Selling a property
Your vendor statement is the thing most likely to hold up your sale. Get it started the week you decide to sell and the rest of the campaign has room to move.
Start here
A Section 32 is not a form you fill in on the day
In Victoria, a seller has to give the buyer a Section 32 vendor statement before the buyer signs anything. It is built from certificates that other organisations issue: the council, the water authority, the State Revenue Office, the titles office, and the owners corporation if there is one. We request them, chase them and check what comes back.
Every one of those has its own turnaround, and none of them care that you have a buyer waiting. That is why a sale that felt fast on Saturday can stall on Monday. When the statement is already sitting there signed, an offer can be accepted and signed the same day.
There is a second reason to start early. Preparing the statement is also the point where problems surface: an easement nobody mentioned, a shed built without a permit, an old caveat still sitting on the title. Finding that in week one is a small job. Finding it three days before settlement is not.
What we need from you to begin
- The property address and the name on the title
- Your most recent council and water rate notices
- Any building permits issued in the last seven years
- Owners corporation details, if the property has one
- Your lender and loan account number, so we can start the discharge
- Identification, which we are required by law to verify
If you are missing something, send what you have. Most of it we can obtain ourselves.
Get my quoteInside the statement
What has to be disclosed
The law sets out what a buyer must be told before they commit. Leave something out and the buyer may be able to walk away, sometimes right up to settlement.
Title and plan
A current title search and the plan of subdivision, showing exactly what is being sold.
Mortgages and caveats
Anything registered against the title that has to come off before the buyer can be registered.
Easements and covenants
Drainage and sewerage easements, restrictive covenants, and any right of way across the land.
Rates and outgoings
Council rates, water and sewerage charges, land tax where it applies, and owners corporation fees.
Planning and zoning
The zone, the overlays, the responsible authority, and any notice affecting the property.
Building work and services
Permits issued in the last seven years, owner builder insurance where required, and which services are connected.
We prepare the contract of sale alongside it, with the settlement period, the deposit terms and any special conditions written to suit the sale you are actually running.
How you are selling
Auction and private sale are not the same document job
Auction
A bid at auction is binding on the fall of the hammer, and the buyer gets no cooling off period. That cuts both ways. It means the sale is certain, and it means the vendor statement and contract have to be finished, signed and available to every bidder before the auction runs. There is no fixing it afterwards.
Victorian auctions happen on Saturdays. We are available on weekends by appointment, so if a buyer wants a condition changed an hour before the hammer, you can reach someone.
Private sale
A private buyer gets three clear business days to cool off, and forfeits 0.2 per cent of the price if they use it. Offers also tend to arrive with conditions attached, most often finance and a building inspection, and each condition is a date your sale has to clear.
We read every offer before you sign it and tell you plainly what you are agreeing to, including which conditions are worth pushing back on.
Your deposit
You may not have to wait until settlement
The deposit normally sits in the agent's trust account until settlement day. Section 27 of the Sale of Land Act lets a seller ask for it earlier, once the contract is unconditional.
We prepare the Section 27 statement and serve it on the buyer. If no objection comes back inside 28 days, the agent can release the deposit to you. Where there is still a mortgage on the title, the amount owing has to be less than the sale price for the release to be allowed.
This is worth asking about when you are buying and selling at once, because that deposit is often the money you need for your next purchase.
Ask us about early release if
- You are settling your sale and your purchase on different days
- You need the deposit to meet a deposit on the property you are buying
- Your settlement period is long, which is common on off the plan sales
- You are selling a block in a new estate and waiting on titles
Signed to settled
What happens after a buyer signs
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1
Contract goes unconditional
Finance and inspection conditions clear. We confirm the deposit is paid and hold you to the dates, and the buyer to theirs.
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2
Mortgage discharge
We send your discharge authority to the bank straight away. Lenders take weeks, not days, and a late authority is the most common cause of a delayed settlement.
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3
Adjustments
Rates, water and owners corporation fees are apportioned to the settlement date. You pay for the days you owned it. We check the notices rather than accepting the numbers as given.
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4
Settlement
It happens electronically. Your loan is paid out, the balance comes to you, the agent releases the deposit, and the title transfers. We tell you the moment it is done.
One thing to do early: apply for your ATO clearance certificate. Without it the buyer is required to withhold part of your sale price and send it to the tax office. Your accountant can advise on the tax side, and we will tell you when the certificate needs to be in hand.
South Australia
Selling in SA means a Form 1, not a Section 32
The document does a similar job. It discloses the title, the encumbrances, the statutory charges and the particulars a buyer is entitled to know. The difference is in how it works: the Form 1 is served on the buyer, and service starts a two clear business day cooling off period. Serve it late or serve it wrong and that period starts again.
We are registered in South Australia under the Conveyancers Act 1994 and we run those files from the Cranbourne office. South Australian conveyancing is electronic, so the work is the same wherever the desk is. We do not have an Adelaide office and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Selling in Victoria, buying in South Australia?
Or the other way around. Both sides of that move can sit with us, which means one person holding the two settlement dates together instead of two practices emailing each other about them.
It also means one conversation when a date moves, which on a simultaneous settlement is usually the thing that goes wrong.
Talk to us about bothRead first
Two guides worth your time before you list
Section 32 vendor statements in Victoria
What has to be in one, what happens when something is left out, and how long the certificates really take.
Read the guide →Selling property in Victoria: a checklist
The order to do things in, from choosing an agent to the week before settlement.
Read the guide →Questions
What sellers ask us
When should I start my Section 32?
The day you decide to sell, not the day you get an offer. A vendor statement is assembled from certificates issued by the council, the water authority, the State Revenue Office and the titles office. Each one is requested separately and each has its own turnaround. Start early and the paperwork is waiting when the buyer is. Start late and your sale sits still while everyone waits on a certificate.
Can the agent start marketing before the statement is ready?
Marketing can begin, but no buyer can sign until the Section 32 has been given to them. In practice, serious buyers and their conveyancers ask for it within a day of the first inspection, and a seller who cannot produce it looks unprepared. If you are going to auction, it needs to be complete and available before bidding opens.
Can I get the deposit before settlement?
Often, yes. Section 27 of the Sale of Land Act lets a seller ask for early release of the deposit once the contract is unconditional. We prepare the statement, serve it on the buyer, and if no objection comes back within 28 days the agent can release the money. Where there is a mortgage on the title, the loan has to be less than the sale price for it to work. It matters most when you are buying and selling at the same time.
What happens to my mortgage?
Your bank has to discharge it at settlement, and banks work to their own timetable. We send you the discharge authority as soon as the contract goes unconditional so it is lodged with weeks to spare. Late discharge authorities are one of the most common reasons a settlement is delayed, and it is entirely avoidable.
What gets adjusted at settlement?
Council rates, water rates and, where there is one, owners corporation fees are split at the settlement date. You pay for the days you owned the property and the buyer picks up the rest. We check the notices rather than taking the figures on trust. Land tax can no longer be passed to the buyer through adjustments on most Victorian contracts, so it stays with you.
Is selling in South Australia different?
The disclosure document is a Form 1 rather than a Section 32, and it is served on the buyer, which starts a two clear business day cooling off period. We are registered in South Australia and we run those files from Cranbourne. Conveyancing is electronic, so where the desk sits stopped mattering some years ago.
Do I need a conveyancer or a solicitor to sell?
A licensed conveyancer covers a standard sale, including the vendor statement, the contract and settlement. If there is a dispute with a buyer or a neighbour, a caveat you want removed, a deceased estate still going through probate, or a family law order over the property, that is solicitor work and we will say so rather than take it on.
Get started
Tell us about the property
Five questions, and we will come back to you about your vendor statement. If it is easier to talk, call 0450 016 397 or email convey@wisestep.com.au.
Office 4, Level 1, 105A High Street
Cranbourne VIC 3977
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
Weekends by appointment
Already decided to go ahead?
Fill in your vendor instruction sheet online
Everything we need to prepare your Section 32, completed and signed on your phone or computer. You can save it and come back to it, attach your rates notice and water bill as you go, and we email you a copy of the lot when you are done.
Open the vendor sheet