Contracts, cooling-off and settlement

Once the contract is signed, most of the selling agent’s work is done. Yours isn’t. These weeks are where buyers lose money to missed deadlines and unchecked inclusions, so treat them as carefully as the search.

Conveyancing: hire early, use properly

A conveyancer or property solicitor ($800 to $2,500 for a standard purchase) reviews the contract, runs the searches, manages conditions and deadlines, and executes settlement. The single most valuable thing they do costs the least: the pre-signing contract review, often $200 to $400 if charged separately. It catches the special condition that waives your rights, the easement through the backyard, the sunset clause in the off-the-plan contract, the inclusions list missing the dishwasher you shook hands over. Engage them in week one of your search and send every contract you get serious about. Solicitors over conveyancers when anything is non-standard: trusts or SMSF purchases, off-the-plan, disputes, or anything involving the word “unusual” from your own conveyancer. (In Queensland, conveyancing is done by solicitors as standard practice; in WA, settlement agents are the local equivalent.) Our conveyancing guide covers what to ask.

Cooling-off: your exit window, state by state

In most states, a buyer who signs a private treaty contract for residential property gets a short statutory window to withdraw, for a small penalty or none. It exists so a rushed signature isn’t a life sentence; it is not a free option to keep shopping. It never applies to auction purchases, and it can be waived (in NSW via a section 66W certificate from your solicitor) or shortened by agreement.

In WA and Tasmania there is no statutory window at all, so every protection must be a written condition in the contract before you sign. Treat the table as the default and confirm current rules when you sign; these settings get amended. Our guide to cooling-off periods by state has the detail.

Exchange to settlement: the quiet checklist

Settlement is negotiated in the contract: around 30 days is common in Queensland, 42 days (six weeks) the default in NSW and Victoria, with 30 to 90 days the practical national range. Between exchange and settlement day:

• Get finance to unconditional inside the clause period, in writing, and have your conveyancer confirm it to the other side. Silence past the deadline puts your deposit at risk.
• Insure the building from exchange. In Queensland, risk formally passes to the buyer shortly after signing; elsewhere it generally stays with the seller until settlement, but the cheapest certainty in this list is holding cover from exchange everywhere. Strata buildings carry their own insurance; you insure contents.
• Sign and return everything fast. Transfer documents, your lender’s loan pack, identity verification. The most common cause of delayed settlements is paperwork sitting in someone’s inbox, and in most states the party who can’t settle on time pays penalty interest.
• Book the practical life admin: removalists, utility connections for settlement day, mail redirection, and your state revenue office concession paperwork if you’re claiming one (your conveyancer usually lodges duty and concessions for you).

The final inspection: use it

You’re entitled to a pre-settlement inspection, usually in the final week, booked through the agent. You’re confirming the property is in the same condition as at sale and every contractual inclusion is present and working: light fittings, dishwasher, curtains, pool equipment, the shed contents you negotiated. Run taps, test appliances, open every door. If something’s wrong, don’t accept the keys-and-promises version; call your conveyancer the same day. The remedies (a settlement adjustment, money held in retention, or a short delay) all work vastly better before the money moves. After settlement, you’re chasing a stranger for a favour.

Settlement day

Almost everything happens electronically through PEXA or an equivalent platform, attended by the conveyancers and lenders rather than you. In sequence: your lender draws down the loan, your funds and theirs settle against the seller’s mortgage discharge, stamp duty is paid, rates and water are adjusted to the day, the transfer is lodged and the title moves. Your conveyancer phones you, the agent releases the keys, and the property is yours, usually by mid-afternoon. Keep the settlement statement and contract permanently; if the property ever produces income, your accountant will want them decades from now.