Legislating conscience into contract: how the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 affects our understanding of contract law in Queensland residential land sales

Abstract

The Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 (Qld) ushered in a new regime for the creation of residential land sales contracts in Queensland. The rationale of the residential land sales provisions of the Act seems to be to establish a level playing field which will promote conscience in the contracting process. The protections provided focus on the buyer. While the Act utilises elements of familiar consumer protection methodology, their application in this previously little-regulated market has implications for how legal practitioners understand and apply the law of contract and its underpinning philosophy of freedom of contract and autonomy. This paper explores some of those implications and investigates the effectiveness of these provisions of the Act in achieving its goals.