From Monday 16 September 2019, real estate agents must ensure that all Statement of Information forms (SOI) are in the newly updated format.
The key changes in the new SOI are:
- Property type: you can now include an accurate description of the property type (e.g. vacant land, townhouse, flat, unit, apartment, house, etc). Previously, agents were only able to select ‘house’ or ‘unit’.
- Comparable property sales: if there are only 1 or 2 comparable property sales you can include them on the SOI but you must also include a statement that the agent believes that fewer than 3 comparable properties were sold within the relevant time.
- Date prepared: you must include the date the SOI was prepared, and update the date every time the SOI is updated.
- Design and branding: you cannot change the wording, sequence and layout of information of the SOI. However, you can add pages containing further information or branding (such as a branded cover page).
These changes are effective from Monday 16 September 2019 and all SOIs must be in the new form from this date.
We recommend you review all your current SOIs to ensure that they are in the updated format.
To download the revised Statement of Information forms, visit Consumer Affairs Victoria.
More information
For more information, or to discuss the changes, please contact Kylie Marotta, Lawyer, on (03) 8600 0756 or kmarotta@kcllaw.com.au, or Morgan Scholz, Senior Associate, on (03) 8600 8890 or mscholz@kcllaw.com.au.
Note: This update is a guide only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.