Vendor disclosure regulations require the seller of any land to disclose certain information in the contract and to make certain warranties.

The documents required by the vendor disclosure vary from property to property, but the most common include: –

• a zoning certificate
• a drainage diagram
• a copy of the property certificate
• a copy of a plan for the land issued by the appropriate government authority
• copies of all documents creating easements, rights of way, restrictions, convenants etc
• if a strata unit, a copy of the property certificate and the strata plan,  for the lot and the common property
• a copy of any by-law giving a right of exclusive use of any common property or granting special privileges over the common property.

Unless the contract discloses anything to the contrary, the seller is deemed by law to have warranted to the buyer that: –

• the land is not subject to any ‘adverse affectation’ such as proposals from some government departments and corporations
• the land does not contain any part of a sewer belonging to a recognised sewerage authority
• the section 149  certificate attached to the contract specifies the true status of the land as at the date of the contract.