New Contract Conditions For Smoke Alarms

We all understand how important fire safety is, particularly for anyone with young children or their beloved pets running around, and we feel that these new conditions are going to be crucial to your peace of mind when you’re hunting for your dream home.

The beginning of 2022 is bringing around many changes for the Queensland property market, and one that we’re finding most important is the change in the REIQ contract around compliant smoke alarms.

One subject that we think will be of interest to anyone looking to purchase are the new clauses surrounding Compliant smoke alarms.

What are the new clauses?

There are a few things that go into this new clause 7.8 in the REIQ contract. However, to sum it up, Seller’s must ensure compliant smoke alarms are installed prior to settlement.

To be more specific, the Seller of a property is obligated to install smoke alarms that are compliant with the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990 and Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008.

If the Seller fails to install these compliant smoke alarms, Buyers will now be entitled to an adjustment to the purchase price at settlement to reflect a reduction of 0.15%.
It’s important to note that in order to claim this reduction, you must instruct your solicitor to claim the adjustment in writing prior to settlement.

What does the Buyer need to do now?

As a Buyer, it is extremely important that you organise to check if there are compliant smoke alarms at a property prior to settlement, ensuring that you give yourself enough time to claim the 0.15% adjustment to the purchase price if necessary.
If the Seller has not had compliant smoke alarms installed, the obligation to install these will be passed on to the Buyer once ]ettlement has been affected.

So please, be sure to book that pre-settlement inspection with someone who knows their stuff and doesn’t leave yourself at risk when it’s too late!