The CBD Program applies when selling, leasing or subleasing most office spaces with a net lettable area of 1000 m2 or more.

Disclosure affected office spaces need a registered Building Energy Efficiency Certificate (BEEC) before being offered for sale, lease or sublease.

A building, or any individual area in that building, is disclosure affected under the CBD Program if:

  • the owner who is selling or leasing it is a constitutional corporation (a foreign corporation, or a trading or financial corporation formed within Australia) or the tenant who is subleasing is a constitutional corporation. Read about building owners and landlords 
  • the total area for sale, lease or sublease is 1000 m2 or more
  • the total office space in the building is 75% or more of space by net lettable area, or gross lettable area if net lettable area measurement isn’t available
  • the building isn’t new—it has been 2 years or more since the issue of a certificate of occupancy or equivalent, once a new building is completed. Read about newly constructed buildings
  • it has been 2 years or more since the issue of the certificate of occupancy or equivalent following a major refurbishment. Read about major refurbishments
  • the building isn’t held under strata title

Read the definition of a ‘building’ under the CBD Program. In some circumstances you can apply for an exemption from your disclosure obligations. 

Your responsibilities

Depending on your role in relation to a disclosure affected building, you have responsibilities under the CBD Program:

Buildings that are not disclosure affected

Some types of buildings are not disclosure affected, including:

  • Buildings where the total office space in the building is less than 75% of space by net lettable area, or gross lettable area if net lettable area measurement isn’t available. Read about mixed use buildings
  • Buildings held under a strata title (or similar state based equivalent) arrangement
  • New buildings where a certificate of occupancy (or equivalent) has either not yet been issued or was issued less than 2 years earlier. Read about newly constructed buildings
  • Buildings which have completed a major refurbishment for which a certificate of occupancy (or equivalent) was issued less than 2 years earlier. Read about major refurbishments.

Transactions that are not disclosure affected

Some transactions don’t create a disclosure obligation even if the space is disclosure affected.

  • selling a building by selling shares or units
  • selling a partial interest in the building

The Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act 2010 (BEED Act) outlines that a building is not disclosure affected for:

  • leases and subleases that, including any option to extend, total 12 months or less. For example, a 6-month lease with an option to extend it past a total of 12 months will still be disclosure affected.

Check whether your transaction is disclosure affected at leasing transactions.

Major refurbishments

After a major refurbishment on an office building has been completed, the building is not disclosure affected for 2 years from the date the Certificate of Occupancy (or equivalent) is issued. 

If there are staged certificates for different areas of the building, the building is not disclosure affected for 2 years from the date the last certificate was issued.

Once the last Certificate of Occupancy (or equivalent) is more than 2 years old, the building can become disclosure affected. If disclosure affected, it needs a Building Energy Efficiency Certificate (BEEC) or an exemption before it is offered for sale, lease or sublease.

Read about major refurbishments.

Newly constructed buildings

After a new office building construction has been completed, the building is not disclosure affected for 2 years from the date the Certificate of Occupancy (or equivalent) is issued. 

If there are staged certificates for different areas of the building, the building is not disclosure affected for 2 years from the date the last certificate was issued.

Once the last Certificate of Occupancy (or equivalent) is more than 2 years old, the building can become disclosure affected. If disclosure affected, it needs a Building Energy Efficiency Certificate (BEEC) or an exemption before it is offered for sale, lease or sublease.

Read about newly constructed buildings.

Wholly owned subsidiaries

The BEED Act does not apply in relation to an offer to enter a contract for the sale, lease or sublease of a building or area, if the contract is being entered into between:

  • an entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of the entity; or
  • wholly owned subsidiaries of an entity.

We recommend you obtain professional legal advice if you are unsure whether these scenarios may apply to you.

Measuring net lettable area of office space

Net lettable area is the total office space in a tenancy. It’s measured in square metres (m2) and is the area between internal walls of a building that is being leased.

Office space is any space used or capable of use for administrative, clerical, professional or other information-based activities. This includes spaces that are vacant at the time of measurement. It also includes any support facilities for those activities such as breakout areas and kitchenettes.

Gross lettable area can be used if net lettable area data is unavailable.

The CBD Program uses Property Council of Australia’s Method of Measurement: Commercial guidelines to define these measurements.

Read the definition of an ‘office’ under the CBD Program.

Buildings containing non-office space

Your building is disclosure affected if the total office space in your building is 75% or more by net lettable area (or gross lettable area if unavailable).

For example, if your building has 80% office space and 20% warehouse space by net lettable area, then it is disclosure affected.

A building which is 60% office space and 40% retail is not disclosure affected. This means you don’t need to comply with the CBD Program.

You can voluntarily comply by including a National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) rating in your advertising, and by registering a BEEC for your building.

Separate spaces or multiple buildings on one site

The Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure (Disclosure Affected Buildings) Determination 2016 defines a ‘disclosure affected area’ as including physically separate spaces within a building if:

  • the spaces share access to the outside of the building (including via internal access between spaces), and
  • can be grouped together for purposes of leasing or sublease.

Shared access includes all scenarios where a person could access the separate spaces by going through the same entrance.

  • Physically separate areas in a building that don’t have shared access to the outside are considered separate areas.

When there are multiple buildings on one site or address, each building is treated individually unless they are interconnected. 

Read about mixed use buildings.

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