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The complete guide to conveyancing and property settlement in Melbourne - covering Section 32 vendor statements, cooling-off periods, the REIV/LIV contract, PEXA electronic settlement, pre-settlement inspections, and what to do when things go wrong.
Your conveyancer has gone quiet. Settlement is five days away. The adjustment statement just landed with an extra $9,000 you didn't budget for, and nobody is returning your calls.
This is not a worst-case scenario. It's a Tuesday in Melbourne's property market.
Conveyancing is the part of buying property that most people underestimate until it goes wrong. The legal process that sits between signing the contract and collecting the keys involves more than a dozen pieces of Victorian legislation, coordination between lenders, government agencies, and opposing legal representatives, and a settlement platform that runs on strict electronic timelines. Get it right and you barely notice it. Get it wrong and you're looking at delayed settlements, penalty interest, or costs that dwarf whatever you saved by skipping professional help.
This guide is not another explainer of what conveyancing is. Consumer Affairs Victoria does that well. This is a risk roadmap for Melbourne buyers who are two to four weeks from signing — covering every point where things go wrong, who is responsible when they do, and what you can do before you commit.
The most expensive assumption in Melbourne property buying is this: "Someone else is checking that."
Four professionals sit around a standard Melbourne purchase. Their roles do not overlap as much as buyers assume.
Your buyer's advocate identifies the right property, assesses value, negotiates price, coordinates due diligence timing, flags structural risks in the contract before you commit, and monitors the process from offer to keys. A buyer's advocate cannot give legal advice or practise conveyancing.
Your conveyancer or solicitor reviews and exchanges contracts, analyses the Section 32 vendor statement, conducts title and planning searches, manages stamp duty lodgment, prepares the settlement adjustment statement, and manages the PEXA electronic workspace. A conveyancer cannot advise on investment strategy, building condition, or negotiate purchase price.
Your mortgage broker and lender assess your borrowing capacity, structure the loan, process formal approval, and prepare the bank's side of the PEXA workspace. They are not monitoring settlement dates on your behalf once the loan is approved.
Your building and pest inspector assesses the physical condition of the property at the time of inspection. They do not check title, zoning, owners corporation health, or whether the renovations they're inspecting had council approval.
What nobody checks unless you specifically ask:
This gap — between what each professional does and what buyers assume they do — is where the expensive surprises live.
The Section 32 vendor statement is a mandatory disclosure document required under the Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic). The vendor must provide it before you sign the contract of sale [Sale of Land Act 1962, s32].
Sections 32A through 32I of the Act specify what must be included: title details and plan of subdivision, any mortgages or charges, covenants and easements affecting the land, zoning and planning information, council and water rates, owners corporation details (if applicable), building permits issued within the preceding seven years under the Building Act 1993 (Vic), service connections, bushfire-prone area declarations, and a due diligence checklist [Sale of Land Act 1962, ss32A–32I].
If the vendor fails to disclose required information, the buyer may have the right to rescind the contract before settlement under section 32K of the Act.
A Section 32 can be legally complete and practically useless at the same time. It tells you what is on the title. It does not tell you:
Translating disclosures into buyer-side risk is the job your conveyancer does — if you ask them to. A standard review flags issues. A good conveyancer translates them: "This drainage easement runs through the back third of the block. Your plans to extend would require consent from the relevant authority and may not be granted."
Easements are the most common trap. A drainage easement running through where you planned to build a deck only becomes a problem after you've settled. Ask your conveyancer: what can I actually do with this land given this easement?
Owners corporation issues affect apartments and townhouses. Low sinking fund balances, pending special levies, defect litigation, and flammable cladding remediation can add tens of thousands in unexpected costs. Check when the OC certificate was issued — if it's more than three months old, ask for a fresh one.
Unapproved building works transfer liability to the buyer after settlement. A pergola, extension, or deck built without a permit becomes your problem. Check building permits listed in the Section 32 against the physical property. If there's a structure with no corresponding permit, ask why.
Planning overlays don't always show up prominently in a Section 32. Heritage overlays, neighbourhood character overlays, flood overlays, and bushfire management overlays can substantially limit what you can do with the property. Run a VicPlan search independently for any property where renovation or development is part of your plan.
The cost of a pre-contract Section 32 review runs $250 to $500. The cost of missing an issue can run well beyond $50,000. For auction purchases, this review must happen before auction day — there is no cooling-off period after an auction.
A conveyancer can identify problems within minutes that most buyers would miss entirely. Real issues discovered in reviews include: land boundaries not matching the marketed block, renovations completed without council approval, new houses missing occupancy permits, and significant defects in common property [LPLC].
Never accept an agent's assurance that the Section 32 looks standard. Have your conveyancer review it before you attend a second inspection or start planning around the property.
Most residential property sales in Victoria use the contract of sale produced jointly by the Law Institute of Victoria and the Real Estate Institute of Victoria. This contract was updated in September 2025, with amended general conditions, revised execution clauses, and changes to settlement time provisions. The update widened electronic settlement time windows, removed the $5,000 withholding mechanism for minor property damage, and amended post-contract termination provisions. Confirm your contract is on the current 2025 edition [LPLC; REIV VicForms].
Vendors can delete or modify general conditions through special conditions. If a general condition has been removed, you may have lost a protection you didn't know you had.
Ask your conveyancer specifically: "Has anything been deleted from the general conditions? Are there special conditions I should be concerned about?"
The specific clause to scrutinise: penalty interest. The standard Victorian contract sets penalty interest at 10% per annum on any delayed settlement amount. Some vendor-drafted contracts push this to 18%. Forum evidence consistently shows this is negotiable before signing — but not after. If the contract contains an 18% penalty interest clause, ask your conveyancer to request it be reduced to the standard 10% before you sign.
Victoria's cooling-off period gives most residential property buyers three clear business days to withdraw from a private sale contract after signing [Sale of Land Act 1962, s31]. "Clear" means the day you sign does not count. Business days exclude weekends and public holidays.
Withdrawing costs a penalty of 0.2% of the purchase price (or $100, whichever is greater). On a $750,000 property, that's $1,500.
The cooling-off period does not apply if you buy at auction, or within three business days before or after a publicly advertised auction. Written notice must be given to the vendor, the vendor's conveyancer, or the vendor's estate agent before the period expires.
One of the most common causes of delayed settlement in Victoria is the gap between "finance approved" and "bank ready for settlement."
Formal unconditional approval means your lender has approved the loan. It does not mean they are ready to participate in the PEXA workspace and fund settlement. Banks have internal settlement booking systems, discharge teams, and loan documentation processes that can take 5 to 10 business days from approval to settlement-ready. In a 30-day settlement, that gap is the difference between hitting the date and incurring penalty interest.
What you need to know about the timeline:
For a 30-day settlement, the critical path: Days 1–5, finance approval obtained. Days 5–10, loan documents issued, signed, returned. Days 10–15, conveyancer coordinates with lender's settlement team, confirms PEXA workspace is active. Days 15–22, adjustment statement issued, stamp duty paid, transfer documents lodged. Days 28–30, settlement.
Anything that slips in the first two weeks compresses the back end and creates penalty interest risk. Your mortgage broker and your conveyancer need to communicate directly throughout this process — not pass information through you. See also: loan structuring and settlement finance.
Since 1 August 2019, Victoria has required virtually all property transactions to settle electronically through an Electronic Lodgment Network [Land Use Victoria]. PEXA is the dominant platform. On settlement day, your conveyancer, the vendor's conveyancer, and both lenders work within a shared digital workspace to exchange documents and transfer funds simultaneously.
You do not interact with PEXA directly. Your role is to ensure funds are available in your nominated account and remain contactable by phone. Aim for morning settlement — Friday afternoon settlements carry extra risk because PEXA support operates on business days only.
PEXA's settlement platform has a patchy reliability record. StatusGator, which has monitored PEXA since June 2024, has recorded over 492 outage or warning events in that period. The most significant disruption in recent memory — the January 2026 incident that affected around 500 property settlements — was actually caused by an RBA infrastructure failure, not PEXA's own platform, which remained operational throughout. PEXA was caught in the fallout rather than being the cause. That nuance matters: PEXA's platform itself is generally reliable, but it depends on RBA payment infrastructure and bank systems that can fail independently.
The practical risk is the same regardless of cause: if settlement doesn't complete by the end of the settlement day, it rolls to the next available slot — which may be the following business day. Friday afternoon failures are the worst case: the next slot is Monday, and three days of penalty interest at 10% per annum accrues over the weekend.
If PEXA fails through no fault of either party, the standard Victorian contract does not automatically exempt either side from penalty interest. Your conveyancer needs to proactively contact the vendor's conveyancer and agree a written extension before the end of settlement day.
Bank account fraud — where criminals intercept settlement emails and substitute their own account details — has become one of the highest-value consumer frauds in Australian property transactions. PEXA-backed research published in August 2025 found that most buyers failed to identify scam markers in sample settlement communications.
The practical rule: never rely on payment instructions received by email alone. Before transferring any funds, call your conveyancer on a number you have independently verified — not one provided in the email — and confirm account details verbally. This applies to deposit transfers, PEXA source account transfers, and any other property-related payment.
If you receive any email mid-transaction asking you to update or change bank account details, treat it as a scam until proven otherwise.
Settlement adjustments catch many buyers off guard. The principle: the seller pays for the period they owned the property, and the buyer pays from settlement day onwards. In practice this means adjusting for prepaid council rates, water rates, owners corporation fees, and in some cases, land tax.
Your conveyancer prepares an adjustment statement showing the purchase price minus your deposit, plus or minus these adjustments, to arrive at the final balance payable at settlement.
Request a draft adjustment statement at least seven to ten days before settlement. If adjustments exceed $5,000 for a standard residential purchase, ask your conveyancer to explain every line item.
The late-settlement interest and duty issue most buyers don't know about: Where late-settlement interest forms part of the consideration and totals $5,000 or more on contracts entered into on or after 1 July 2022, the transaction must be re-lodged for duty reassessment within 30 days of settlement. Failure to re-lodge attracts additional duty, interest, and penalties — borne by the purchaser [State Revenue Office Victoria]. If your settlement delays result in significant penalty interest, make sure your conveyancer addresses this after settlement.
General Condition 16 of the standard REIV/LIV contract gives you the right to inspect the property once within seven days before settlement [REIV/LIV Contract, GC 16]. Book this inspection at least five business days before settlement — this gives you time to raise issues and pursue resolution before money changes hands.
You're comparing the property's condition to what you saw at contract signing. Look for new damage, removed fixtures or fittings, missing inclusions listed in the contract, incomplete repairs agreed as special conditions, and changes to gardens, fences, or exterior areas.
Bring your phone for photos. Test taps, lights, and appliances. Check that blinds, locks, windows, and fly screens are intact. If special conditions required cleaning or specific works, verify those are complete. Bring a checklist.
Document everything with photos and written notes. Contact your conveyancer the same day, in writing. Do not contact the agent directly.
Your options include requesting vendor repairs before settlement, negotiating a price reduction, seeking compensation if the contract permits, or delaying settlement. Discovering damage one or two days before settlement limits your negotiation window dramatically — book the inspection early.
Under the standard REIV/LIV contract, penalty interest accrues at 10% per annum on the amount outstanding from the day after settlement was due. On an $800,000 purchase with $640,000 balance, that's approximately $175 per day. On a $1.2 million purchase, approximately $263 per day.
Penalty interest accrues regardless of who caused the delay, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing. If you know settlement will be late, tell your conveyancer immediately so they can negotiate a written extension before penalties begin.
You can issue a Notice of Default giving the vendor 14 days to settle. If they still cannot, you can demand specific performance (forcing the sale through court) or terminate the contract and claim damages.
The consequences are severe. The vendor keeps your deposit (typically 10% of the purchase price) and can pursue legal action for: the price difference if they resell at a lower price, daily penalty interest, legal fees, accommodation costs, and other losses.
The most common cause is bank readiness, not buyer intent. If your loan documents weren't signed early enough or the bank's settlement team wasn't activated in time, you can miss settlement through no deliberate fault and still face the full legal consequences.
Their professional indemnity insurance should cover your losses. Document everything in writing throughout the transaction — this becomes your evidence if you need to make a claim. The VLSB+C maintains a compensation fund for clients who suffer losses as a result of a licensed conveyancer's misconduct.
Off-the-plan purchases settle when construction reaches practical completion and the plan of subdivision is registered — not on a calendar date. Your settlement date is uncertain, and your circumstances may change materially before it arrives.
Common risks: construction delays pushing settlement 12 to 24 months beyond the contract estimate; bank valuations at settlement coming in $30,000 to $60,000 below the contract price; first home buyer exemption eligibility being lost due to life changes between contract and settlement; interest rate changes affecting borrowing capacity.
A sunset clause in an off-the-plan contract allows either party to terminate if the plan of subdivision is not registered by a specified date. Victorian legislation now requires vendor consent to be obtained from a court or the buyer before a vendor can terminate using a sunset clause [Sale of Land Act 1962, s9AC].
Note: The off-the-plan duty concession window has been extended multiple times. As at May 2026, the Victorian Government announced in the 2026–27 Budget (5 May 2026) a further extension to 21 April 2027, pending legislation. Always verify the current concession window directly at sro.vic.gov.au before making decisions, as the end date is subject to change.
The temporary concession reduces stamp duty for eligible off-the-plan apartment and townhouse purchases within strata subdivisions by deducting post-contract construction costs from the dutiable value. It applies to all buyers — owner-occupiers, investors, companies and trusts — with no price cap. Your conveyancer applies for the concession through the Digital Duties Form at settlement.
This section describes legislation that has received Royal Assent but has not yet fully commenced. Do not rely on it as legal advice. Confirm current status with your conveyancer or solicitor before making any property decisions.
The Building Legislation Amendment (Buyer Protections) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 3 June 2025. The reforms are expected to commence on a date to be proclaimed, or 1 July 2026 at the latest.
Developer bonds of 2% of total build cost are required for residential apartment buildings above three storeys. These bonds act as financial security for defect rectification and must be lodged before a developer can apply for an occupancy permit.
Preconditions for possession: developers cannot lodge plans of subdivision or allow purchasers to take possession unless developer bonds are in place and occupancy permits or final inspections are completed.
Rescission rights: if a developer fails to comply with the bond regime, purchasers may have rights to rescind contracts for high-rise apartments sold off-the-plan.
One unresolved issue as at May 2026: it remains unclear whether the bond scheme applies to projects already underway at commencement. The Act does not include an explicit transition provision. Regulations are still being developed. Projects scheduled to complete after 1 July 2026 may be subject to the bond requirements regardless of when the building contract was signed.
Treating the Section 32 as just paperwork. Having it reviewed means asking your conveyancer to translate every disclosure into a practical implication — not just confirm it's legally complete.
Assuming loan approval equals settlement readiness. Your bank's approval and your bank's settlement team are different departments on different timelines. Chase loan documents early and confirm your lender is active in the PEXA workspace at least a week before settlement.
Using the conveyancer recommended by the selling agent. Forum evidence is consistent: buyers who use agent-referred conveyancers report more conflicts of interest and problems being downplayed. The selling agent's incentive is to close the transaction, not to protect your interests.
Not confirming final settlement figures early enough. Request a draft adjustment statement 10 days before settlement, not when your conveyancer sends it. If you need to arrange additional funds, 10 days is workable; 2 days is not.
Letting your conveyancer go silent. If settlement is within seven days and you haven't heard back within 24 hours, follow up. If repeated follow-ups get no response, escalate to the practice manager.
Clicking payment links without calling to verify. Verify all bank account details by phone before any property-related payment transfer. Every time.
Signing contracts at 18% penalty interest. This is negotiable. Ask before you sign.
Professional fees range from $880 to $1,500 for a licensed conveyancer and up to $2,500 for a solicitor. Add $600 to $800 in disbursements covering PEXA fees (approximately $141 for a standard single-title transfer, per PEXA FY26 pricing), title searches, registration, and verification of identity. Budget $1,500 to $3,500 all-in for a standard residential purchase. Get itemised written quotes and confirm whether auction contract review is included.
A legally required disclosure document under the Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic). It contains title details, easements, covenants, zoning, outgoings, building permits, and owners corporation information. The vendor must provide it before you sign. It does not disclose building defects, building regulation compliance, or measurement accuracy. Always get it professionally reviewed and ask your conveyancer to translate each disclosure into a practical risk.
For most standard residential purchases, a licensed conveyancer handles everything. Solicitors are necessary for legal disputes, unusual title complications, trust or SMSF purchases, or development transactions. Both carry mandatory professional indemnity insurance.
Three clear business days for private sale contracts, starting the business day after you sign. Does not apply at auction or within three business days before or after an auction. Penalty for exercising: 0.2% of purchase price. Written notice required.
Penalty interest accrues at 10% per annum (or the contracted rate, sometimes 18%) from the day after settlement was due. If the buyer is responsible, the vendor can ultimately issue a Notice of Default and, if the buyer still cannot settle, terminate and keep the deposit. If the vendor causes the delay, the buyer can issue a Notice of Default and demand specific performance or terminate and claim damages. Communicate any delay to your conveyancer immediately.
The standard REIV/LIV contract sets penalty interest at 10% per annum. Some vendor-drafted contracts include 18%. On a $640,000 balance owing, 10% equates to approximately $175 per day. Check your contract's penalty interest rate before you sign — it is negotiable.
Yes. If your lender is not ready for settlement on the due date, penalty interest accrues regardless of whether the delay was caused by the bank rather than you. Chase loan documents early and confirm PEXA workspace status at least a week before settlement day.
Adjustments reimburse the seller for rates, water, and owners corporation fees prepaid beyond settlement. Budget $3,000 to $10,000 above your expected settlement costs. Request a draft adjustment statement at least 10 days before settlement.
Confirm the property matches its condition at contract signing. Look for new damage, removed fixtures, missing inclusions, and whether agreed repairs are complete. Book at least five business days before settlement. Photograph everything. Notify your conveyancer the same day if you find problems.
Legally, yes. Practically, high-risk. From 28 November 2025, individuals can only lodge a narrow set of transaction types without professional representation. For standard purchases, you would need to manage PEXA access, Victorian legislation, State Revenue Office requirements, and contract interpretation without professional indemnity insurance. The time spent learning the process typically exceeds the fee saved.
Never rely on payment instructions received by email alone. Before transferring any funds, call your conveyancer on an independently verified number and confirm account details verbally. Treat any mid-transaction email requesting changed bank account details as a scam until proven otherwise.
The Act received Royal Assent on 3 June 2025 and is expected to commence by 1 July 2026 at the latest. It introduces a mandatory 2% developer bond for residential apartment buildings above three storeys, lodged before the developer can apply for an occupancy permit. Failure to comply may give buyers rescission rights. Whether existing projects are covered remains unclear — regulations are still being developed. This section is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Confirm current status with your conveyancer before making decisions.
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