What Is Off the Plan in Queensland Real Estate? Definition and Agent Guide

A buyer signs a contract today for a property that does not yet physically exist. No title has been issued, no slab has been poured, and in some cases the development approval is barely weeks old. That is off the plan — and in Queensland it is one of the most legally complex, commercially significant, and frequently misunderstood transaction types an agent will encounter. Getting it right protects your client, your commission, and your licence. Getting it wrong does the opposite, fast.

How Off the Plan Works in Queensland Real Estate

An off the plan sale is a contract for the sale of land where the lot, building, or scheme does not yet exist in registrable form at the time of contract. The buyer is committing to purchase a property that will be created — through subdivision, construction, or both — by the time of settlement. In Queensland this covers two distinct product types: vacant land in a new estate (a proposed lot in a standard land subdivision) and a lot within a proposed community titles scheme (CTS), such as an apartment or townhouse in a development yet to be built or registered.

An off the plan residential property sales contract typically refers to a contract for a proposed lot, such as a vacant block of land in a new housing estate, or a proposed lot to be included in a community titles scheme, such as an under-construction apartment in a multi-storey building. The key distinction for agents is that each of these product types attracts different statutory obligations, different sunset clause timeframes, and partially different legislative regimes — which is examined in detail below.

Off the plan sales typically use non-standard contracts, as the properties are yet to be registered or built. This is critical for every agent to understand upfront: the standard REIQ contract used for established residential sales is not designed for off the plan transactions. Developers draft their own contracts, which are often lengthy and tend to favour the vendor. Buyers — and agents advising them — need to approach these documents with that reality in mind.

The Deposit and Trust Requirements

The deposit is often set at 10% of the purchase price, but Queensland law allows developers to request a deposit of up to 20% for proposed lots without triggering the onerous rules of an instalment contract. The deposits for off the plan sales should be held in a regulated stakeholder’s trust account — such as a solicitor or agent — until the property is settled or the contract is lawfully terminated. This provides strong protection for the funds in the event the development does not proceed.

The reforms introduced in 2023 also confirmed sellers cannot get early access to any deposits paid under off the plan contracts. Deposits paid under off the plan contracts can only be released from a trust account to sellers at the time of settlement or if the contract otherwise finalises and the seller is entitled to the deposit. For agents holding deposits in their trust account, this is not merely good practice — it is a legislative requirement, and early release to a developer would constitute a serious breach.

Sunset Clauses: The Core Contractual Mechanism

A sunset clause in an off the plan sales contract provides a party with the right to terminate — or end the contract — if the contract is not settled within a particular timeframe. These clauses exist for legitimate commercial reasons: construction projects face council approvals, titling delays, and market conditions that are genuinely unpredictable. The sunset clause gives both parties an exit if settlement becomes impossible within the agreed window.

In Queensland, a Community Title Scheme (CTS) purchase — units, townhouses, and so on within a body corporate — can have a maximum statutory sunset clause of 5.5 years, although this period is often shorter, closer to the three-year mark, to allow events like construction to be completed, council approvals to be obtained, establishment of the body corporate, and then registration of the plan at the Titles Office. For vacant land, the maximum sunset clause timeframe is 18 months. Agents should treat any sunset date approaching or exceeding these statutory maximums as a red flag warranting close scrutiny.

Why Off the Plan Matters for Queensland Agents

The Queensland off the plan market is not a niche or peripheral segment of the profession. Brisbane’s property market had a strong 2024, with its median unit value now sitting higher than Melbourne’s, and the city is in the middle of a renaissance with the approaching 2032 Olympic Games and other large-scale projects resulting in increased infrastructure investment and rising property values. Queensland’s population grew by 2.3% in the year to June 2024 — well above the national average — and a large share of that growth landed in Greater Brisbane.

That population pressure is driving a structural shift in housing delivery. The Queensland Government has set ambitious targets, with 70% of new dwellings to come from infill development — townhouses, low-rise and high-rise apartments — while just 30% will be from new greenfield estates. The majority of that infill pipeline moves through off the plan contracts. For agents in Greater Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and regional growth corridors, off the plan work is not optional knowledge — it is a core practice area.

Yet supply is chronically constrained against this demand backdrop. CBRE forecasts just 3,100 new inner-city dwellings will be built each year from 2026 to 2031 — well below the demand implied by Brisbane’s population growth. That gap creates urgency among buyers and investor interest in off the plan stock as a way to secure property at today’s prices before construction completes. It also creates conditions where price appreciation between contract date and settlement can be significant — which historically has been the environment that invites the sunset clause misuse that prompted the 2023 legislative reforms.

Investor and Tax Considerations

The off the plan market draws a high proportion of investor buyers, many from interstate and overseas. Properties classified as newly constructed — including off the plan apartments, new house and land packages, and newly constructed stock — remain fully exempt from the proposed restrictions on negative gearing. Investors in new builds can still negatively gear under current rules and choose whichever CGT treatment suits them better. Agents working in project marketing need to understand this tax context to converse credibly with investment buyers, while being clear they are not providing financial advice and directing buyers to appropriately qualified advisers.

Buyers should never rely solely on pre-approval for finance. Their formal loan approval and valuation will only occur just before settlement, which could be years after signing. They need a clear financial strategy for settlement that accounts for this delay. This is a point agents regularly need to surface with first-time off the plan buyers who assume their pre-approval will simply carry through to settlement.

The Legal Framework Governing Off the Plan Queensland Real Estate

Understanding the legislative architecture is non-negotiable for any Queensland agent working in this space. Off the plan transactions sit outside the standard established-property transaction framework, and the post-2023 reforms have added meaningful complexity.

The Land Sales Act 1984 (Qld)

Off the plan sales in Queensland are regulated by the Land Sales Act 1984 (Qld). If the development involves a community titles scheme — such as a townhouse project or apartment complex — the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) also applies.

Before entering into an off the plan contract to sell a proposed lot that is part of a vacant land subdivision, section 10 of the Land Sales Act 1984 (Qld) requires a seller to provide the buyer with whether a development approval has been granted for reconfiguration of the lot or for any operational works, and a disclosure plan for the proposed lot that complies with section 11 of the LSA. The disclosure plan must be prepared by a cadastral surveyor and must include the proposed lot’s boundaries, area, orientation, and location within the larger development.

At least 14 days before settlement, section 14 of the Land Sales Act requires the seller to also provide the buyer with a statement from the seller’s surveyor confirming that there are no differences between the registered plan and the disclosure plan. The Land Sales Act 1984 requires the seller of a proposed lot to settle the contract of sale no later than 18 months after the buyer enters into the contract.

Community Titles Schemes: Additional Obligations Under the BCCMA

When selling a proposed lot that will form part of a body corporate, section 213 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) requires a seller to provide certain information to a buyer before entering into an off the plan contract. The additional disclosure documents include the proposed Community Management Statement (CMS), an administrative and sinking fund budget showing estimated body corporate contributions, and by-laws or exclusive use allocations that apply to the lot being sold. These documents are critical for buyers to understand their ongoing financial commitments and the governance framework they are entering.

Until first registration and the first AGM, the developer’s obligations and proposed levies are matters of disclosure rather than current fact. Buyers should be told the projected administrative and sinking fund levies, the developer’s contribution to establishing the body corporate, whether the developer retains lots (affecting voting power), and any management or service contracts that will bind the new body corporate. Agents should ensure buyers understand that the figures disclosed are projections, not guarantees — body corporate levies in particular can change materially between disclosure and first AGM.

The Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) and Its Interaction With Off the Plan

The new Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) disclosure requirements do not apply to proposed lots being sold off the plan. These transactions remain governed by the disclosure regimes under the Land Sales Act 1984 (Qld) and the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld). This is a point of genuine confusion in the market following the commencement of the PLA on 1 August 2025 — agents selling established property are now subject to the Form 2 seller disclosure statement regime, but off the plan proposed lots sit outside that regime and are governed by the pre-existing LSA and BCCMA frameworks.

The seller disclosure regime under the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) does not apply to off the plan sales. However, once the plan has been registered with the Titles Office, any unsold lots will fall under the seller disclosure regime and will need a Form 2 Seller Disclosure Statement and prescribed certificates to be provided to the buyer before entering into any sale contracts post-registration. This transition point — from proposed lot to titled lot — changes the agent’s disclosure obligations, and missing it is a compliance risk.

The 2023 Sunset Clause Reforms

Historically, developers could misuse the sunset clause to unilaterally terminate a contract if property values increased, refund the buyer’s deposit, and re-sell the property at a higher market price. The Queensland Government addressed this misuse by amending the Land Sales Act 1984 (Qld) in November 2023. The new laws severely restrict a seller’s ability to terminate an off the plan land contract (excluding most strata apartments and townhouses) under a sunset clause.

Sellers — typically property developers — will only be permitted to exercise their rights under a sunset clause to terminate an off the plan contract with the written consent of the buyer, or under an order of the Supreme Court. If a seller seeks to terminate a contract under a sunset clause, there is an obligation on the buyer to respond and to act reasonably in the circumstances. If the buyer fails to respond to the notice, it is deemed that they consent to the termination. This is an important nuance agents should brief buyers on — silence is not protection under the reformed framework.

These provisions apply retrospectively. They apply to contracts for the sale of land entered into before the commencement of the amendments, but not settled immediately before commencement.

The reforms do not apply to apartments or other CTS purchases, which still follow their statutory sunset dates and contract terms. This is a significant gap in buyer protection that agents working in the apartment market must be conscious of and should be flagging to clients considering off the plan unit purchases.

Material Prejudice and the Buyer’s Right to Terminate

The developer must notify the buyer of a change to any detail set out in the disclosure statement. The buyer must show that the change will be a significant disadvantage — such as a significantly reduced size. The buyer can back out due to material prejudice within 30 days of receiving the developer’s notification, or before the title of ownership transfers.

A seller may issue a further statement to provide updated disclosure to the buyer where there are inaccuracies in the original disclosure, or to advise the buyer of changes that have occurred during the development. However, if information or documents were omitted from the original disclosure statement, the further statement cannot fix that omission. The further statement must be issued to buyers at least 21 days before settlement. If a buyer is materially prejudiced by the change, they may be entitled to terminate the contract.

What Queensland Agents Need to Know About Off the Plan

The legal framework matters, but so does how agents position themselves operationally within it. Off the plan work demands a different approach to engagement, documentation, and client management compared to established property sales.

Appointments and Agency Obligations

Project marketers and sales agents acting for developers carry the same disclosure obligations as residential agents. The Form 6 appointment, the disclosure delivery, and the buyer acknowledgment all apply. There is a mistaken assumption in some corners of the industry that project marketing operates under looser rules because the developer is driving the process. It does not. The agent’s obligation to hold a valid Form 6 appointment under the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) applies regardless of the scale or complexity of the project.

Project marketers and sales agents acting for developers carry the same disclosure obligations as residential agents. The Form 6 appointment, the disclosure delivery, and the buyer acknowledgment all apply. What is different is the volume. A 300-unit project means 300 disclosure packs, 300 acknowledgments, and 300 contract executions. For agents managing significant project volumes, the compliance infrastructure — how documents are collected, stored, and evidenced — needs to be purpose-built for that scale.

Finance, Valuation, and Settlement Risk

One of the most common post-contract failures in off the plan transactions is a buyer’s inability to settle due to finance. The gap between signing and settlement — often 18 months to over three years in CTS developments — means bank valuations at settlement may not support the contract price if market conditions have shifted. Formal loan approval and valuation will only occur just before settlement, which could be years after signing. Agents should be having this conversation with buyers at contract stage, not six weeks before settlement.

The changes to sunset clause laws apply to all existing off the plan contracts unsettled by 22 November 2023, and new off the plan contracts signed on or after 22 November 2023. Agents carrying existing off the plan listings should have already verified which contracts are subject to the reformed regime — if not, that audit should happen immediately.

Developer Due Diligence

An agent’s obligation does not end at executing a contract. Part of operating ethically in the off the plan space is doing reasonable due diligence on the developer before taking on a project marketing appointment. If a buyer refuses to consent to termination, the developer must convince the Supreme Court that ending the contract is fair. Researching the developer’s track record — including any history of delays or cancellations — warrants extra caution.

Agents who market projects for developers with a pattern of sunset clause invocations, delayed completions, or variations to disclosed specifications are exposing themselves to reputational risk and, potentially, professional conduct liability. The agent’s duty to act in the principal’s interest does not require them to engage with developers they have reasonable grounds to doubt.

What This Means for Queensland Agents

Off the plan Queensland real estate sits at the intersection of multiple legislative instruments — the Land Sales Act 1984 (Qld), the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld), the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld), and now the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) — each with distinct requirements depending on whether the proposed lot is a vacant land parcel or a CTS lot.

The 2023 sunset clause reforms materially changed the power balance between developers and land buyers, but those protections do not extend to apartment and townhouse purchasers in CTS schemes. The Queensland Government has indicated it will continue to review the recent changes within one to two years to determine if additional reforms are needed for proposed community titles lots — apartments and townhouses. Agents who understand the current gap in protections, and who communicate it clearly to buyers, are providing genuine professional value.

Selling off the plan land in Queensland requires more than a signed contract. The Land Sales Act 1984 and, where applicable, the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, impose clear and enforceable disclosure obligations on property developers. As the licensed agent in the transaction, you are the professional closest to the buyer at the moment of commitment. Your understanding of what has been disclosed, what must be disclosed, and what the contract actually obliges each party to do is not peripheral knowledge — it is the practical floor of competent conduct in this space.

If disclosure is not done correctly, it can delay sales and create additional cost which may not have been budgeted for in the development. The cost of getting compliance wrong can be significant in off the plan sales and could result in a buyer terminating the contract.

For agents building or expanding an off the plan practice, the commercial opportunity in Queensland’s current market is real and well-supported by structural demographic and infrastructure trends. That opportunity is best captured by agents who know the legislation, have their appointment and trust documentation in order, and who bring credible, grounded guidance to buyers navigating one of the most complex purchase decisions in residential real estate.