What is a Form 1 in South Australia?

A Form 1 is the disclosure statement a South Australian seller has to serve on the buyer. It sets out who holds a mortgage over the land, what else is registered against the title, and what the buyer's cooling-off rights are.

If you have bought or sold in Victoria you will know this document by another name. The Section 32 does a similar job, but almost every rule around it is different, and the biggest difference is timing. In South Australia the Form 1 can be served after the contract is signed, and when that happens, service of the Form 1 is what sets the cooling-off clock running.

Get that one point wrong and a seller can hand a buyer a right to walk that nobody expected.

What a Form 1 actually is

It is the vendor's statement required under section 7 of the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994 (SA). The form itself is prescribed in Schedule 1 of the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Regulations 2025 (SA).

Those regulations are new. The 2025 set commenced on 1 September 2025 and replaced the 2010 regulations, so any guide still citing the 2010 rules is describing a superseded form.

The document runs in four parts. Part A identifies the parties and the land. Part B is the cooling-off notice, which tells the buyer how long they have and how to use it. Part C is the seller's own statement that the Schedule contains every particular section 7 asks for, and the seller signs that. Part D is a different thing: a certificate signed by an agent about the inquiries section 9 requires. Two signatures, two different jobs.

What has to be disclosed

The Schedule to the Form 1 is where the real work sits, and it splits into three divisions.

Division 2 also asks a seller who acquired the land within 12 months before the date of the contract to set out every transaction in that period, down to what was paid. That is a genuine anti-flipping measure, and Victoria has nothing like it.

The form keeps moving. The current version asks whether aluminium composite panels are installed on the exterior of the building, and the planning items have to stay in the statement whether they apply to your land or not. Pull the form fresh from the South Australian Integrated Land Information System rather than reusing the last one.

A Form 1 will not tell a buyer whether the roof leaks. It discloses legal interests and prescribed matters, not building condition, so buyers still need their own inspections.

Who prepares it and who signs the certificate

Where a land agent acts for the seller, the agent is responsible for preparing the Form 1, and the seller has to give the agent accurate information to work with. Where there is no agent, the seller prepares it themselves.

The Part D certificate is a personal undertaking that the prescribed inquiries were made and the answers back up the particulars. It is an agent's obligation, not the seller's. An agent acting for the seller signs it. Where the seller has no agent but the buyer does, the obligation moves across to the buyer's agent. Where neither side has an agent there is no Part D certificate at all, and the seller's signature on Part C carries the statement on its own.

In practice a conveyancer does the searching and drafting and the seller signs. South Australia also makes it an offence for a selling agent to prepare the conveyancing instruments, which is part of why registered conveyancers handle so much ordinary residential work there.

When the Form 1 has to be served

For a private treaty sale, the Form 1 must be served on the buyer at least 10 clear days before the settlement date. The Act names two ways to serve it: delivering it to the buyer personally, or posting it by registered post to the buyer's last known address. Email is fine for the buyer's cooling-off notice going back the other way, but it is not on the list for the Form 1. Keep the proof of service. If it is ever argued about, you will need it.

Read that deadline carefully. It says clear days, not clear business days, so weekends count towards the ten.

An auction works differently. The Form 1 has to be available for public inspection at the office of the seller's agent or the auctioneer for at least 3 consecutive business days immediately before the auction, and at the auction venue for at least 30 minutes before bidding starts. That window matters, because buying at a South Australian auction gives you no cooling-off right at all.

Here is the part that surprises Victorians. The Form 1 does not have to come before the contract. It can be served before signing or after, and which one happens determines when the cooling-off period runs.

How the Form 1 starts the cooling-off clock

South Australian cooling off is two clear business days. The question is always two days from what.

• If the Form 1 is served before the contract is made, the clock starts on the date the contract is made.
• If the Form 1 is served after the contract is made, the clock does not start until the Form 1 has been served.

Whichever of those two events lands later is the one that counts. One ceiling sits over both: the right ends at settlement if settlement arrives first.

"Clear" means you do not count the day of the triggering event, and business days exclude weekends and public holidays. South Australian public holidays, not Victorian ones. Count against the wrong calendar and you can miss by a day.

To cool off, the buyer serves written notice on the seller or the agent. It can go personally, by registered post, by fax or by email, and the time the notice was sent is taken to be the time it was given. The buyer carries the onus of proving the notice was given, so keep the transmission record.

The money position catches out anyone used to Victorian practice. If a South Australian buyer cools off, the seller may keep a deposit of no more than $100 and the rest of the money paid goes back. The Act also makes it an offence for a seller or a stakeholder to demand more than that capped deposit on land before the cooling-off period ends. Victoria runs the other way. Consumer Affairs Victoria says there are no laws about the amount of deposit but it is usually 10 per cent. A 10 per cent deposit on signing, standard in Melbourne, is not how a South Australian private treaty sale works while cooling off is on foot.

There is more on the counting rules and the exceptions in our guide to the South Australian cooling-off period.

If the Form 1 is wrong, late or missing

A Form 1 has to be accurate as at the date it is served. If something changes after service but before the buyer signs, the statement is treated as defective until a notice of amendment goes out. Once it does, the statement is presumed to have been served on the date the amendment was served, so the buyer gets a fresh two clear business days. Assume any late correction resets the clock.

If the Form 1 was never served, or was served defective, the buyer's remedy is a court application. A court can set the contract aside and award damages, but only where it is satisfied the buyer was actually prejudiced by the failure. Damages can be ordered against the seller, against the agent, or both. Separately, failing to comply with these disclosure rules is an offence carrying a maximum penalty of $10,000.

A defective Form 1 is not an automatic exit. South Australia gives the buyer a court remedy on proof of prejudice. Victoria works the other way: Consumer Affairs Victoria says that where a Section 32 contains incorrect or insufficient information, a buyer may be able to withdraw from the sale or take legal action.

A late Form 1 also stretches the cooling-off right, which is usually more useful to a buyer than a court application. If it is not served at least two clear business days before settlement, the buyer can cool off at any time before settlement. A seller who sits on the Form 1 saves nothing.

Taking a defective Form 1 to court is litigation, which is a solicitor's work. A registered conveyancer cannot conduct it or appear for you.

Form 1 and Section 32 side by side

The Victorian side is covered in full in our guide to what a Section 32 vendor statement must contain.

Common questions

Can I get out of a contract because the Form 1 was wrong?

Not automatically. You would need to apply to a court and satisfy it that you were prejudiced by the defect. Before going near that, check whether the Form 1 was served late, because a late Form 1 can leave your cooling-off right open right up to settlement.

Does the Form 1 have to be given to me before I sign?

No. A Form 1 may be served before or after the contract is made, and it must reach you at least 10 clear days before settlement. If it lands after you have signed, your two clear business days of cooling off run from the day it is served rather than from signing.

Can a conveyancer sign the form that waives my cooling-off rights?

No. Cooling off drops away where you took independent advice from a legal practitioner before entering the contract and that legal practitioner signed the prescribed certificate saying the advice was given. A conveyancer cannot sign it. Legal practitioners sit outside the South Australian conveyancer registration scheme altogether, and this is one of the places that distinction bites. Ask us and we will send you to a solicitor.

Do I need someone in Adelaide to handle my Form 1?

No. South Australia mandated electronic conveyancing from 3 August 2020, and by April 2024 around 92 per cent of lodged dealings had to go through an electronic lodgement network. Instruments are prepared, duties are paid and documents are lodged with Land Services SA inside an online workspace. What matters is that the practice acting for you holds South Australian registration.

Talk it through before you sign anything

Wise Step Conveyancing is registered in South Australia with Consumer and Business Services and licensed in Victoria. We act for South Australian clients remotely from our Cranbourne office using electronic conveyancing. We work Monday to Friday and are available on weekends by appointment, which matters when a Form 1 lands on a Friday afternoon and the clock is already running.

If you are selling, we can prepare and serve the Form 1 and get the timing right. If you are buying, we can read it before you commit. See our selling a property service, or get a quote and we will tell you what your matter involves. If you would rather ask a question first, get in touch.

This article is general information about South Australian conveyancing and is not legal advice for your particular transaction. Speak to us about your specific circumstances.