Sellers · Template
Disclosure amendment request
When the agency sends a draft disclosure document for your approval and you disagree with specific items. Four-part structured response: source traceability, duplication of supplied documents, property-specific vs era-generic, language proportionality.
When to use this
- The agency has sent a draft disclosure document for your approval.
- One or more items do not correspond to specific findings in the underlying documents (building report, LIM, Healthy Homes report).
- Language in the disclosure overstates or amplifies the findings.
- Items are generic statements about the era or construction type rather than findings about your specific property.
The template
Hi [agent first name],
Thank you for the updated disclosure draft for [property address]. Before I approve, I have several specific requests.
1. Source traceability. Please confirm, for each disclosure item, the specific source. Where the source is the building report, please reference the report page directly in the disclosure rather than paraphrasing. The building report will be provided to prospective purchasers as part of the listing; items that are detailed in the report do not need to be duplicated in a standalone bullet.
2. Duplication with documents being provided. Since the building report [, LIM, Healthy Homes report — list whichever apply] will be provided to purchasers, please amend the disclosure to reference those documents directly rather than extracting items into a standalone list. Suggested wording: "Refer to pages [X, Y] of the attached building report for specific findings."
3. Era-generic vs property-specific. Item [Z] appears to be a generic statement about the construction era rather than a specific finding about this property. Rule 10.7 of the Professional Conduct and Client Care Rules 2012 requires disclosure of known defects about this property. Generic era-based statements do not meet that definition. Please remove item [Z] — or, if there is a specific known defect that corresponds to it, please identify the finding.
4. Language proportionality. Item [W] uses language ("replace" / "significant" / "required") that overstates the building report's own characterisation ("resurface" / "minor" / "recommended"). Please amend the disclosure to match the language of the underlying source.
Please send the revised draft for my review. I will sign once these points are addressed.
Kind regards,
[Your name]
How to adapt
- Identify items by number. Ask the agency to number the items in their draft. You can then refer to specific items without re-quoting.
- Apply the tests selectively. You do not need to raise all four points for every draft; apply only those that are actually issues.
- Keep the rule citation. Rule 10.7 is the statutory basis. Do not remove it.
- End with "I will sign once addressed." This signals willingness to cooperate; you are not refusing to disclose, you are refusing to disclose inaccurately.
Legal basis
PCCC Rule 10.7: a licensee must disclose known defects in land to a customer (not "client" — "customer" in the PCCC means a person who is not the licensee's client, typically the prospective purchaser). The duty is to disclose known defects about this specific property — not generic risk categories. The licensee is not required to discover hidden or underlying defects.
PCCC Rule 9.1 (best interests of client): The licensee's duty runs to the vendor (the client). Accumulating generic or amplified disclosures typically benefits the agency's liability position more than the vendor's sale position. Rule 9.1 constrains that imbalance.
Fair Trading Act 1986 section 9: Misleading statements in the disclosure document — whether by overstatement, by omission, or by context-stripping — engage misleading-conduct liability. The vendor signs the disclosure; liability flows back.
See Who drafts your disclosure document? and Disclosure amplification for the full analysis.