General information, not legal or financial advice. Your contract sets the date and terms of your settlement. Each state’s official page is listed at the foot of this page; your conveyancer or solicitor runs the settlement itself.
The living room is where the walk ends and the keys change hands. Settlement day has three parts for a buyer, though the official pages do not all describe each one: the last look, the settlement itself, and possession.
- Before
The final inspection, where your state places it. In NSW, the advice is the morning of settlement day.
- During
Your representatives settle with the seller’s. The ACT guide calls it “an official process held between legal and financial representatives of the buyer and seller.”
- After
The keys and possession, unless something else was arranged.
The day, as each place describes it
NSWNew South Wales
A buyer must engage a lawyer or licensed conveyancer who subscribes to an Electronic Lodgment Network to settle electronically on their behalf. Your solicitor or licensed conveyancer tells you when settlement has happened and the title has been transferred to your name.
VICVictoria
“The sale is finalised at settlement when all checks have been made, the title and transfer documents exchanged, and the balance of the purchase price is paid.”
QLDQueensland
Queensland’s settlement-day page is written for sellers. It calls the day “a complex transaction” and tells sellers to have their legal and financial representatives deal with the buyer or the buyer’s representatives.
WAWestern Australia
Consumer Protection describes settlement as the date the buyer pays the seller the balance of the price, receives the title and becomes the registered owner, and takes possession unless other arrangements have been made. Among the things a settlement agent is expected to do, it lists attending settlement on your behalf.
SASouth Australia
SA.GOV.AU tells sellers to record a settlement date in the sale contract, and says this is the date the new owner takes legal possession of the property.
ACTAustralian Capital Territory
Access Canberra’s guide says that while exchanging contracts is legally binding, the sale is finalised only at settlement, once all checks are made, the title and transfer documents are exchanged and the balance of the price is paid. “Once settlement is completed, the agent is notified and you can obtain the keys and take possession of the property.”
NTNorthern Territory
On the day you can get the keys and take possession, unless something else was arranged; the final payment is made by the legal and financial representatives for you and the seller, and outstanding council rates and other charges are settled at the same time.
TASTasmania
None of the official pages this guide draws on describe settlement day in Tasmania. Tasmania’s Consumer, Building and Occupational Services says that if you use a solicitor or conveyancer and suffer a loss through their negligence, you may be able to take action against them, and that if you do your own conveyancing and make a mistake, you will be unable to get financial compensation for the loss.
If the day cannot go ahead
WAConsumer Protection says that if the buyer, or their settlement agent or lender, cannot keep to the agreed date, the buyer may owe the seller penalty fees.
QLDQueensland’s page for sellers says a buyer whose pre-settlement inspection finds the home not in good condition can ask their lawyer to delay settlement until the seller fixes the problem. The fourth stop, if something is wrong, sets out that and the other routes.
After the keys
Settlement ends the walk, but not every question. If you are buying a home that is not yet built, new homes and handover covers the certificate that has to come before the keys. To look back at the timing, see when it happens.