What is a Section 32 vendor statement in Victoria?

A Section 32 vendor statement is the document you give a buyer before that buyer signs the contract. It sets out who holds a mortgage over the land. Whether a covenant limits what can be built. Whether the land sits in a bushfire prone area.

It takes its name from section 32 of the Sale of Land Act 1962. Division 2 of Part II sets out the whole list.

Most sellers treat it as paperwork. It is not. Get it wrong and the buyer picks up a statutory right to tear up the contract, and that right can survive almost all the way to settlement.

What the law actually says

Section 32(1) is short. A vendor must give the purchaser, before the purchaser signs the contract, a statement signed by the vendor containing the matters and attaching the documents specified in Division 2.

Three things sit inside that sentence. Given, not left on a table at the open. Signed by the vendor, though section 32(2) allows an electronic signature. And given before the buyer signs, not after.

There is no shortening it by agreement. Section 32N voids any contract term that tries to exclude, modify or restrict Division 2. A clause saying the buyer accepts the statement as complete does nothing.

What has to go in it

Section 32J lets you attach a certificate the authority issued rather than retype it. That is why a Section 32 is a bundle, not a page.

Who prepares it, and who signs it

Consumer Affairs Victoria says the statement is usually prepared by your legal practitioner or conveyancer. You sign it. Your agent then makes it available to buyers, at open inspections and ahead of an auction.

Victorian conveyancers are licensed by the Business Licensing Authority and regulated by Consumer Affairs Victoria, and you can look up any licence on the public register. Conveyancing work is the full extent of what a conveyancer may do. If your sale is tangled up in a boundary dispute, a family law property settlement or the terms of a will, that part needs a solicitor, and we would rather tell you early than late.

Your conveyancer drafts it from the certificates, but the signature is yours, so a vendor who knows something the certificates do not show has to say so.

The vendor timeline

1. Instruct your conveyancer when you decide to sell, not when you get an offer. Certificates take time, and an agent who wants to launch next weekend cannot make a council move faster.
2. Your conveyancer orders the searches: title and plan, council rates and land information, water authority and land tax certificates, planning details, and a seven year building permit search.
3. If an owners corporation applies, its certificate and accompanying documents are ordered, and so is a GAIC certificate where there is a GAIC recording.
4. The draft comes back to you. Read it. Correct it. This is the step people skip.
5. You sign, the agent makes it available, and the buyer signs only after receiving it.

For a standard house on a registered title, that is often a matter of days. A lot on a new estate in Clyde or Botanic Ridge takes longer, because the plan, the statement of compliance and the developer's documents all have to line up. We talk through timing on selling a property before the agent sets a campaign date.

If it is wrong or incomplete

Section 32K applies where a vendor supplies false information in the statement or its attachments, withholds information Division 2 requires, or fails to give a signed statement before the buyer signs.

Where any of those apply, the purchaser may rescind the contract at any time before the purchaser accepts title and becomes entitled to possession or to the receipt of rents and profits.

There is one relief valve. Under section 32K(4) a purchaser may not rescind if a court is satisfied the vendor acted honestly and reasonably and ought fairly to be excused, and that the purchaser is substantially in as good a position anyway. That is a court's decision, reached after both sides have paid lawyers.

Section 32L turns the same failures into an offence, though only where the vendor acts knowingly or recklessly. The penalty is 60 penalty units, or 300 for a body corporate. A penalty unit is $209.10 for the 2026-27 financial year, putting those at $12,546 and $62,730.

A rescission four days out does not just cost you the sale, it usually costs you the purchase you were funding with it.

The omissions that cause the most trouble

Building work with no permit. Section 32E asks for permits issued in the preceding 7 years where there is a residence. The problem is rarely a missing copy. It is a garage conversion or a deck built without a permit at all, which shows up in council records as nothing. Raise it first.

Owner-builder work sold too soon. If you built or substantially altered your own home, section 137B of the Building Act 1993 applies. Within the prescribed period, which for domestic building work is 6 years and 6 months after the completion date, you cannot contract to sell unless you have a report from a prescribed building practitioner obtained no more than 6 months earlier, have given the buyer a copy, have met the statutory insurance scheme requirements and have given the buyer a notice of cover. A contract in breach is voidable at the buyer's option before completion.

A stale owners corporation certificate. Consumer Affairs Victoria notes that Section 32 statements are sometimes prepared up to 12 months before the sale, and tells buyers to ask for a fresh one before settlement.

Covenants glossed over. Section 32C(a) wants the covenant described, plus particulars of any existing failure to comply. A single dwelling covenant on a large Cranbourne East block changes what the land is worth to a buyer who planned to subdivide it.

What a Section 32 does not do

Look at the list again and notice what is missing. Nothing on it covers the condition of the buildings, whether they comply with building regulations, or whether the fences stand where the title says they should. The Director's due diligence checklist tells buyers to get their own inspection for illegal building work, asbestos and termites, and to compare the title measurements against the fences actually there. That work belongs to the buyer, not to your statement.

Section 33B makes that checklist compulsory. It has to be available in the Director's approved form from the time residential land is offered for sale, and where a licensed estate agent is acting, the duty sits with the agent.

A second obligation runs alongside. Under section 12(d) of the Sale of Land Act, a person must not knowingly conceal a material fact with the intention of inducing someone to buy, and the penalty runs to 240 penalty units or 12 months imprisonment. Section 12A lets the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria publish guidelines on the point, and a court may have regard to them. The Material Fact Guidelines give examples: a known defect in the structure, termite infestation, combustible cladding, asbestos, contamination from earlier use of the land, and building work done without a required permit. (They predate a later amendment and still quote 120 penalty units.) The Guidelines say plainly that a vendor who knows a material fact cannot rely on the buyer turning it up through the usual inquiries.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a Section 32 before an auction?

Yes, in practical terms. At auction the successful bidder signs on the spot, and section 32(1) requires the signed statement to have been given before that. Agents make it available at inspections and on request beforehand. Section 31(5) also removes the cooling-off right for a publicly advertised auction, and for a private sale of the same land within three clear business days either side of auction day. Sign on the Monday after a Saturday auction that passed in and you get no three day window.

How long is a Section 32 valid for?

The Act sets no expiry date, but the certificates inside it go out of date. Rates change, a new planning overlay can come in, and an owners corporation certificate reflects the accounts on the day it was issued. If a campaign stretches out or a property is relisted months later, refresh the statement rather than reuse it.

Is the cooling-off period part of the Section 32?

No. They are separate rights in separate parts of the Act. Cooling off sits in section 31 and gives most private sale buyers three clear business days after signing to terminate, with the vendor entitled to keep $100 or 0.2 per cent of the price, whichever is greater. The section 32K right lasts far longer.

Can a conveyancer prepare it, or do I need a lawyer?

A licensed conveyancer can prepare it. The Conveyancers Act 2006 defines conveyancing work to include the work needed to give effect to a sale of land and anything ancillary to it, which is where the statement and its searches sit. Section 4(3) of the same Act draws the line: conveyancing work stops short of running legal proceedings, applying for probate or letters of administration, setting up or varying a trust, preparing a will, and giving investment or financial advice. If your sale runs into one of those, we will say so and point you to a solicitor or accountant.

Selling in Cranbourne or the estates around it?

Wise Step Conveyancing is at 105A High Street in Cranbourne. We prepare Section 32 statements for sellers across the corridor, from Clyde North and Botanic Ridge through to Berwick, Officer and Pakenham. Victorian conveyancing runs through PEXA, so we can act anywhere in the state.

Call before your agent books the photographer. Come into the office, or ask us for a quote and we will tell you what your property needs and how long the certificates take. If you would rather talk it through first, get in touch.

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