ALMOST all the south-west has been listed as being bushfire-prone, information that will have to be disclosed in property vendor statements from the end of this month.
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In random searches conducted on individual properties by The Standard yesterday, addresses in Portland, Grassmere, Koroit, Penshurst, Colac and Heywood were classed as being in bushfire-prone areas.
Some addresses in Warrnambool, Allansford, Hamilton, Port Fairy, Cobden and Camperdown were not. On a Victoria-wide map almost all the south-west was rated as bushfire-prone, except for major population centres and waterways.
Information about whether a property is in a designated bushfire-prone area is available free by searching the address in the Property Report section of the Victorian Government Land Channel website at www.land.vic.gov.au
However, an exact address must be logged in on the website.
Properties in bushfire-prone areas are subject to a range of planning and building requirements that include specific construction standards for bushfire protection if owners want to build or develop land.
To add to the confusion there are also areas rated at being in extreme risk, such as Cape Bridgewater, which are covered by an even more stringent bushfire management overlay.
Those areas are covered by planning controls where it has been decided that the bushfire hazard requires protection measures to be implemented.
The spokeswoman for the Consumer Affairs minister was unable to say if being in a bushfire-prone zone would affect insurance premiums.
Minister for Consumer Affairs Heidi Victoria said the Sale of Land Act 1962 would require information to be disclosed in the vendor statement (or section 32s) at the end of this month.
Ms Victoria said the bushfire- prone amendment was an important recommendation of the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission into the Black Saturday bushfires. “Buyers will now be informed about whether the property they are considering is in a bushfire-prone area. Property sellers must declare this information in any vendor statement prepared from July 31, 2013,” she said.
The change to the legislation will state that if land is in a bushfire-prone area, then the vendor statement must include a statement to that effect.
Ms Victoria said the change gave buyers further legal protection but urged them to do due diligence.
More information about buying and selling property is available on the Consumer Affairs Victoria website at www.consumer.vic.gov.au/property
