What Is Sale by Tender in Queensland Real Estate? Definition and Agent Guide

A sale by tender is a method of selling property where prospective buyers submit written offers — known as tenders — by a set deadline, without knowledge of what other buyers have offered. The seller then reviews all tenders received and decides whether to accept, reject, or negotiate any of them. Sale by tender usually involves a short but extensive marketing campaign, and requires potential buyers to submit a written tender for the purchase of the property to a pre-determined location — possibly the sales agent or the seller’s solicitor — by a certain date and time, and in a certain form. Critically, sale by tender is not the equivalent of an auction without an auctioneer — and agents who treat it as such expose themselves and their clients to serious legal and commercial risk.

How Sale by Tender Works in Queensland Real Estate

The Process from Listing to Acceptance

The tender process typically begins with the agent and seller agreeing on a campaign window — often two to four weeks — during which the property is marketed without a price. Interested buyers are invited to submit their best offer in writing by a specified closing date and time. Sale by tender, sometimes referred to as a ‘silent auction’, allows for potential buyers to provide their best offer for the seller to consider after the tender process comes to a close.

Each tender is submitted in a sealed format so bidders cannot see competing offers. This is a deliberate structural feature: buyers must decide what the property is worth to them rather than incrementally outbidding a visible competitor. The seller is under no obligation to accept the highest offer, the most financially straightforward offer, or any offer at all. The seller retains full discretion.

Once tenders close, the agent presents all received offers to the seller, often accompanied by a summary of each buyer’s proposed terms, finance position, deposit amount, and any conditions attached. Buyers may submit their tender with terms of their choice, which can be accepted or negotiated by the seller once the tender process comes to a close. This post-tender negotiation phase is where the agent’s advisory role becomes especially important — evaluating not just price but the overall strength and certainty of each offer.

Tender vs Auction vs Private Treaty

Sale by tender sits between private treaty and auction in terms of market dynamics. Unlike private treaty, it creates competitive urgency among buyers who know their offer must be their best within a finite window. Unlike auction, it is not a public event, does not require a licensed auctioneer, and — critically — does not carry the same unconditional contract obligations at the point of sale.

Cooling-off periods are still required on contracts of sale by tender pursuant to section 165 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld). This is one of the most consequential distinctions between tender and auction in Queensland. A buyer who successfully bids at auction is bound unconditionally from the fall of the hammer. A buyer whose tender is accepted still has the benefit of the standard five-business-day cooling-off period for residential property — unless that right has been properly waived.

Whilst sale by tender may once have been a method of sale for only unique, large or commercial properties, it is becoming an increasingly popular method of sale for residential properties in Queensland. For agents, this shift means that the rules and risks attached to tender — particularly the continued application of cooling-off rights — are no longer confined to the prestige or commercial sector.

Why Sale by Tender Matters for Queensland Agents

When Vendors Choose Tender

Vendors typically elect a tender process when a property is genuinely difficult to price — a unique prestige home in Noosa, a mixed-use commercial asset in Brisbane’s inner north, rural or lifestyle acreage where comparables are sparse, or a development site where buyers have fundamentally different views of value. The compressed campaign and single decision point can also suit a seller who wants to avoid the prolonged exposure of a private treaty campaign while avoiding the public theatre — and potential embarrassment of a pass-in — that auction carries.

In circumstances where sale by tender is often pursued to achieve a quick sale, additional terms or extended finance/building and due diligence periods may not be acceptable to the sellers. This is a tension agents must manage clearly in their pre-campaign briefing: some buyers will submit heavily conditional tenders, and sellers who value speed may dismiss otherwise strong offers on that basis alone. Setting clear expectations before tenders open saves significant frustration at close.

The Commission and Appointment Framework

The agent’s authority to sell by tender must be reflected in the appointment to act. An appointment of a property agent for a service that is the sale of property, where commission is expressed as a percentage of an estimated sale price, must state in writing that the commission is worked out only on the actual sale price. The Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) governs this requirement, and there is no carve-out for tender sales. A poorly drafted appointment that specifies an estimated price as the commission base — rather than the actual tender price accepted — creates a recoverable dispute.

The method of sale should be explicitly stated in the appointment. If the agency is initially appointed for a private treaty campaign and the seller later decides to convert to tender, it is best practice to review and update the appointment documentation rather than assume the original appointment covers the change. This is one area where agents with strong compliance habits protect themselves from commission disputes that arise when a tender generates an unexpected outcome — whether a lower price than marketed expectations or no sale at all.

International and Interstate Buyers in Tender Campaigns

The sealed-bid structure of a tender campaign often appeals to international buyers and interstate investors who cannot easily attend an auction in person and who prefer to conduct their due diligence in a structured window before committing to a final figure. Queensland’s prestige coastal markets — the Whitsundays, the Gold Coast hinterland, Noosa and the Sunshine Coast — attract significant overseas buyer interest, and tender is a method that accommodates their process without disadvantaging them relative to local participants.

Agents running tender campaigns with international buyer pools need to be particularly disciplined about ensuring all bidders receive identical information packages and have equal access to the property during the campaign. Any perception of informational inequality can expose the agent and the seller to challenge after the fact. Buyers who miss out often scrutinise the process closely.

Legal Requirements and Common Agent Mistakes in Queensland Tender Sales

The Cooling-Off Right — The Most Common Misunderstanding

The single most persistent misconception about sale by tender in Queensland is that it removes or limits a buyer’s cooling-off rights. It does not. Cooling-off periods are still required on contracts of sale by tender pursuant to section 165 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld). The five-business-day cooling-off period applicable to residential property contracts under private treaty applies with equal force to a contract formed when a tender is accepted.

This matters practically. A seller who accepts a tender on a Monday may find themselves without a binding contract until the following Tuesday at the earliest — and potentially longer if the buyer exercises their right to terminate within the cooling-off period. It should be made clear to sellers of residential property that sale by tender is not the equivalent of an auction without an auctioneer. Sellers who enter a tender campaign expecting auction-equivalent finality at close will be disappointed if not briefed correctly.

Advertising Language and the Binding Offer Trap

Careless marketing language is a second significant risk area for Queensland agents running tender campaigns. Sales agents should take extreme care when advertising the property for sale by tender, particularly when providing details of the time, form, location and circumstances of the tender process.

The specific danger is inadvertently creating a binding contractual commitment through the marketing materials themselves. Language used in the marketing material should merely invite offers, rather than confirming what actions the seller will take in response to the tenders. For instance, language such as “Sale by tender to the highest bidder” may amount to an offer, capable of being accepted by the person who submits the highest bid. This is not a trivial technical risk. If a buyer submits the highest tender and that language is in the marketing, they may have a contractual argument that the seller is obliged to accept their offer. The seller’s right to reject all tenders is the cornerstone of the method — and poorly chosen marketing copy can undermine it.

The fix is straightforward: marketing materials should use language that clearly invites offers without committing the seller to any particular outcome. Phrases that establish the seller’s absolute discretion — such as “the seller is not bound to accept the highest or any tender” — are standard inclusions for a reason.

The Tender Form and Legal Advice

Sales agents should ensure that their seller clients obtain legal advice in relation to tender forms to be provided to interested buyers. The tender form is effectively the framework within which a buyer submits their offer — it typically specifies the required deposit, the form of the contract to be attached, any mandatory conditions, and the deadline. If the form is poorly drafted, inconsistent with the attached contract, or silent on critical matters, disputes about what was actually offered and accepted become far more likely.

Sales agents should also recommend that their seller clients seek legal advice as to the terms or offers submitted by tender once they are received. This is sound advice that agents should give confidently and document. An agent who simply passes all tenders to the seller without recommending independent legal review — particularly where multiple conditional offers are received — is not adequately discharging their advisory obligation to the client.

The New Seller Disclosure Regime

From 1 August 2025, Queensland’s new seller disclosure regime under the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) applies to the sale of both residential and commercial property. A new mandatory Seller’s Disclosure Regime has been introduced in Queensland, which applies to the sale of both residential and commercial property in Queensland. The Queensland Government passed the Property Law Act 2023, which commenced on 1 August 2025.

For tender campaigns, this means that sellers must provide the required disclosure statement and any applicable prescribed certificates to a prospective buyer before a binding contract is formed. In the tender context, this typically means the information package issued to interested buyers before they submit a tender must include the disclosure statement. Agents running tender campaigns should not treat disclosure as an afterthought at contract formation — it needs to be built into the campaign structure from day one. The Property Law Act 2023 represents the most comprehensive set of changes to Queensland’s property laws in around 50 years.

What Queensland Agents Need to Know About Sale by Tender

Running a Legally Sound Campaign

Start with the appointment documentation. Confirm the method of sale, the commission basis, and the term of appointment clearly. If you are running a short-window tender campaign, the appointment term should align with the campaign, and the commission entitlement should be tied expressly to a sale price generated by the tender process.

Engage the seller’s solicitor early. The tender form, the information package, and the disclosure documents all require legal input. Your role is to manage the marketing campaign and advise the seller on the offers received. It is the solicitor’s role to draft or review the legal documents that govern the process. The cleaner that division of responsibility, the better protected both you and your client are.

It would be best practice for sales agents to ensure that their marketing costs are paid up front prior to the marketing of the property, in order to prevent any risk of losing marketing costs if the tender process does not result in a sale. A tender campaign that attracts strong interest but produces no acceptable offers is not as uncommon as agents would like. Recovering marketing costs from a vendor who is disappointed by the outcome is significantly harder without a pre-agreed arrangement.

Managing the Post-Tender Phase

When tenders close, your job is to present all offers clearly, honestly, and without bias. That means not steering the seller toward any particular buyer for reasons unrelated to the merits of the offer. Prepare a clear summary for each tender received: purchase price, deposit amount, proposed settlement period, conditions (if any), and your assessment of the buyer’s financial credibility based on any evidence provided.

If multiple offers are close in value but differ on conditions, the seller may wish to negotiate with one or more tenderers simultaneously. There is no rule against this in a tender context — but the process needs to be handled transparently. If you are corresponding with multiple buyers post-tender, be careful not to inadvertently represent to any buyer that theirs is the only offer under consideration.

Be alert to the cooling-off implications when the seller accepts a tender. The moment of acceptance triggers the five-business-day clock. Ensure the seller understands they do not have an unconditional exchange until that period expires or the buyer waives the right in the prescribed manner.

What This Means for Queensland Agents

The sale by tender Queensland definition is straightforward: sealed bids, a fixed deadline, seller discretion. But the execution carries more legal and practical nuance than many agents — and most vendors — initially appreciate.

The key points that separate competent tender management from exposure are these: tender is not auction, cooling-off rights survive the process, marketing language can inadvertently create binding obligations, and the new seller disclosure regime under the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld), which commenced 1 August 2025, must be built into the campaign structure from the outset.

Agents who run tender campaigns well do three things consistently: they set accurate expectations with sellers before the campaign begins, they collaborate with the seller’s solicitor on the documentation framework, and they maintain scrupulous records of every communication throughout the process. When a tender campaign generates the outcome the seller wanted, those records are irrelevant. When it generates a dispute, they are everything.

The growing use of tender for residential property across Queensland — not just prestige and commercial — means this is a method every licensed agent in the state needs to understand thoroughly, not just those operating at the top of the market.