What is a Form 1?

The short version

Form 1 is your one-shot pre-purchase summary of every legal, financial, and physical encumbrance on the property. Skip it and you can inherit a $20,000 sewer easement problem, a $5,000 unpaid council rates bill, or a heritage notice you didn't know about.

What's in a Form 1

• Easements — rights other parties have over the land (sewer, drainage, electrical, driveways)
• Encumbrances and caveats — registered interests on the title
• Statutory charges — outstanding council rates, water rates, ESL, land tax
• Mortgages currently on the title
• Special conditions — heritage notices, building orders, fire-safety orders
• Council zoning summary
• Whether the property is in a community title scheme and the body corporate details
• Selling agent details and commission structure
• The vendor's representations about utilities, fixtures, fittings

When you get it

The Form 1 must be served on the buyer before the contract is signed. Most agents will provide it once you make a serious offer or before auction. You can ask for it earlier — many buyers request the Form 1 alongside or even before the building inspection.

Cooling-off and the Form 1

SA gives a buyer a 2-business-day cooling-off period after contract signing, with one important exception: auction purchases have no cooling-off. If you bid at auction without reading the Form 1, the hammer falls and you own the property — every easement, encumbrance and special condition included.

This is why auction buyers must request and review the Form 1 days before the auction, not after.

The 12 red flags that actually matter

Most of the 40+ pages are boilerplate. These are the items that have real cost or risk impact:

1. Easements (especially sewer or drainage)
2. Unpaid statutory charges
3. Active heritage notices
4. Building or fire-safety orders
5. Council notices for non-compliant works
6. Land tax liabilities
7. Caveats or registered interests by third parties
8. Body corporate fees and special levies
9. Disputes the vendor has disclosed
10. Right of way / shared driveway arrangements
11. Unapproved alterations the council hasn't certified
12. Termite or pest treatment history

Run the property through our Form 1 Red-Flag Checker to score these against your specific situation.

Common Form 1 mistakes

• Skimming the document. Most buyers spend 5 minutes. It should be 30+, twice.
• Trusting the agent's summary. The agent works for the vendor.
• Not getting a conveyancer's review before signing. A SA-registered conveyancer's $1,500–$2,500 fee is the cheapest insurance on the entire transaction.
• Bidding at auction without reading it. No cooling-off = you own whatever's in the document.

Read more

• Form 1 survival guide — the 12 red flags decoded
• What is an easement?