Understanding Climate Risks for Real Estate Transactions in New South Wales
Legal Opinion: Do Real Estate Lawyers in NSW Owe Their Clients a Duty of Care to Advise and Warn in Relation to Climate Risk?
Conveyancers and real estate lawyers play a central role in advising their client on any risks with their planned home or investment asset. Going forward, climate change represents perhaps the single greatest risk to both property values and peace of mind.
We commissioned Norton Rose Fulbright, the pre-eminent environmental law practice in Australia, to consider the duty of care and other factors for NSW legal professionals. Their findings, which are being considered by the Australian Law Commission and NSW Law Society, are available exclusively through Groundsure.
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Enabling Climate-Driven Decisions for Legal Professionals
Australia is in the front line of climate change. Our communities and businesses have witnessed such extremes of flooding and bushfires in recent years and now is the time to take action and think ahead about what the future could bring.
Our mission is to ensure that our climate-challenged society makes positive, sustainable and responsible land and property decisions. This starts with ensuring legal professionals are able to advise their clients effectively as part of the transaction due diligence.
Understanding the Climate Challenge
The climate is fundamentally changing our lives, communities and businesses. It has gone beyond being a fringe, scientific discussion to one that could become existential or overwhelm people’s livelihoods. We are already familiar with the catastrophic flooding and bushfires in recent years, but the scale of Australian real estate affected and the financial losses are huge.
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Tell us what you think
We believe that Australian home buyers need better, actionable information about where they can live and to make sustainable property investment decisions.
We are working with environmental lawyers and policy makers in the key legal associations to deliver an effective way to advise clients and to mitigate conveyancers and real estate lawyers from potential future climate litigation.
Come and join our Legal Climate Forum and continue the discussion and be the first to know about new developments!
