LEGAL

What is SECTION 32 VENDOR STATEMENT？

According to the legislation, The seller must provide a vendor’s statement to prospective buyers before any contract of sale is signed. The purpose of the statement is to protect buyers, and ensure them to know the condition of property. The seller should provide below information of property: mortgages, planning information, issuing permission, water fee, statutory warnings, access to the property by road, restrict of landing use, or particulars of any charges over the land, ex. reputation, electricity, gas, water and telephone etc. Listing these information enables buyers to determine the use of property in the future. For instance, one buyer is intent to change the property from commercial use to residential use. He should be informed if the commercial use is under the plan at the moment, and more importantly, if the the plan will be changed in the future. Another example is if the property is on the polluted land. It would not be disclosed in the statement, the buyer should involve a lawyer to estimate.

What if the Section 32 Statement is defective?

If the error is criminal offense, the seller and his lawyer would be sued and charged, and the buyer could stop the contract and get the bond fully refunded.

2、Can seller sell the violating property?

The law could not prevent the sale of violation property, therefore, the buyer should be alerted and read the statement carefully before signing the contract. For example, the buyer should know if the property is applied the permission from the government, and also, after completion, if the property is applied the qualified certificate from the government. If there is no qualified certificate, the government may withdraw the legality of the property, or force the owner to fix until it is legal. Knowing if it is legal must be done before signing contract for buyers. Otherwise, the buyer would be responsible for it. If the buyer signs the contract without knowing the legality, and goes for it after sign, the government may go for a test, which forces buyer to fix and leads to bigger lost.

3、Can foreigners buy property in Australia?

To ensure the welfare of local residents, Australian government restrains foreigners’ rights for buying property through “Foreign Acquisttios and Takeovers ACT　1957. Usually, foreigners could buy the Strate Unit under construction or in brand-new condition, or House/Land package. These property can be bought in the ‘Off The Plan’ from developers. The developers should apply to the government in advance and only 50 percent of property can be sold to foreigners. If the property is reformed from non-residential use to residential use, it can also be permitted to sell to foreigners. But the ??? is not included.

Can foreigners rent the property or live in by themselves?

Both are permitted, even resale is also permitted. However, it should be in attention if the property is newly built or never sold before, which means that foreign buyer cannot purchase this kind of property.

Under what condition can foreigners buy the whole building?

Usually, foreigners are prohibited to buy the whole building, except two conditions as below:
1. The foreigner should live in Australia more than 12 months. For example, studying in Australia, but the limited amount of buying building for students is under $300,000.
2. The foreign company has branch in Australia, and need to offer accommodation for stuff.
It is worth noting that both the situation is not permanent. Once it is due, the property must be sold immediately.

Others

Although Australian government does not allow foreigners buy existing property, it encourage them to invest the growing residential property. For example, buying a land and setting it up in 12 months. The approval standard is to pay at least 50 percent of the land price based on the growing price. After settlement, the property can be used to live in, rent, or resale. Another option is to rebuild the property. This action can be done at the end of its economical life to upgrade the value. The government also set the standard that the price should be 50 percent higher than the purchase price.

Other non-residential property

Commercial property means the grown ones, like office building and commercial building, excluding hotels, residential building(unit, apartment, and farm), planting farm. The property which is worth less than 5 millions dollars does not need approval from the government. Other commercial property within package, like factory and stores for commercial use dose not need the approval as well.

4、Stamp-duty reduced for First buyers

The value of the property must not exceed $650,000 for contracts dated between 1 October 2012 to 30 June 2014. On July 2014 the cap increases to $750,000.
The First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) scheme (the Scheme) was established to assist eligible first home owners to purchase a new home or build their home by offering a $15,000 grant.
The Scheme applies to new homes only and will reduce to $10,000 on 1 January 2016.