Victoria private sale: what a buyer checks before signing the contract

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Kooky

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A private sale in Victoria has no auctioneer and no fixed hour. Consumer Affairs Victoria, the state's consumer regulator, describes it as a sale in which the property is advertised and buyers make their offers to the seller or to the seller's agent. That freedom is the attraction, and it is also where the work lies: nothing forces the buyer to finish the research before making an offer, and in Victoria the offer is usually made by signing the contract itself.

This guide follows the buyer's side of a Victorian private sale in the order the steps arrive. It covers the papers a buyer can expect to be shown, what each one does and does not say, the inspections the regulator suggests, how the price in the advertisement is governed since 1 October 2026, the conditions that can be written into an offer, and the short cooling-off period that follows a signature. Everything in it comes from pages published by Consumer Affairs Victoria. It sets out general rules; how they apply to one purchase depends on the property and on the contract.

Consumer Affairs Victoria. Residential property sold by private sale in Victoria; price range rule as stated on 1 October 2026.

Three documents a Victorian buyer is shown

Before any contract is signed, a buyer looking at a home in Victoria meets three documents, each with a different author and a different job.

The first is the due diligence checklist. It is written by the regulator, it is the same for every property, and it is a list of questions. It tells the buyer nothing about the home in front of them; it tells them what to ask.

The second is the Property Price Statement. It is prepared by the estate agent and it is about money: the price the agent indicates, the sales the agent compared the home with, and the median price for the suburb. Until 1 October 2026 it was called the Statement of Information.

The third is the Section 32 statement, also called the vendor's statement. Consumer Affairs Victoria says it is required by section 32 of the Sale of Land Act 1962, is usually prepared by the seller's legal practitioner or conveyancer, is signed by the seller and is attached to the contract of sale. It is about the title.

None of the three describes the state of the building. The buyer's own building or pest report, covered further down, is the only document of the set that the buyer commissions.

The due diligence checklist and who must supply it

Consumer Affairs Victoria states the duty plainly on its checklist page, last updated on 17 July 2025: all sellers or estate agents must make the checklist available to potential buyers of homes or residential property. The duty has two practical forms. Copies must be available at any open for inspection. And the seller or agent must put a link to the checklist page on any website they maintain; where no agent is acting, the seller's own site carries the link or a copy.

The page does not name the Act or section that creates the duty, and this guide does not supply one.

The regulator's page on inspecting properties describes the checklist as a help in identifying issues, and gives three examples: buying into an owners corporation, flood or fire risk, and whether recent renovations are covered by insurance. The checklist does not answer its own questions; each theme points the buyer to someone who can.

What the checklist asks a buyer to look into

The checklist is organised by theme. The table gathers the themes into groups and gives, for each, the point the regulator raises and where the page sends the buyer.

Several themes deserve more than a row. On owners corporations, the body once called a body corporate, the checklist notes that it can charge fees and impose rules, and gives a ban on pets as its example. On rural land, it lists questions that do not arise in a suburb: whether farming noise or odour nearby suits the buyer, whether native vegetation can be removed (the checklist says removal is regulated), the owner's obligations to manage weeds and pest animals, whether the council would allow a new dwelling, and whether the land adjoins Crown land, has a water frontage, contains a disused government road or carries Crown licences.

Two themes concern what lies under or around the land: exploration, mining and quarrying on or near the property, and whether past activity on the site or next door may have contaminated soil or groundwater in a way that limits future use.

The safety theme is where the checklist meets the building. It suggests professional inspections for electrical safety, illegal building work, pool or spa fencing, asbestos and termites. It adds a rule for pools: the owner of a pool or spa must register it with the council, have the barrier inspected every four years and lodge a certificate of compliance with the council. A buyer of a home with a pool takes on that cycle.

Two further items complete the list. In areas of Aboriginal cultural heritage sensitivity, some activities may need a cultural heritage management plan, which the checklist says can significantly affect time and cost. And for recent building or renovation work, the buyer is told to ask the vendor about any owner-builder insurance or builder's warranty that covers defects.

Reading the Section 32 statement for what it is

Consumer Affairs Victoria summarises the statement as information about the title: mortgages, covenants, easements, zoning, outgoings such as rates, and a declaration if the property is in a bushfire-prone area. The due diligence checklist says the encumbrances on a title appear in it. The regulator's page on inspections adds two uses. When a home has been renovated or extended, the buyer can look in the statement and ask the local council whether planning or building permits were obtained. And if a property is bushfire-prone, the seller must declare it there.

The regulator names three things the statement does not cover: the condition of the buildings, whether they comply with building regulations, and the accuracy of the measurements on the title.

Within its scope the standard is high. According to Consumer Affairs Victoria the statement must be factually accurate and complete, and if it is not, the buyer may be able to withdraw from the sale or take legal action against the seller. The words "may be able" leave the outcome to the facts of the case, and the pages read for this guide give no time limit for acting.

The regulator's buying checklist, an eighteen-item list last updated in May 2021, turns this into one line: have a legal practitioner or conveyancer check the Section 32 vendor's statement and the contract of sale. Its page on expert advice explains who those advisers are: a legal practitioner must hold a current practising certificate, a conveyancer must be licensed, and both must hold professional indemnity insurance.

The timing of the statement is scheduled to change. Consumer Affairs Victoria's page on the new property sales laws, updated on 1 October 2026, says that from 1 June 2027 a Section 32 statement must be available within 14 days after a property is advertised for private sale. For a property that is not advertised, or one sold within 14 days of being advertised, it must be available before the purchaser signs the contract. Until that date the current rules apply.

The Property Price Statement, new in October 2026

From 1 October 2026 the Statement of Information became the Property Price Statement. Consumer Affairs Victoria's guidance for estate agents, updated the same day, says an agent must prepare one for each residential property they are engaged to sell, whether or not the property is advertised. The rules apply to residential sales only; rural, commercial and industrial sales are outside them.

According to that guidance, the statement contains:

• an indicative selling price, given as a single price or as a range of up to 10 per cent;
• the key features of the property: building type, bedrooms, bathrooms, car spaces, internal floor space in square metres and land size in square metres;
• the details of the most comparable properties: address, sale date, sale price and key features;
• a statement if fewer than three comparable sales were used;
• the median price for the same type of property in the same suburb;
• the sale price, added within 7 days of the sale becoming unconditional, unless an exemption applies.

For an auction or a fixed-date sale it also carries the seller's reserve price, a requirement that applies to sales held on or from 16 October 2026. A fixed-date sale, in the regulator's definition, is one where the seller sets a date and time by which offers must be made. The pages read mention a published reserve price only for those two kinds of sale.

The comparable sales are not chosen freely. The guidance says a comparable property must be of similar standard or condition and must meet a test of time and distance, which differs by location.

The agent's estimate must take into account the three most comparable properties. Where only one or two can be found, the agent uses those and the statement says so.

A buyer does not have to hunt for the document. The guidance says it must be displayed at all open for inspections, shown prominently on the main online advertisement next to the advertised price, reachable from printed advertisements through a QR code or a web address, and given to a prospective buyer within 2 business days of a request. After a sale it stays published online for at least 18 months, with the sold price, unless an exemption has been granted; the regulator says exemptions exist for circumstances involving family or personal violence.

What an advertised price may and may not say

The price in a Victorian advertisement is tied to the same figures. Consumer Affairs Victoria defines underquoting as advertising a property at less than the agent's estimated selling price, less than the seller's asking price, or less than a price the seller has already rejected.

Three rules follow in the agent guidance. A price may be advertised as a single figure or as a range of up to 10 per cent; the regulator's own example is A$500,000 to A$550,000. Qualifying words and symbols such as "offers above", "from" or a plus sign are not permitted. And the advertised price must not sit below the estimated selling price, the seller's asking price if one was given, or any written offer the seller has rejected.

A worked example shows how the range moves. Assume a home advertised at a range starting at A$800,000; the figures are illustrative. Ten per cent of A$800,000 is A$80,000, so the widest range the advertisement may show is A$800,000 to A$880,000. Now assume a buyer makes a written offer of A$840,000 and the seller rejects it as too low. The guidance says the agent must update the indicative selling price and any advertised price that is below the rejected offer. The advertisement can no longer start under A$840,000, and a full 10 per cent range from that point would run to A$924,000. Online advertising must be removed or updated within one business day, and other advertising as soon as practicable.

The update depends on why the offer failed. Where an offer is rejected for other reasons, such as unacceptable terms, the guidance says no update is required.

The regulator states that non-compliance with these rules risks a penalty of more than A$50,000, which it gives as 240 penalty units, and that agents may be asked to justify their estimates and their comparable sales.

Inspecting the home, visit by visit

Consumer Affairs Victoria's page on inspections, updated on 22 April 2026, suggests several visits. The first tests the basics: location, size, age, access to facilities and style. Later visits look for repairs and structural problems, and the page lists the signs a lay visitor can see.

• Sloping or bouncy floors may mean the stumps need replacing.
• Damp brick walls can point to rising damp or salt damp.
• Blisters or bubbles in paintwork can point to termite activity.
• Cracked walls may mean the house is sinking; for large cracks the page suggests a structural engineer.
• Fretting, where mortar falls out of brickwork, can point to major structural problems.
• Damaged or deteriorating asbestos materials need repair.

The page attaches a warning to renovations. Illegal alterations, it says, may become the buyer's responsibility once the contract of sale is signed. Hence the two checks on permits mentioned earlier.

Building and pest reports

Before signing a contract of sale, Consumer Affairs Victoria suggests the buyer consider engaging a qualified building inspector, surveyor or architect to produce a written building inspection report. It directs buyers to the Building and Plumbing Commission to find a registered building practitioner.

According to the regulator, the report should list four things: any faults, whether they can be repaired, the likely cost of repairs, and any unsafe or unauthorised renovations or extensions. It gives the report two uses, to negotiate the price and the conditions of the contract, or to plan maintenance after the purchase.

Two cautions follow. The buyer should use an inspector who holds full professional indemnity insurance, which protects the buyer if a problem is missed. And the regulator tells buyers to be wary of reports offered by the agent or the seller, on the ground that only the buyer's own report guarantees independence.

For termites and other infestations the page suggests a professional pest inspection, and for a property built before 1990 it suggests considering an asbestos assessment. The pages read for this guide do not set a standard that a report must follow or a fee it should cost.

The choice is between two orders of work: a report first and an offer made with full knowledge, or an offer first, conditional on a satisfactory building or pest inspection. The second route needs the seller's agreement to the condition, and the regulator notes that a seller may reject an offer for reasons other than price, its conditions among them.

Budget and the finance condition

What Consumer Affairs Victoria says about buying with borrowed money is short and practical. Its planning page, last updated in May 2021, lists the costs of buying that sit beside the price: legal and conveyancing fees, financial adviser fees and commissions, loan establishment fees, land transfer duty, GST where it applies, building and pest inspection fees, an asbestos assessment for a home built before 1990, and moving costs. It then lists what continues afterwards: loan repayments, which it describes as usually running for 30 years, building and contents insurance, household bills, council rates and, where it applies, land tax.

On the loan itself the page makes two points. A buyer does not have to borrow the full amount a lender offers. And estate agents are prohibited from giving financial advice.

The link to the contract is the finance condition. The private sale page lists "subject to finance" first among the conditions a buyer can put in an offer, and says that where the contract is subject to finance the buyer should nominate a lender in the contract. The contrast with an auction is drawn in the buying checklist: a bidder generally cannot make an auction contract subject to finance without the vendor's agreement, so the checklist tells auction buyers to arrange a pre-approved loan. The regulator's pages do not explain how a finance condition operates if the loan is refused; that is set by the wording of the condition in the contract.

On GST, the regulator says it applies to new homes and generally not to established ones unless the seller is registered for GST, and that the contract must state whether the price includes GST and how much.

The offer, its conditions and the deposit

Where an agent manages the sale, Consumer Affairs Victoria says the buyer makes an offer through the agent by signing the contract of sale, and the agent takes it to the seller unless the seller has instructed otherwise. Where there is no agent, the offer goes directly to the seller. A verbal offer can be made, but only a written one can lead to a binding contract. The agent guidance adds that agents must pass on all verbal and written offers unless the seller instructs otherwise in writing, in which case the agent must tell prospective buyers that their offers will not be submitted.

On how much to offer, the regulator describes a risk. A seller holding several offers may accept another without giving the first buyer a chance to increase theirs.

The regulator suggests one safeguard for the interval between the two signatures: a date written into the contract on which the offer lapses, so the buyer knows by then whether it was accepted.

The contract records the price, the deposit, the settlement period, any conditions and the items included. The buying checklist adds a point about fittings: the buyer should ask the agent about items that look like fixtures but may be chattels the seller could take away, see that the items expected are listed in the contract and in working order, and check them again at the final inspection. The private sale page warns that an item left out of the contract may be hard to claim at settlement.

The deposit is paid with the written offer. The page fixes no percentage. It says who holds the money. In an agent-managed sale the agent must hold it in trust until settlement or transfer it to the trust account of the seller's legal practitioner or conveyancer. With no agent, it goes to the seller's legal practitioner or conveyancer, or to the seller, who must pass it to them or place it in a special purpose account at an authorised deposit-taking institution in Victoria in the names of both parties. If the seller does not accept the offer, the deposit is returned.

The existing process for releasing a deposit to the seller before settlement is to be repealed from 1 July 2027, according to the regulator's changes page, after which seller and purchaser can agree to early release through a condition of the contract. Should a legal practitioner or conveyancer misuse a deposit held in trust, the expert advice page says a claim may be made on the Fidelity Fund for legal practitioners or the Victorian Property Fund for conveyancers.

Three clear business days to cool off

A buyer of residential property by private sale in Victoria, or of rural property under 20 hectares, has a cooling-off period of three clear business days. Consumer Affairs Victoria states that it runs from the date the buyer signs the contract, not from the date the seller signs. In the order of steps shown above, the clock therefore starts at the third step, before the sale exists. The page does not explain how "clear" days are counted, and no example is offered here.

To withdraw, the buyer gives written notice to the seller or to the seller's agent. The buyer is then refunded all money paid, less the greater of A$100 or 0.2 per cent of the purchase price.

As a worked example, with illustrative figures: on a contract at A$840,000, 0.2 per cent is A$1,680, which is more than A$100, so A$1,680 is the amount kept. If the buyer had paid a deposit of A$84,000 (an assumption, since the regulator sets no standard deposit), the refund would be A$84,000 less A$1,680, which is A$82,320. On a contract at A$1.1 million the amount kept would be A$2,200.

The right has five exceptions on the regulator's page. There is no cooling-off period where:

1. the property was bought at a public auction, or within three clear business days before or after one;
2. the property is used mainly for industrial or commercial purposes;
3. the property is over 20 hectares and used mainly for farming;
4. the buyer previously signed a contract for the same property on the same terms;
5. the buyer is an estate agent or a corporate body.

The first exception is wider than the auction itself: it also covers a purchase made within three clear business days before or after a public auction. The regulator's page gives no example of how that applies in a particular case. The fifth concerns who is buying: a corporate body has no cooling-off period either.

Cooling off and conditions are separate protections. The cooling-off period comes from the law and costs a fixed fraction of the price. A finance or inspection condition comes from the contract, exists only if the seller agreed to it, and works on the terms written.

In a Victorian private sale the buyer's signature is both the offer and the start of the clock, so the reading comes first.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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