RURAL property vendors are now required to estimate how environmentally friendly their homestead is before they put it on the market.
Apart from the regular dotted lines, vendors must now sign off on a Sustainability Declaration for each house on a station or farm.
As of January 1, a Sustainability Declaration is required to be submitted for each dwelling that is a Class 1 building going up for sale.
According to the Building Code of Australia, a Class 1 building is a "single dwelling, being a detached house, or one of a group of two or more attached dwellings, each being a building, separated by a fire-resisting wall, including a row house, terrace house, townhouse or villa unit (Class 1a); or a boarding house, guest house, hostel or the like with a total area of all floors not exceeding 300sq m measured over the enclosing wall of the Class 1b; and in which not more than 12 persons would ordinarily be resident, which is not located above or below another dwelling or another Class of building other than a private garage (Class 1b)".
A Sustainability Declaration form includes questions such as how many energy efficient light bulbs are in a house, how many water saving shower heads there are, whether there are smoke alarms installed, and even if the pool pump is connected to off-peak tariff.
The two-page form is divided into questions on energy, water, access and safety. There are 31 questions in all, plus a 'Household Report Card' section for detailing electricity use, water use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Infrastructure and Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the Sustainability Declaration listed the green features of a home, and properties with more sustainability features could have lower operating costs and be more energy and water efficient.
"Just as many people look at fuel economy and ongoing running costs when buying a car, sustainability features should be an important consideration for prospective homeowners," Mr Hinchliffe said.
"If you don't know the answer to a question, leave it blank. You won't be penalised for not completing a question."
This advice in itself provides a possible loophole to the form. The main requirement for the form is a signature from the seller; therefore, it may be possible to leave all boxes blank, and simply sign the form at the end.
And it's a loophole sellers seem to have cottoned on to.
Dan Molloy, managing director of the Real Estate Industry of Queensland, said there continued to be confusion out in the market about the sustainability declaration since it was implemented on January 1.
"As the declaration states, you can leave a tick box blank if you don't know the answer. Agents are reporting that sellers are signing a blank form, as they are unable to fill it out in its current guise," Mr Molloy said.
But seller beware - there is a penalty for putting a property to market without a signed Sustainability Declaration.
On December 11 last year, Mr Hinchliffe announced a "grace period" where home owners and real estate agents would not face fines while a revised, more user friendly Sustainability Declaration form was developed in consultation with industry.
On-the-spot fines for failing to sign or use the Declaration to market a property will begin on March 1.
Mr Molloy said the declaration was also an issue for rural property owners who had found they had to fill out a form for each self-contained building on their land.
"The REIQ has been in consultation with the Government to assist in the development of a more simplified version of the sustainability declaration, which, once gazetted, will be available for use," he said.
Mr Molloy said the REIQ still believed this legislation was rushed through Parliament in mid-November last year, which, together with its implementation in January, had resulted in much misinformation and unnecessary confusion.
"The redevelopment of the form currently taking place follows a strong response from the public and industry regarding the short timeframe for the legislation's implementation as well as the complexity of the initial declaration." he said.
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