Queensland recently passed an amendment to reduce the limitation period that applies to deeds. Section 285 of the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) amends section 10 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld) to reduce the limitation period for actions upon deeds from 12 years to six years. The amendment applies to deeds entered into on or after 1 August 2025.

The amendment was based on a recommendation by the Commercial and Property Law Research Centre of the QUT School of Law in its 2018 Property Law Review Final Report (the PLA Report). The PLA Report stated that the 12 year limitation period for deeds is “an anachronistic remnant from the time when old system land was transferred by deed of conveyance under a deed system” and that the different limitation periods for contracts and deeds are no longer necessary.

The effect of the amendment is that Queensland is now the only jurisdiction in which actions brought under deeds have a limitation period of less than 12 years. In other states, the limitation period is typically 12 or 15 years.

It is unclear whether the new six year limitation period will apply to deeds executed before 1 August 2025 but later varied. The Consultation Draft of the Property Law Bill 2022 released in September 2022 proposed a transitional provision that would exclude deeds varied after the commencement of the new amendment from the new limitation period, however, the Property Law Act 2023 does not include such a transitional provision.

A copy of the amending provision of the Property Law Act 2023 can be found here.