Buying property in Victoria.

A Victorian purchase is made up of two documents. The contract of sale sets the price, the deposit, the settlement date and the conditions. The section 32 vendor statement, required by the Sale of Land Act 1962, discloses what comes attached to the land: the title, mortgages and caveats, easements and covenants, planning controls, rates and outgoings, owners corporation information, building permits and any notices from an authority.

Those documents are prepared by the vendor's side. They are accurate as far as they go, but they are not written to highlight the parts a buyer might object to. An easement across the only spot for an extension, a covenant restricting materials, a special levy about to be struck, or a structure built without a permit can all be disclosed in ways that read as routine. Understanding the two documents before signing is the point of a contract and section 32 review.

The moment the contract is signed, the risk moves to the buyer. Anything worth negotiating, the price adjustments, the special conditions, the settlement period, has to be dealt with before that point.

Buyers often treat the cooling off period as a licence to sign now and think later. It is far narrower than that. The Sale of Land Act 1962 gives a purchaser a short window to withdraw from most residential contracts, but the exceptions are broad and catch a great many transactions, including purchases at auction and purchases made on the same day as a public auction for the property.

Withdrawing also carries a cost, and the notice has to be given in the right form, to the right person, inside the period. Get any part of that wrong and the contract stands.

It is a genuine protection when it applies, and worth nothing when it does not. That is exactly why the review belongs before the signature rather than in the days after it.

An auction purchase is unconditional. There is no finance clause, no building inspection clause and, in practice, no cooling off. If the hammer falls on your bid you sign the contract in the form the vendor prepared, pay the deposit that day and settle on the date already set.

That means every piece of work has to be done in the week before. The contract and section 32 reviewed, any changes negotiated with the agent in advance, the finance confirmed rather than pre approved in principle, the building and pest inspection completed, and the deposit ready to transfer.

Changes to an auction contract are possible, but only before auction day and only if someone asks. Once you are the successful bidder, the vendor has no reason to agree to anything.

A subject to finance clause is only as good as its drafting. The lender has to be named or described properly, the amount and the date have to be realistic, and the notice ending the contract has to be given in the way the clause requires. Buyers who rely on a loose clause, or who miss the date by a day, can find themselves bound to a purchase they cannot fund and exposed to the vendor's loss on a resale.

Building and pest, subject to sale of your existing home, early access, and what happens if the property is damaged before settlement are all worth negotiating. Whether the vendor accepts them is a commercial question, but a condition never asked for is never given.

The dates in a contract matter, and a condition negotiated hard can still be lost if a notice is given late or in the wrong form. Acting on time and in the right form is part of running a purchase properly.

What you can do with a property after settlement is decided by things that never appear in the listing photographs. An easement can prevent building over part of the land, a restrictive covenant can dictate materials, setbacks or the number of dwellings, and a heritage or bushfire overlay changes what a council will approve. Owners corporation rules can restrict pets, renovations or short stay letting, and the corporation's finances can reveal a levy about to land.

Unapproved building works are another common find. Where a previous owner built without a permit, the liability travels with the land, and a council can require rectification from the current owner rather than the person who built it.

The detail on these sits on our dedicated pages: what an easement or covenant means and how it can be varied or removed on our easements and covenants page, and how owners corporation certificates, levies and disputes work on our owners corporation and strata page.

A section 32 only has to disclose the matters the Sale of Land Act 1962 lists. Plenty of things that cost buyers money sit outside it. A swimming pool or spa is the clearest example: there is no obligation to disclose whether it complies, so a non-compliant pool, and the inspection and barrier work that follow, can become the buyer's problem after settlement. Owners have their own registration and certification duties under the Building Amendment (Swimming Pool and Spa) Regulations 2019.

Recent building work is another. Where a previous owner built as an owner-builder, section 137B of the Building Act 1993 brings in condition-report and warranty-insurance obligations on a sale, and work simply done without a permit carries its own exposure. These are due diligence questions, not disclosure questions, which is why buying is more than a read of the vendor's statement, and why a physical inspection and the right enquiries matter alongside it.

Duty under the Duties Act 2000 is usually the largest single cost after the price itself, and the concessions are worth real money: first home buyer relief, the principal place of residence concession, pensioner concessions and, in some cases, a different treatment for off the plan contracts. Eligibility turns on facts that are settled at the time of the contract, not later.

The name on the contract is just as important. Buying in a personal name, jointly, through a trust, a company or a self managed super fund changes duty, land tax, asset protection and, for super, whether the purchase is even permitted. Changing the purchaser after signing can trigger duty a second time.

A foreign purchaser faces two extra layers. Foreign buyers are generally limited to new dwellings or vacant land rather than established homes and usually need Foreign Investment Review Board approval before signing, and foreign purchaser additional duty applies on top of ordinary stamp duty. That surcharge can be triggered by the structure a buyer uses, not just their own status, so a trust or company with foreign interests can attract it.

The purchasing entity is one of the few decisions in a purchase that is genuinely hard to undo. It is worth understanding before the contract, not repairing afterwards.

In the weeks before settlement the searches are ordered, the title is checked, and a statement of adjustments is prepared so rates, land tax, water and owners corporation fees, and where they apply windfall gains tax and any owners corporation accumulated-fund contribution, are apportioned to the day. Funds are coordinated with the lender and the transfer is signed electronically.

One point catches buyers who go it alone. Under the foreign resident capital gains withholding rules in the Taxation Administration Act 1953, a purchaser must withhold a set share of the price and remit it to the ATO unless the vendor provides a valid clearance certificate before settlement. It now applies to ordinary sales, not just foreign vendors, and the obligation sits with the buyer. A buyer's interest between signing and settlement can also be protected by lodging a caveat or a priority notice, and a deposit is not always held untouched: section 27 of the Sale of Land Act 1962 lets a vendor seek early release once certain particulars are given.

You are entitled to a final inspection shortly before settlement. It matters: the property has to be in the same condition as at the day of sale, with the inclusions still there and the vendor's possessions removed. Problems found at that inspection are far easier to resolve before the money moves than after.

Settlement itself happens through PEXA, so there is nothing for you to attend. Title is transferred, the mortgage is registered, and we confirm the keys are released the same day.