Selling a property in Victoria: the order things need to happen

You can have a buyer standing in front of you and still not be able to sell. Not because of the price, but because the vendor statement is not finished.

Your agent can photograph the house on Monday and have a board up by Thursday, but nobody can sign a contract until the Section 32 exists. Almost everything inside one has to be requested from someone else: the council, the water authority, the Land Registry. They work to their timetable, not to your auction date.

Here is how a sale actually runs in Victoria, and where the waiting sits.

The Section 32 sets your real start date

Section 32 of the Sale of Land Act 1962 says a vendor must give the purchaser a signed statement before the purchaser signs the contract. Consumer Affairs Victoria lists what has to be in it: title details, mortgages, covenants, easements, zoning, outgoings and whether the land sits in a bushfire-prone area.

None of that sits in your filing cabinet. It comes from certificates that have to be ordered. On a standard house in Cranbourne East that is straightforward. On a Clyde North block with an owners corporation, a recent build and a growth areas infrastructure contribution on the title, there are more people to chase.

A purchaser given a false or incomplete statement, or no statement at all, can rescind the contract at any time before they accept title and become entitled to possession. Doing that knowingly or recklessly is also an offence under section 32L. Which is why it gets started before the campaign, not during it.

Two other duties start the moment you offer the property for sale. You must not knowingly conceal a material fact from a buyer, and the maximum penalty is 120 penalty units or up to 12 months imprisonment. The due diligence checklist approved by the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria has to be on display or offered at every inspection, and reachable from any website advertising the sale.

Getting your vendor statement prepared is the first phone call, not the fifth.

Apply for your ATO clearance certificate the same week

Every Australian resident selling property has to give the purchaser an ATO clearance certificate at or before settlement. Without one, the purchaser must withhold up to 15 per cent of the sale proceeds and send it to the ATO. For contracts signed on or after 1 January 2025 that rate applies to the value of all property, with no minimum. Your family home in Lynbrook is caught like any investment property.

Certificates are free, valid for 12 months from issue, and can take up to 28 days to process. One thing to know: a conveyancer cannot lodge the application for you unless they are also a registered tax agent. We can help you fill it in, but it has to be yours.

Every person on the title needs their own certificate. If you and your partner both own the property and only one certificate arrives in time, 15 per cent of the other share is withheld at settlement and stays with the ATO until a tax return is lodged and processed. On a $750,000 sale held in equal shares, that is over $56,000 you cannot put towards your next purchase.

Apply the week you decide to sell. You do not need a contract, or even a buyer.

Private sale or auction changes your risk, not your paperwork

The vendor statement is the same either way. What changes is how certain the sale is once someone signs.

In a private sale, a buyer who cools off gets their money back except for $100 or 0.2 per cent of the purchase price, whichever is greater. On a $750,000 sale that is $1,500, rarely enough to hold a nervous buyer. Treat a private sale as unsettled until the three days are up.

At auction there is no cooling-off period, and none where you accept an offer less than three clear business days before the auction date. If an offer lands on the Wednesday before a Saturday auction in Botanic Ridge, when you accept decides whether that buyer keeps a walk-away right.

What the contract has to say, and what it can no longer say

The contract sets out the parties, the property, the price, the deposit, the balance, the settlement date, any special conditions and how GST is treated.

Two things you are no longer allowed to put in it. For contracts signed on or after 1 January 2024, a vendor cannot pass land tax to the purchaser where the sale price is under the threshold amount, $10,700,000 for the year starting 1 January 2026 and indexed each year. Section 10G makes that clause of no effect. Section 10H does the same for windfall gains tax assessed before you signed, with no price threshold. Entering into either contract carries a penalty of 60 penalty units for a natural person.

Read the adjustments clause of any contract you are handed. On a residential sale anywhere in the corridor, land tax is yours to pay and it does not get adjusted at settlement.

If your sale might attract GST, because you have subdivided or built new, that is a question for your accountant before the contract is drafted, not after.

The deposit, and when you can get it early

No law sets the amount, but a deposit is usually 10 per cent and is held by a stakeholder, normally the agent, in a trust account until settlement. It is not your money yet.

Section 27 of the Act lets you ask for it early. You serve the purchaser a notice setting out particulars of any mortgage over the land and any caveats. They then have 28 days from receiving it to say whether they are satisfied that the purchase price covers every mortgage. If they say yes, or say nothing at all inside the 28 days, the deposit can be released. It only works where the contract carries no condition running in the purchaser's favour and the purchaser has accepted title.

That matters if you are selling in Cranbourne and buying in Officer and need the deposit for the next place. It is not worth chasing on a short settlement, where the 28 days eats most of the time anyway.

Rates, land tax and the adjustments

Rates and outgoings are apportioned at settlement. You are responsible up to and including settlement day, and the buyer takes over from the day after.

Land tax works differently. The buyer's side orders a property clearance certificate from the State Revenue Office showing what is owing. Unpaid land tax is a first charge on the land and continues as a charge even after ownership is transferred, which is why buyers insist on it. If settlement moves, an updated certificate can be requested at no cost within 90 days of the original, provided the parties have not changed.

Tell your lender early

A discharge authority that goes in late will move your settlement date, and this is a part of the timetable you control on your own.

Your bank needs the signed authority, then it has to book itself into the electronic settlement. Some lenders want far more notice than vendors expect. Lodge it as soon as the contract is signed, and tell your conveyancer who you bank with.

The final inspection and settlement day

Buyers are entitled to inspect the property at any reasonable time during the week before settlement, and the contract requires you to hand it over in the same condition it was in when sold. That means the listed chattels are still there and working. Rubbish left in a Devon Meadows garage becomes a settlement dispute, and disputes cost far more than a trailer load to the tip.

Settlement itself is electronic. The Registrar of Titles sets which instruments must go through an Electronic Lodgment Network and will not accept those on paper except where they genuinely cannot be lodged that way. Three networks run in Victoria: PEXA, Sympli and SPEAR. Funds move and title transfers in the same workspace, so there is nothing for you to attend. Settlement periods are usually 30 to 90 days and can be negotiated.

Your vendor checklist, in order

1. Decide to sell. Instruct a conveyancer that week.
2. Apply for your ATO clearance certificate. Each owner applies separately.
3. Order the certificates for the Section 32.
4. Sign the agency authority and agree the advertised price range in writing.
5. Have the vendor statement and contract ready before the first open for inspection.
6. Make the due diligence checklist available at every inspection.
7. Lodge the discharge authority with your lender as soon as the contract is signed.
8. Check the contract does not try to pass land tax or windfall gains tax to the buyer.
9. Decide whether a Section 27 early deposit release suits your timeline.
10. Give the ATO clearance certificate to the purchaser before settlement.
11. Check the rates adjustments on the settlement statement yourself.
12. Clear the property, leave the listed chattels, and be ready for the final inspection.

Questions vendors ask

How early should I start the Section 32?

The week you decide to sell, before you have chosen an agent if possible. The waiting is on certificates from councils, water authorities and the Land Registry, and none of that speeds up because you have an auction booked.

Can I advertise before the vendor statement is finished?

You can market the property, but no purchaser can sign a contract until you have given them the statement, so an early offer has nowhere to go. The due diligence checklist still has to be available from the first inspection.

Can I get the deposit before settlement?

Sometimes. Section 27 allows early release where the contract is unconditional, the purchaser has accepted title and has been given particulars of any mortgage and caveats. They then have 28 days to object. On a six-week settlement the timing rarely works.

My sale is part of a separation, or a deceased estate. Can a conveyancer handle it?

We can handle the conveyancing, including a transfer of ownership between former partners, or out of an estate once probate or letters of administration have been granted. We cannot advise on the family law settlement itself, or on probate, wills or estate matters. Those need a solicitor, and it is worth engaging one before the property is listed.

Talk to us before you sign the agency authority

Call before the sign goes up. We can start the vendor statement while you are still interviewing agents, so the paperwork is ready before the first open for inspection.

We are at 105A High Street, Cranbourne, Monday to Friday, and available on weekends by appointment. We act for sellers across the corridor, from Junction Village and Botanic Ridge through to Pakenham. To find out what your sale involves, ask us for a quote or get in touch.

This article is general information about Victorian conveyancing and is not legal advice for your particular transaction. Speak to us about your specific circumstances.