Most subdivision projects that run into trouble do so at the pointy end, when lots are being sold. The Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic), which has passed both Houses of the Victorian Parliament, changes two things that sit right at that point: how deposits are released early, and when and how section 32 vendor statements must be made available. The amendments to the Sale of Land Act 1962 commence on a day to be proclaimed, or if not proclaimed earlier, on 1 June 2027. If your project will still be selling lots into 2027, plan of subdivision registration is only half the story. The other half is your contract suite and disclosure process.
This checklist covers seven steps. Work through them with your lawyer, your surveyor and your selling agent. Some steps you can action now. Others need a decision about how you intend to sell before you launch a campaign.
Step 1: Review Your Standard Contract for Early Deposit Release
The Bill repeals section 27 and replaces it with a new section 26A. Under the current section 27, a vendor can apply for early release of a deposit after the contract is signed using a statutory procedure. Under the new regime, that pathway disappears. If a legal practitioner, conveyancer or estate agent holds the deposit as stakeholder, it cannot be released to the vendor before settlement unless the contract itself contains an agreed condition allowing early release.
That means early access to deposits becomes a bargaining point at the outset, not a procedural step later. If your funding or cash flow depends on deposits being available before settlement, your standard contract and special conditions need to say so clearly. A purchaser is not obliged to accept an early release condition. You need to decide before contracts are issued whether early release matters to the project, and how you will respond if a purchaser asks to amend or delete the clause.
One carve-out to keep in mind: deposits paid under an off-the-plan contract are unaffected. Section 9AA still requires the deposit to be held by the legal practitioner, conveyancer or licensed estate agent until the plan of subdivision is registered. After registration, the contract can provide for release before settlement. For more on the registration end of the process, see our guide to bank consents and SPEAR applications.
Step 2: Revisit Your Feasibility and Cash-Flow Assumptions
If your feasibility model assumes deposits land in the project account before settlement, test that assumption against the new regime. Early release now depends on a negotiated contract term, not a statutory process. That changes both the timing and the certainty of those funds. It also affects how a financier or mortgagee will treat the project, because lenders often have their own requirements about control of deposits as part of a facility.
Speak to your broker or lender early. A funding model built on deposit release that may not eventuate is a funding model with a gap in it.
Step 3: Map Your Section 32 Preparation to the Sales Method
The section 32 timing rules now depend on how the land is sold. The amended provisions set a sale availability time for each method:
- Publicly advertised private sale: the statement must be available from the day that is 14 days after the land is first publicly advertised for sale.
- Auction or fixed-date sale: the statement must be available from 14 days before the first auction date or first fixed date.
- Land not publicly advertised: the statement must be available before the purchaser signs.
- Early sale during an advertised campaign: if the land sells within 14 days of first being publicly advertised, or more than 14 days before the first auction or fixed date, the statement must be available before the purchaser signs.
The amended provisions do not impose a blanket 14-day rule on every private sale. But they do push disclosure earlier into the marketing campaign. The Bill defines make available as providing the statement, in electronic or hard-copy form, on request by any prospective purchaser. Once the sale availability time is reached, you must be in a position to hand the statement to anyone who asks for it, not just the buyer who eventually signs.
Agree the intended sales method with your agent and your legal team before launch. If the campaign shifts from private sale to auction, the timing rules shift with it.
Step 4: Introduce Version Control for Vendor Statements
New section 32(3) requires the vendor to give the purchaser written notice of any changes to the section 32 statement that was made available to that purchaser, before the purchaser signs. A statement prepared at the start of a campaign will not necessarily stay accurate through a long release.
This matters most on projects where information evolves while lots remain on the market. Planning permits get amended. Owners corporation rules are finalised. Title, subdivision or services information changes. Each of those changes may need to be captured and communicated in writing to affected purchasers before they sign.
Set up a simple process now. Record the version of the statement provided to each prospective purchaser, and record the date. When something changes, you know exactly who needs a written notice and when. On a multi-lot release, this is a document-control exercise, not a one-off task.
If your project involves an owners corporation or a subdivision feasibility review, build version control into the same workflow you use for the plan itself.
Step 5: Review Your Agency Agreements
The Bill inserts a new section 26B dealing with estate agents. It prevents an agent from retaining commission, auction expenses or other amounts out of deposit money released under section 26A before settlement or rescission. The Legislative Council amendments indicate that this does not prevent the vendor from paying the agent separately before settlement. The distinction is that the agent cannot take those amounts out of the released deposit itself.
Check your agency agreements and your project cash-flow arrangements against that distinction. If your agent has historically been paid from the deposit, that practice needs to change.
Step 6: Understand the Compliance Consequences
The reforms amend the rescission and offence provisions to match the new timing rules. Failing to make a section 32 statement available from the applicable sale availability time may give a purchaser a statutory basis to rescind in the circumstances set out in section 32K. The offence provisions are also amended so that a vendor must not knowingly or recklessly fail to make the statement available from the required time. Maximum penalties remain significant, including 300 penalty units for a body corporate.
For a high-volume sales program, compliance has to be built into the process rather than handled deal by deal. A checklist that every sales file follows will do more for you than good intentions.
Step 7: Plan Around the Commencement Date and the Transitional Window
The section 32 reforms include a transitional provision. The amended regime does not apply to contracts entered into within 28 days after the commencement day. The existing provisions continue to apply to those contracts. That window is useful, but it creates its own risk. If you have a campaign running across the commencement date, you need to identify which regime applies to each contract and make sure your sales team and your agent are working from the correct process.
The deposit changes under new section 26A may not have the same transitional carve-out, so contract precedents should be reviewed well before commencement regardless of where your campaign sits.
Where This Sits in the Wider Subdivision Process
Contract and disclosure preparation sits alongside the planning and registration work, not after it. Your surveyor handles the plan. Your town planner handles the permit. We handle the plan of subdivision registration, parking waivers where they arise, Section 173 agreements, owners corporation setup and the off-the-plan contract suite. The Victorian land registration framework governs how the plan itself is lodged and registered.
The reforms reward developers who bring legal preparation forward. If your project will be selling into 2027, the time to audit your contracts, deposit arrangements and section 32 process is now, while you still have room to change course without disrupting a live campaign.
This information is general in nature. Contact us for advice specific to your project.
