Before a lawyer can tell you much about a contract, they need the contract. This is what to send, and what a review looks at, so that the first conversation is about your transaction rather than about missing paperwork.
What to have ready
The contract and everything attached to it. The full document as the agent or the seller’s solicitor sent it, including the annexures and the disclosure documents that came with it. Send it as you received it rather than as a printed extract.
Who is selling, and through whom. The agent’s details and the seller’s solicitor or conveyancer if you have them.
Where your finance stands. Whether you have approval, conditional approval or neither, and from whom. It changes what can safely be agreed.
Any reports you have already paid for. A building and pest report, a strata report, a survey. If you have not ordered any, say so.
Anything you have been told rather than sent. What the agent said about the inclusions, the settlement date or what the seller will fix. A verbal assurance is worth raising early, because whether it means anything depends on what the contract says.
What a review is looking at
Whether the property and the parties are described correctly. What is included and excluded. Which disclosure documents are attached and what they show. The dates the contract sets, and what happens if one is not met. Any special conditions the seller has added, and what each one changes.
Cooling-off arrangements differ between transactions and between types of sale, so whether one applies to you is a question about your contract rather than a general rule. NSW Government guidance on buying and selling property sets out the framework, and our guide on cooling off covers the shape of it.
Costs you will want a figure for
Transfer duty can be a significant transaction cost. Rates, thresholds and concessions change, so rather than quoting a number here: Revenue NSW publishes the current rates and a calculator on its transfer duty page. Bring what it tells you and we can talk about the rest of the figure.
Before you sign or pay anything
Where you can, ask before you sign, before you pay a deposit and before you bid. If a date has already been set — an auction, a deadline in an offer, or a contract you have already signed — say so at the start, because that changes what is still open to you and what has to happen first.
How it works sets out the sequence from here, and the pages on residential purchase and off-the-plan purchases describe what each involves.
General information, not legal advice. It does not take into account your circumstances or your contract. If you want advice about your own transaction, tell us where you are up to.