What happens if a Section 32 is missing something?

You are holding a Section 32 and something feels thin. Maybe there is no owners corporation certificate for a unit that clearly has shared driveways. Maybe the title search is months old, or the zoning certificate simply is not there. It is a surprisingly common situation, and Victorian law has quite a lot to say about it.

What a Section 32 has to include

The Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic) sets out the disclosures a vendor has to make before a contract of sale is signed. In broad strokes, a complete statement covers:

• Title information, including a copy of the register search and the plan of subdivision
• Mortgages and charges registered over the land
• Easements and covenants, the registered rights and restrictions that run with the land
• Planning information, including the zone and any overlays that apply
• Outgoings, such as council rates, water charges, and land tax
• Building permits issued in the preceding seven years
• Owners corporation documents where the property is part of one
• Notices and orders from councils or authorities that touch the land

Our Section 32 checklist walks through each of these in order, and the interactive checklist tool lets you tick them off against your own document.

How do gaps happen in a Section 32?

Most missing pieces are not sinister. Common causes include:

• Rushed preparation. A vendor wants the property listed quickly and the statement is assembled before every certificate has come back.
• Stale searches. The title search or rates certificate was ordered months ago for an earlier campaign and never refreshed.
• Overlooked attachments. The owners corporation certificate is the classic example, since it has to be ordered from the owners corporation manager and takes time to arrive.
• Genuine oversight. A second dwelling, an old permit, or an unregistered arrangement the vendor simply did not think to mention.

Whatever the cause, the disclosure obligation sits with the vendor. The buyer is not expected to hunt down the missing material themselves.

The documents that go missing most often

Some gaps recur far more than others:

• The owners corporation certificate. Ordered separately, slow to arrive, and the most commonly absent attachment. For an owners corporation property it holds the fees, maintenance fund, insurance, and any special levies or disputes.
• Building permit history. Permits from the past seven years must be disclosed. A gap can mean nothing, or an unapproved deck, carport, or extension.
• The planning certificate. Without it you lose the zone and overlays: heritage, bushfire, flood, and other controls on future works.
• A current title search. A search run for an earlier campaign can pre-date a new mortgage, caveat, or covenant.

Reading the statement against this list turns "something feels thin" into a specific question for the agent.

Missing versus wrong: two different problems

A missing certificate is a gap. A certificate that understates the fees, or a planning section that records a different zone from the one that applies, is an inaccuracy rather than an omission. The Sale of Land Act addresses both false information and information not supplied, but the conversation differs: one is about obtaining what is not there, the other is about having relied on something that turned out to be inaccurate. Flagging which one you are looking at gets you a faster read from your conveyancer.

What the Act says about incomplete statements

This is where the Section 32 shows its teeth. Under the Sale of Land Act, if a vendor supplies false information, or fails to supply all the information the Act requires, the buyer may be able to end the contract at any time before settlement. The Act treats non-disclosure seriously precisely because the whole point of the statement is to inform the buyer before they sign.

There is an important qualification. A vendor can defend the position where they acted honestly and reasonably and the buyer is in substantially as good a position as if the disclosure had been made. Whether that applies in a given case is a genuinely legal question, and it turns on the facts.

That is the territory of your conveyancer or a solicitor, not a blog post. What matters for you as a buyer is simpler: gaps in a Section 32 are not a cosmetic issue, they carry real legal weight, and they are worth raising the moment you spot them.

What to do when something looks missing

A sensible sequence looks like this:

1. List what you expected and cannot find. The checklist gives you the full set to compare against.
2. Ask the agent for the missing piece. Often the certificate exists and simply was not attached. An updated statement can be issued.
3. Send the statement to your conveyancer before signing. They deal with incomplete statements constantly and can tell you whether the gap matters for this property.
4. Hold off signing until the statement is complete. The disclosure regime exists so you can see the full picture first. Signing against an incomplete statement gives away that protection for no benefit.

If you have already signed and a gap surfaces afterwards, take the documents to your conveyancer promptly. Timing matters, because the ability to act on non-disclosure generally runs up to settlement, not beyond it.

Does a missing document mean the sale falls over?

Usually not. In most cases the vendor supplies the missing certificate, the statement is reissued, and the transaction continues as normal. The disclosure rules are there to correct the information imbalance, not to sink sales. But the remedy exists for the cases that are not routine, and knowing it exists changes the conversation you have with the agent.

Summary

A Victorian Section 32 has to contain the disclosures set out in the Sale of Land Act: title, encumbrances, planning, outgoings, permits, owners corporation material, and notices. When something on that list is missing, the law gives buyers meaningful options up to settlement, subject to defences that depend on the facts. Compare your statement against a complete checklist, ask for whatever is absent, and have your conveyancer review the statement before you sign anything.

Sources

• Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic), section 32: the disclosures a Vendor's Statement must contain, and the buyer's remedies (and the vendor's defence) where information is false or not supplied.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria: Buying and selling property: the regulator's guidance on vendor disclosure.

Sources verified 25 July 2026. The remedies for non-disclosure are fact-specific and time-sensitive.