach to, or supply alongside, the proposed contract for sale, covering title and the Crown lease, encumbrances, and, for a residence, a set of physical condition reports. Unlike a single bound statement, they are a checklist of separate documents, several of which come from independent inspectors rather than your solicitor's own searches.
Not a single "vendor statement" like NSW or VIC
If you have bought or sold in Victoria, you may be looking for the ACT equivalent of the Section 32 "vendor statement." The ACT has no single document with that name. Its disclosure regime is structurally different: instead of one lawyer-prepared statement built mostly from paper searches, the required documents include four separate physical inspection reports that independent professionals must carry out and sign, on top of the usual title searches. That is genuinely more onerous for a seller to prepare, but it also means an ACT buyer gets a professionally inspected picture of the building's physical condition before they even offer, something the Victorian Section 32 explicitly does not cover.
The 4 physical reports, one by one
| Report | Timing | Exemptions |
|---|---|---|
| Building and compliance inspection report | Inspection no earlier than 3 months before the property is first advertised. | Not required for a "class A" unit, or a residence never occupied or still to be built. |
| Pest inspection report | Inspection no earlier than 3 months before the property is first advertised. | Not required for a home that has never been occupied, or a class A unit. |
| Energy efficiency rating (EER) statement | Valid for 10 years unless the building envelope changes significantly. | Required for every residential sale; no general exemption. |
| Asbestos assessment report or advice | A current report, or a formal "asbestos advice" if none exists. | Only required if the residence was built before 1991; not required for later homes. |
Building and compliance inspection report. Checks the physical condition of the building and whether extensions, decks, pergolas, sheds or pools were approved under ACT law. This is a physical inspection, not just a paper search, which is unusual: NSW and VIC do not require a seller to commission one.
Pest inspection report. Covers termite activity, borers and other timber pests. Only required if the residence has previously been occupied, since a brand-new home has no history to inspect.
Energy efficiency rating (EER) statement. A NatHERS star rating (capped at 6 stars) under the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Improvement Act 2012. Must also be shown in all advertising, so you will see the star rating before you even inspect.
Asbestos assessment report or advice. Confirms whether asbestos-containing material is present, common in ACT homes from the era when fibro and other asbestos products were standard building materials.
Every report must be prepared by someone independent of the seller (not a family member, and not someone with a financial interest in the seller's business), and the building and compliance and pest reports must be carried out by an inspector who holds professional indemnity insurance of at least $500,000. The market-estimated cost of these four reports is covered in the conveyancing cost ACT guide and the selling property in the ACT guide.
The other required documents
Alongside the four physical reports, the required documents also include, per section 9 of the Act:
- Crown lease: a copy of the lease itself, since ACT property is leasehold, not freehold.
- Land titles register extract: a current certified extract showing all interests affecting the property.
- Deposited plan: the registered plan of the land.
- Encumbrances: a copy of any registered encumbrance, such as a restrictive covenant or easement.
- Lease and building conveyancing inquiry documents: standard searches confirming rates, land tax and other matters affecting the property.
- Unit-specific documents: for a unit, the registered units plan, a unit title sale certificate, and, where relevant, a building management statement.
- Regulated swimming pool documents: if there is a regulated pool on the property, the documents prescribed by regulation.
When they must be ready
This is the sharpest difference from NSW and Victoria. In Victoria, the Section 32 must be given to the buyer before they sign. In the ACT, the required documents must already be available for a prospective buyer or their agent to inspect at all reasonable times when an offer to buy the property might be made, which in practice means before the property is advertised or listed at all, not merely before a contract is signed. Real estate agents will generally not accept a listing until the seller's solicitor confirms the required documents are complete.
The seller's offence if they are missing
Section 10 of the Act makes this a strict-liability criminal offence, not just a civil risk. A seller who fails to make all the required documents available for inspection when they should be commits an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units. There is a narrow defence if a lawyer engaged to prepare the contract failed to give the seller a document, the seller reasonably believed they had everything, and they made available whatever they were actually given. This is a materially stronger legal lever than Victoria's Section 32, where the main consequence of a defective statement is the buyer's civil right to rescind rather than an offence against the seller.
Automatic contract warranties
Section 11 of the Act goes further still: certain conditions are automatically included in every ACT residential sale contract, whether or not they are written into it, including that the property is free of undisclosed encumbrances, that the buyer gets vacant possession, and that there are no unapproved structures except as disclosed. If a buyer becomes aware of a breach before completion, they may rescind the contract, or complete and claim damages. A material error in the property's description carries the same remedy. Because these warranties exist automatically, an ACT contract cannot silently omit them the way a poorly drafted contract elsewhere sometimes can.
The ACT versus New South Wales and Victoria
All three jurisdictions make sellers disclose before a buyer commits, but they differ in both timing and mechanism:
- New South Wales: no separate vendor statement. Prescribed documents, chiefly a section 10.7 planning certificate, are attached inside the contract of sale, given at signing.
- Victoria: a single Section 32 vendor statement, mostly built from searches, given to the buyer before they sign.
- ACT: a checklist of separate required documents, including independently commissioned physical building, pest and energy reports, that must be ready before the property is even advertised, with a criminal offence, not just a civil remedy, if they are not.
For the NSW and Victorian equivalents, see the section 10.7 certificate NSW guide and the Section 32 vendor statement Victoria guide. To compare what buying and selling costs in each jurisdiction, see the conveyancing cost by state comparison.
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Common questions
What are the "required documents" in an ACT property sale?
The required documents are the set of documents a seller must have ready before advertising a residential property in the ACT, defined in section 9 of the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003 (ACT). They include title and Crown lease documents, encumbrance details, and, for a residence, a building and compliance inspection report, a pest inspection report (if occupied), an energy efficiency rating statement, and an asbestos report or advice for homes built before 1991.
Is the ACT's disclosure document the same as a "vendor statement"?
No. The ACT does not have a single document called a vendor statement the way Victoria has its Section 32. The ACT's required documents are a checklist of several separate documents, including independently commissioned physical inspection reports, rather than one lawyer-prepared statement.
When must the required documents be ready?
Before the property is advertised or offered for sale, not just before a buyer signs. They must be available for a prospective buyer or their agent to inspect at all reasonable times an offer might be made. In practice, agents generally will not list a property without them.
What happens if a seller does not have the required documents ready?
It is a strict-liability offence under section 10 of the Act, carrying a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units. There is a narrow defence where the seller's lawyer failed to supply a document and the seller reasonably believed they had everything and made available what they were given.
Do all sellers need a building and pest report in the ACT?
Most do. The building and compliance report and the pest report are not required for a class A unit, or for a residence that has never been occupied or is still to be built. Every other established residence needs both, from an inspection carried out no earlier than 3 months before the property is first advertised.
Who pays for the required-document reports?
The seller commissions and pays for them upfront, before the property is listed. Market estimates for the building and compliance report combined with the pest report, plus the energy efficiency rating, run to roughly $1,287 to $1,587 (see the conveyancing cost ACT guide for the full breakdown).
Conveyancing Explained provides general information about property transactions in Australia. It is not legal advice and does not create a client relationship. For advice on your situation, engage a licensed conveyancer, settlement agent, or property solicitor in your state or territory.