Special Conditions in Queensland Property Contracts: What Agents Need to Get Right
A buyer wants early access. A seller needs the sale conditional on purchasing elsewhere. The pool safety certificate isn’t ready. Any one of these situations lands on your desk at offer stage, and what happens next depends on how well the special conditions in the contract are understood, sourced, and handled by the agent involved.
Special conditions in a Queensland property contract are additional clauses appended to the standard REIQ terms to address circumstances that the standard form doesn’t cover. They are not optional extras for unusual properties — in many transactions, they are the difference between a clean settlement and a dispute that ends up before the Supreme Court. Getting them right is a professional responsibility every Queensland agent carries from the moment an offer is made.
What Special Conditions Actually Do in a Queensland Contract
The REIQ/QLS property contracts are the most common form of sale contracts used in Queensland. Alterations to the Standard Terms of Contract should only be effected via the addition of special conditions. That single principle defines the architecture of every REIQ contract: the standard terms stand untouched, and anything that needs to vary, add to, or override those terms must be done through a properly drafted special condition attached to the contract.
Although the REIQ Standard Contract has a number of conditions that relate to any sale or purchase of residential property in Queensland, there is sometimes the need for flexibility in a contract to take into account unusual circumstances. A special condition accounts for these and can both preserve a party’s rights under a contract and facilitate a transaction which may otherwise not be practical.
Where a standard condition sets a default — say, the standard 30-day settlement period — a special condition can override it. Where the standard form is silent on something specific to the property, the special condition fills that gap. Where a party wants additional protections not contemplated by the standard terms, those protections must be captured in a properly worded special condition or they simply do not exist as contractual obligations.
The practical scope is broad. Special conditions are additional clauses added to the contract to address specific situations — for example, making the purchase conditional on selling a current home first, obtaining early access to the property before settlement, or requiring something about the property to be fixed before the buyer takes over. They can also address waterway maintenance obligations, gated community covenants, appliance warranties, professional cleaning requirements, access for tenant showings, or — in more complex transactions — the transfer of associated business interests. The range is limited only by the parties’ legitimate needs and the skill of whoever drafts the clause.
The Agent’s Role — and Its Strict Limits
This is the point where agents most frequently expose themselves to liability, and it warrants direct treatment.
In Queensland, real estate agents are not qualified or permitted to give legal advice on the contract and any special conditions, or draft special conditions, in any way. Under section 24(3B) of the Legal Profession Act 2007, a real estate agent cannot: (a) provide legal advice in relation to a property contract or other documents; or (b) provide, prepare or complete a document prescribed under a regulation.
If a real estate agent engages in legal practice in Queensland by providing legal advice or drafting special conditions, they will have committed an offence against the Property Occupations Act 2014, section 219. The maximum penalty for breach is 200 penalty units or 1 year’s imprisonment.
That is not a technicality. It is an active constraint with criminal consequences. Agents who hand a buyer a “standard finance condition” they’ve typed up themselves, or who modify a solicitor-drafted clause to suit the current deal, are stepping into territory they are not permitted to occupy.
What agents can legitimately do is instructive. A POA licensee or POA employee is not engaging in legal practice only because the licensee or employee provides, prepares or completes a property contract or other document as part of performing POA licensee’s work. In plain terms: agents can fill in the Reference Schedule, cross out alternatives provided in the standard form, and insert information into blank spaces. A POA licensee or POA employee “prepares or completes” a property contract by inserting information in a blank space, or crossing or leaving out an alternative included in the property contract or other document; or by inserting a term if it is authorised by a party or given in writing to the licensee by a party as an insertion or alteration.
So: if a seller provides the agent with a written special condition that their solicitor has already drafted, the agent can insert that condition into the contract. The critical point is the condition must come from the party (ideally via their solicitor), not be composed by the agent. The agent’s role is to facilitate, not author.
Real estate agents should always strongly encourage their clients to obtain independent legal advice in respect of all matters pertaining to property contracts and other documents prior to execution.
The Most Common Special Conditions in Queensland Residential Contracts
Understanding the types of conditions that regularly appear in Queensland transactions lets agents anticipate what’s needed, communicate clearly with solicitors, and spot when a proposed condition is unusual enough to warrant close attention.
Subject to Sale of Existing Property
One of the most frequently requested conditions. A buyer wants to purchase your listing but hasn’t yet sold their current home. A standard form for this reads: “This contract is subject to and conditional upon the successful settlement of the buyer’s existing property situated at [address] on or before [number of days] from the contract date. Should settlement of the property at [address] not be effected for any reason by the date specified, then either party may terminate this contract and all deposit monies paid by the buyer will be refunded in full.”
This kind of condition keeps a deal alive that might otherwise fall through while also giving the seller optionality. This clause also allows a seller to continue to market a property after entering into a contract with a buyer which is subject to the buyer being able to obtain a sale contract of another property, or other long-term contract that is not unconditional with regard to special conditions. In practice, the seller’s solicitor will typically draft a “first right of refusal” or “continue to market” clause alongside it. Agents should understand this dynamic when managing a vendor’s expectations about what being under contract actually means.
Early Access or Occupation Before Settlement
Buyers requesting early access before settlement — whether to begin renovations, show prospective tenants, or simply measure for furniture — is a common scenario that carries real risk if handled improperly. A buyer who takes early possession of the property does so as a licensee, typically paying a licence fee per week. Conditions for such early access typically include requirements that the buyer provide insurance, indemnify the seller against loss or damage arising from the possession period, and accept the property in the condition it is in when they take possession.
Early access is not a trivial concession. Once a buyer is in possession, disputes about the property’s condition become substantially harder to resolve. The condition must be clear about the start date, the licence fee, the insurance obligation, and what happens if settlement does not occur. It must be drafted by a solicitor.
Seller Rent Back
The reverse scenario — a seller who needs to remain in the property after settlement, often while purchasing elsewhere — is increasingly common in tight markets. A seller rent-back condition makes the contract subject to and conditional on the buyer entering into a Residential Tenancy Agreement as landlord with the seller as tenant before settlement, with the parties acknowledging that the Residential Tenancies Act applies to that agreement. This is a condition with direct interaction with Queensland’s tenancy legislation, and the interaction is not straightforward. It must go to the parties’ solicitors.
Works to Be Completed Prior to Settlement
Agents regularly find themselves negotiating repairs or works as part of a sale — a fence that needs replacing, a hot water system that failed the building inspection, mould remediation. When the parties agree verbally, the question is whether the obligation has any force. A special condition where an agreed schedule of works is to be completed prior to settlement is the mechanism that gives that obligation teeth. Without a written special condition properly drafted into the contract, a verbal agreement to complete repairs has no contractual standing.
Due Diligence Conditions
These provide a buyer with a defined period to investigate the property or the records of the relevant local authority. A standard form reads: “This Contract is subject to the Buyer conducting due diligence investigations of [Council] records for the Property within [X] business days of the Contract (‘Due Diligence Date’) and the results of those investigations being satisfactory to the Buyer in all respects. The Buyer must give notice in writing to the Seller no later than 5pm on the Due Diligence Date that either the investigations are satisfactory and the Contract is proceeding, or that they are not satisfactory and the Contract is not proceeding, in which case the Contract shall be at an end and the Deposit shall be returned immediately.” The Seller may terminate the Contract by written notice to the Buyer if notice is not given under this condition by 5pm on the Due Diligence Date. This is the Seller’s only remedy for the Buyer’s failure to give notice.
Agents working with commercial buyers, investors, or buyers of properties with complex title histories will encounter these regularly. The due diligence window and notice mechanics are critical — they are not just administrative formalities.
Commission Protection Where Deposit Is Insufficient
A less-discussed but practically important special condition concerns the agent’s own position. One clause style addresses situations where the deposit held by the deposit holder is not sufficient to pay the agent its commission, marketing costs, and GST. It directs the buyer to draw a payment to the agency out of the balance settlement funds. Such a special condition is expressed to be for the benefit of the agent in accordance with section 55 of the Property Law Act 1974. Where deposits are reduced in negotiation — a common outcome in competitive markets — agents should ensure their solicitor has considered whether this protection is appropriate.
When Special Conditions Go Wrong: The Courts’ Perspective
The consequences of poorly drafted or poorly understood special conditions are not theoretical. Queensland courts have dealt with them on multiple occasions, and the outcomes are instructive for agents who want to understand why precision matters.
In Latimore Pty Ltd v Lloyd [2020] QSC 136, the Supreme Court of Queensland provided a judgment and orders for specific performance after a buyer purported to prematurely terminate a residential contract on the basis that the seller had failed to comply with an essential term. The contract was entered into for the sale by auction of a residential property with a 60-day settlement. In addition to the standard terms of the REIQ Contract, a special condition was added stating: “Notwithstanding anything else in this contract, the Seller agrees to provide a Pool Safety Certificate to the Buyer 7 days prior to Settlement.” The buyer attempted to terminate when the pool safety certificate was not provided by that date. The Court’s analysis turned on the precise wording of the condition and whether the failure to provide the certificate on time gave the buyer a right to terminate. The buyer ultimately did not succeed in relying on the termination. The specificity of language determined everything.
In Sekler v Kim Carroll Investments Pty Ltd [2021] QSC 312, the Court examined special conditions in a contract of sale of property and determined whether the contract should be specifically performed. The buyer entered into two separate contracts at Buderim: one for “Malumba Estate” for $17.1 million, the other for an adjoining property known as “Aquila Retreat” for $3.4 million. The contract for Aquila Retreat did not settle and the seller purported to terminate it, leading the buyer to apply to the Court seeking an order that the contract be specifically performed. The Court noted that although the Aquila Retreat contract included the transfer of the business, the contract did not expressly make the sale of the property either contemporaneous with, or contingent upon, any agreement to transfer the business. When the seller notified the buyer he no longer wished to sell and declared the contract null and void, the dispute centred on approximately $180,000 in deposits held for forward bookings that the seller preferred not to part with.
Both cases illustrate the same lesson from different angles: what the special condition says — word by word — determines what rights a party has. Vague intentions expressed at negotiation carry no weight. If the outcome depends on a condition, that condition must be drafted precisely by a qualified solicitor.
Special conditions need to be carefully worded to be enforceable. That is not a legal disclaimer — it is a practical reality with direct implications for agents who think a condition is “close enough.”
How Special Conditions Interact with the New Seller Disclosure Regime
Queensland’s property law landscape shifted materially when the Property Law Act 2023 commenced its seller disclosure provisions. New mandatory seller disclosure requirements apply to contracts and options entered into from 1 August 2025, unless an exception applies. The seller must give the buyer disclosure documents — being a seller disclosure statement in the prescribed form and prescribed certificates listed in the Property Law Regulation 2024 — before the buyer signs the contract or option.
Subject to some limited exceptions, seller disclosure is compulsory and the seller and buyer cannot ‘contract out’ of the requirements. This has a direct interaction with special conditions: agents and their vendors can no longer use special conditions to limit or waive disclosure obligations in the way they might have previously relied on contractual acknowledgements. The statutory floor has risen.
Disclosure documents must be given at the right time and contain accurate information. Failing to share these documents gives buyers a statutory right to terminate the contract — right up until settlement — even if no loss has occurred.
On 7 June 2024, alongside the major reform of Queensland’s residential tenancy laws, the REIQ and the Queensland Law Society released the latest version of the standard REIQ Residential Contract. This updated contract, widely used for the sale of residential properties — including houses, units, and investment properties — contains new disclosure obligations that carry significant implications for real estate agents, landlords, property investors, and developers.
For agents, the practical impact is twofold. First, special conditions designed to acknowledge or limit buyer awareness of property characteristics may now be in tension with the seller’s statutory disclosure obligations — something solicitors on both sides will need to navigate. Second, contracts entered into after 1 August 2025 operate in a new disclosure environment, and any special conditions that touch on matters covered by the disclosure statement require careful legal consideration to ensure consistency.
Crown Law has noted that precedent land contracts and special conditions should be updated, noting that a new REIQ contract could be released to coincide with commencement of the new Act. Agents should ensure they are working from current editions of the REIQ contract and referring parties to solicitors who are across the updated disclosure framework.
Managing Special Conditions in Practice: The Agent’s Workflow
Knowing what agents cannot do doesn’t answer the practical question of what they should do when a party raises a need that the standard form doesn’t address. Here is how it works in a well-managed transaction.
When a buyer or seller expresses a need that would require a special condition — “we want the seller to replace the air conditioning unit before settlement,” “we need to access the property two weeks early,” “our purchase depends on our Indooroopilly property settling first” — the agent’s job is to capture that need clearly and direct the party to their solicitor immediately.
Some agents maintain a working relationship with local conveyancers and solicitors who can turn around condition drafts quickly. This does not mean the agent commissions the condition — the party instructs their solicitor. It means the agent’s communication is efficient: “Here’s what you’ve asked for; here’s your solicitor’s contact; please advise me when you have a condition drafted.” The more precisely the agent conveys the instruction to the party’s solicitor, the better the resulting condition will reflect what was actually negotiated.
Buyers should be particularly wary of special conditions that are added to the contract. In some instances, sellers may delete certain provisions of the standard terms of contract without explaining the full significance of those deletions to the buyer. Specialist advice should be immediately sought if the buyer is unaware of the meaning of a special condition that has been added, or if there is any concern that the special condition may otherwise operate unfairly.
This principle applies whether an agent represents the buyer side, the seller side, or is acting as the listing agent negotiating directly. If a party appears to be signing a contract without having read or understood the special conditions, the agent’s duty of care — separate from the legal prohibition on giving legal advice — requires they flag it and encourage review.
Agents should also be alert to timing. The REIQ contract includes a clause that says “time is of the essence.” This means that deadlines are strict. If a party misses a finance or inspection date, they could lose their rights under that condition, or the other party might be able to terminate the contract. Special conditions with satisfaction dates and notice requirements operate within this same framework. When agents are managing multiple conditions across a transaction — finance, building and pest, a sale of prior property condition, and perhaps a works condition — deadline management is not administrative housekeeping. Missing a notice deadline can end a deal or expose a party to liability.
Specific Language That Creates Problems
There are patterns in poorly drafted special conditions that agents encounter regularly — and that almost always originate from conditions that weren’t prepared by a solicitor, or from solicitor-drafted conditions from other deals that were adapted without proper review.
“Subject to satisfactory” without a defined standard. Conditions that make performance contingent on something being “satisfactory to the buyer” or “to the buyer’s satisfaction” can create ambiguity about whether the buyer must act reasonably or has an unfettered right to call the condition unsatisfied. Queensland courts have examined this. The condition must specify either that the party has a subjective right to determine satisfaction, or that the standard is objective. Without clarity, both parties have exposure.
Conditions with no termination mechanism. A condition that says “the contract is conditional upon X” but doesn’t specify what happens if X doesn’t occur — who can terminate, by what date, and what the deposit consequences are — leaves the contract in limbo. Both parties may believe they can terminate; neither may have the right. The contract becomes unduly encumbered.
Conditions that purport to override statute. No special condition can lawfully override a statutory obligation — seller disclosure requirements being a current example. Subject to some limited exceptions, the seller and buyer cannot ‘contract out’ of seller disclosure requirements. Conditions attempting to do so are void to the extent of the inconsistency.
Conditions borrowed from other jurisdictions. Agents dealing with interstate buyers or investors sometimes encounter conditions drafted for New South Wales or Victorian contracts. The legal framework, including cooling-off periods, risk clauses, and disclosure obligations, differs materially. A condition valid in Victoria is not necessarily valid or appropriate in Queensland.
What This Means for Queensland Agents
Special conditions in a Queensland property contract are the mechanism by which the parties adapt a standard form to their specific transaction. They have real legal force, they are examined by courts when disputes arise, and they can determine whether a transaction proceeds, settles cleanly, or falls into litigation.
The agent’s fundamental obligations are clear. Do not draft, modify, or provide legal advice on special conditions — the Legal Profession Act 2007 is unambiguous, and the penalties are serious. Do ensure both parties have their own legal representation before contracts incorporating special conditions are signed. Do manage condition dates actively — missing a notice deadline can be irrecoverable. Do keep your contract documentation current, particularly now that Queensland’s seller disclosure regime under the Property Law Act 2023 has commenced its phased operation from 1 August 2025.
When a party needs something that the standard form doesn’t provide — and in most transactions, at least one party does — the professional response is fast, clear communication: explain what the standard contract does and doesn’t cover, direct the party to their solicitor with a precise brief, and allow the qualified professional to draft. This protects the agent, protects the client, and produces a condition that will actually hold up when it matters.
The agents who manage contracts well are not the ones who know the law better than solicitors. They are the ones who know exactly where their role ends — and work efficiently within it.