General information, not legal advice. Your own contract decides what is included. The official pages are listed at the foot of this page, and a conveyancer or solicitor can go through the list in your contract with you.
Consumer Affairs Victoria says the contract of sale should state the items in the property that are part of the purchase, and warns: “If these items are not listed in the contract and you sign it, it may be difficult to claim ownership of those items at settlement.” On the final walk-through, that list is what you check the rooms against.
Three words, as two official pages use them
- Fixtures
- ACTAccess Canberra’s buyers’ guide defines them as “Items which are attached to the property and cannot be removed without causing damage to the property such as bathroom suites, built-in wardrobes and kitchen stoves. They are usually included in the sale.”
- Fittings
- ACTThe same guide: “Items which can be removed without damaging the property such as garden ornaments or curtains. They must be listed in the contract for the sale of residential property if the buyer wants them to remain with the property.”
- Chattels
- WAConsumer Protection WA says the seller must remove chattels unless the contract specifies otherwise, and that buyer and seller should both make sure the contract clearly lists what is to stay and what is to go.
The definitions above are the ACT guide’s and the WA page’s. They carry their place’s label, like every rule on this site; the words in your own contract are the ones that count.
Before the contract is signed
The list is settled long before the walk-through, while the contract is still being negotiated.
- VICConsumer Affairs Victoria says negotiation may involve “agreeing on the items that will be included or excluded from the sale”, giving a dishwasher as its example.
- WAConsumer Protection says that if you want changes or particular items included, you add those terms to the contract, and the terms need the seller’s acceptance. Its page on offer and acceptance contracts lists matters that special conditions can cover, among them repairs to the property and electrical, gas and plumbing fixtures and fittings being in working order.
- QLDFor a home with a solar system, Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading suggests asking the sellers for the documents they have about it, which could include a warranty document and the maintenance schedules the installer set out.
On the walk-through, contract in hand
- VIC“Check all the items listed in the contract are there and in the right condition.”
- QLDMake sure the home is still in the same condition as when you signed the contract and, in particular, “check anything you specifically included in your contract.”
- QLDQueensland’s page for sellers tells them: “You must leave your home vacant and clean.”
- WAThe General Conditions that form part of most WA sale contracts include conditions on possession, including vacant possession.
- ACTFor goods, the contract makes their condition at settlement subject to “fair wear and tear”.
Papers that come with the home
Some of what passes to the buyer is paper rather than fittings, and Victoria names one document in its law.
VICVictoria’s Sale of Land Act 1962 says that where a building on the land has a building manual approved by a relevant building surveyor, the vendor must give the purchaser an up-to-date copy of it on settlement. That duty does not apply if the land is affected by an owners corporation.
When the list and the room disagree
An item on the list that is missing, or a fixture that no longer works, is a matter for the next stop, if something is wrong. If you are buying a newly built home, new homes and handover covers the certificates and contract rights that come before the keys. For the timing of the walk, see when it happens.