This is a concept website · Enquire about this domain

Plan of a final walk-through · six stops

Pre-settlement inspection: the final walk-through

A guide to the buyer’s last look at a home before settlement, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of this page. Each state and territory describes this inspection in its own words, so every rule here carries the name of the place it comes from.

A pre-settlement inspection is the buyer’s final look at a home before the sale settles, to see that it is still in the condition it was in when it was sold. In Victoria you are entitled to inspect “at any reasonable time during the week before settlement”; in NSW, the official advice is to do it on the morning of settlement day.

Floor plan of an imagined home with a dotted walk through every room and a ticked box at each of six stopsLIVINGHALLBATHROOMNEW WINGKITCHENFRONT DOOR010203040506 Floor plan of an imagined home with a dotted walk through every room and a ticked box at each of six stopsLIVINGHALLBATHNEW WINGKITCHEN010203040506
  • One walk through the home
  • A stop, and a guide
An imagined home, drawn to find the guides by. It is not a plan of any real property. Each numbered box is one stop, listed below.

Six stops

The walk starts at the front door and ends in the newest part of the house. Each stop answers one question a buyer meets in the last weeks before settlement.

  1. 01 · Front doorYour right to a final inspection

    Which states call it a right, which give it as advice, and which leave it to the contract.

  2. 02 · HallWhen it happens

    The week before, a few days before, or the morning of settlement, state by state.

  3. 03 · KitchenWhat the contract says stays

    Fixtures, fittings, chattels, and the list in the contract you carry on the walk.

  4. 04 · BathroomIf something is wrong

    A repair, a delayed settlement, and the two laws on a badly damaged home.

  5. 05 · Living roomSettlement day

    The money, the title and the keys, in each state’s own description of the day.

  6. 06 · New wingNew homes and handover

    Buying off the plan: the certificate before the keys, a change to the plan, and the limits on a seller’s rescission.

Three ways the states put it

The official pages do not all describe the same thing. Read together, they fall into three groups.

A right to inspect

VICEntitled to inspect at any reasonable time in the week before settlement.

ACTEntitled to inspect about one week before settlement, or at reasonable times with reasonable notice.

Advice to inspect

NSWOn the morning of settlement day.

QLDTwo to three days before settlement.

WAA thorough inspection before the settlement is finalised.

A term to agree

SAYou can make the contract subject to a pre-settlement inspection.

NTAccess before settlement is something you may be able to negotiate with the seller, in writing.

Tasmania is missing from these groups: none of the official pages this guide draws on describe a pre-settlement inspection there. The first stop, your right to a final inspection, sets out each place in more detail.

What to carry on the walk

  • The contract. Consumer Affairs Victoria says: “Check all the items listed in the contract are there and in the right condition.” Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading says to check, in particular, anything you specifically included in your contract.
  • The day it was sold. The official pages measure the home against an earlier moment: in Victoria, the day the property was sold; in NSW, when contracts were exchanged; in Queensland, when you signed the contract; in Western Australia, when you inspected it, unless the contract says otherwise.
  • One question for your solicitor. Queensland’s advice ends with it: “Ask your solicitor if all other conditions of the contract have been met before settlement day.”

If the walk turns up something that worries you, the fourth stop, if something is wrong, sets out what the official pages say a buyer can do.

Your conveyancer or solicitor knows your contract and the hour it settles. A qualified building inspector can look properly at a crack, a stain or a fault the walk-through turns up, and your conveyancer can tell you what your contract lets you do about it.