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Friday September 3, 2010

What we're talking about

  • Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." @Bigfellah, with your permission, I would like to add that I thank you sincerely for acknowledging my success at being a ... more
  • Bella on Preferential voting FIRST PAST THE POST ~ is not as democratic as you may like to think.In a preferential system every registered voters final ... more
  • steve on A few facts on illegal boat people Hey Wendy - I'm an immigrant - I've lived here for 40 years and have learned to ignore people with attitudes like yours but ... more
  • James Weir on A few facts on illegal boat people Wendy, I'm surprised anyone lives in Adelaide. Even the Welsh born redheads are getting out of the place. more
  • Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." @Bigfellah. Again in typical Socialist Fashion, you are denying me my right to form an opinion. Mr. and Mrs. Newton ... more
  • Meg on "He's a dog..." I believe that any ordinary person who assaults women would have been charged and jailed not sent to rehab. Has Matthew ... more
  • Wendy on A few facts on illegal boat people Look around..In Adelaide now, you cannot spot an Aussie. Everywhere you look its Chinese/Asians, Indians and Pakistani's. ... more
  • bigfella on "He's a dog..." Hi z,The point is: How the heck would Phil of Springwood know what sort of parents Bert and Patti were to their son? For all ... more
  • z on Bob Brown Lazarus Where is the costings that they demand of everyone else, thier 5 minutes of fame will be up shortley more
  • Shanelle on System failure The whole system is stuffed. I have been apart of it for 10years now and still im confused. Im in a bad place at the moment ... more
  • James Weir on Barnaby Joyce How many Clem 7's would you like in your Super Fund, Barnaby? It lost $1.5B in it's current reporting period. Only Govts can ... more
  • Steve Martin on "He's a dog..." Rebecca Wilson as per normal is just plain out of touch.The hitting of women is wrong but personalising this with "he's a ... more
  • Ronny Of Brighton QLD on Preferential voting MichaelIve just come back from a holiday.That bloke Dean Jaensch Siad that if someone(call Him RONNY) had 40% he said 60% of ... more
  • z on Preferential voting the way it is working at the moment is the first loser joins with 2nd loser and so on untill they beat the winner, so a ... more
  • brisman on Bob Brown The guy is not green he absolutley red through to the core. His environmental visions are shallow and don't serve ... more
  • z on "He's a dog..." bigfella, Phil of Springwood is not talking from so called flippantly expertise, Ivory tower stuff but more from commonsense ... more
  • robert goodchild on Support our Diggers the sticker Idea is great.I would happily part with $20 for one and would like to see the profit go to families who have ... more
  • Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." Hey Bigfella, back again so soon after your mobs magnificent defeat by the Tories, I thought you and the rest of your Left ... more
  • z on "He's a dog..." Hey Phil, why don't you say what you really mean more
  • bigfella on "He's a dog..." Congratulations to Phil of Springwood,We've become accustomed to his astute political and social commentaries based on ... more

More on the Sustainability Declaration

Posted by: Michael Smith | 19 November, 2009 - 1:26 PM
any

A friend of this program has just spent 6 hours as part of a team of 15 lawyers reviewing the Sustainability Declaration.

Their findings are frightening.

This Sustainability Declaration doesn’t just apply to your house.   It covers the shed, garages, carports, fences, masts, antennas, retaining walls, Bali huts, pergolas, and gazebos – any structure on your land.

The legislation specifically sets out this “Where the buyer incurs a loss or expense as a result of a false or misleading declaration, the seller of the building is liable to compensate the buyer for any loss or expense.   A compensation claim may be made through a court.”   A lawyer’s picnic.   Open ended compensation claims through the courts.

Here are a few of your responsibilities under this act.

Not preparing a declaration - $2,000 fine.

Not displaying a declaration at inspection - $2,000 fine.   So if your agent has arranged an open house and you don’t display the declaration - $2,000 fine.

Not providing a declaration on request - $2,000 fine – if someone asks you for the declaration and you don’t provide it - $2,000 fine.

These offences are offences of strict liability – like a traffic offence – there are no mitigating circumstances.   Get detected – and you get done.   There is no need for the prosecution to prove that you had a guilty mind – just that you didn’t have the declaration.

If you advertise a property for sale and forget to include information about where a person can get a copy of your completed declaration – that’s yet another offence.

And you have to “conspicuously display” the sustainability declaration at any open for inspection in such a way that it can be easily read by potential buyers at any time the building is open to the public for inspection – forget to do that and you can get done.

And it’s not just you.   Your agent is up for a $10,000 fine for not providing a sustainability document at an open house – in addition to your $2,000 fine.

And the agent can be done with a $10,000 fine for not providing the document when asked for a copy.

And all of this comes into law in 6 weeks from now.

For any building on your property.   Including, by definition, your shed.

I don’t recall any of this being mentioned prior to the election just a few months ago.

The Paper

Have a read of this and let your friends know.  

Blog comments Your Say

  • All the people who are going on about how this is good and we need you guys should dream on!!!! have you seen the paperwork involved just for one house!!! its stupid!!! So much for helping the environment! also most people who dnt know anything about there house(or say they dont) leave it blank so they wont get a fine if its not right. All that people are doing is signing the bottom and thats okay. Its the stupidest thing i know!

    laura Friday 5 March, 2010 - 10:12 AM

  • And which idiot thinks someone is going to look at a sustainability when buying a house and not buy the house if they like it?

    It isn't worth the paper it's written on and I would like to see someone prove that what you have declared is not right - duh you may have left your lights on more than you should have or kept the windows open when running the aircon so the extra cost you are going to be sued for by the new owner - yeah right...

    Jeff Tuesday 23 February, 2010 - 4:39 PM

  • Has any of these that are needed in the Sustainablity
    Declaration, ever been proven
    that they save the said % etc? I want proof first before I fill one in

    Josie Sunday 21 February, 2010 - 12:49 PM

  • Rob - you are a total idiot if you think it is a breach of the Privacy Act! Good luck finding a real estate agent that will advertise your property when you want to sell it if you don't provide them with a sustainability declaration! Why would they risk a fine of up to $10,000.

    The sustainability declaration is just the first step of many that will be taken to make people more aware of the sustainability of their property and the impact it has on the environment. The Qld Government has gone soft with the form because of the backlash from REIQ members.

    People have got to realise this form has been a requirement in ACT for approx 10 years!

    The compulsory energy efficiency assessments that is currently being tabled by the Gov't is only when you sell your property or have a new lease. This was introduced in the UK 15 months ago and other countries have had it for 5 years! It's about time Australia caught up!

    Sustainability Supporter Friday 12 February, 2010 - 5:23 PM

  • The $1,500 now $1,200 subsidy for ceiling insulation (some imported) will be recovered. Nothing is free.

    Reported on the weekend, "All Australian homes will soon have to undergo a mandatory energy-efficiency assessment costing up to $1500 per property."

    Albert Monday 8 February, 2010 - 1:03 PM

  • The 'Sustainability Declaration' as I see it, is in clear breach of the Privacy Policy/Act.

    Allow my real estate agent or solicitor to hand out or email the current form to anyone who may request it. Not in my lifetime!

    Think very carefully before you sign this document. It is now too easy for a criminal to transfer your real estate into their name that is if you provide your full name with your signature and a real property description as is directed on the form.

    Sign and provide it at your peril!

    Rob Friday 5 February, 2010 - 9:10 PM

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