Legal Guide for Buying Property in Sydney, NSW

Karunn Shahani

Principal Lawyer

When buying property in Sydney or New South Wales, most buyers will typically follow the same process. This guide sets out an overview of the property buying procedure.


Step 1 – Funding the property purchase

The first step is to figure out how you are going to fund your property purchase and how much you can afford to spend. This Is usually either by way of your own funds, or by a combination of your own funds, together with a loan from a bank or other lender.

When understanding the funding requirements, its also important to understand the costs associated with conducting searches and due diligence enquiries, legal costs, and stamp duty, as these will all impact the amount of money you have available to pay for the property.

Step 2 – Finding a property to buy

Finding a property can be a very time consuming process. You’ll want to make sure that the property you buy meets your needs. For a home, this might be highly specific, but for an investment the individual features (such as the layout and appliances) probably won’t matter as much as the expected return on the investment.

Some people will get help with their property search by enlisting the services of a professional buyer’s agent.

Step 3 – Reviewing the property sale contract and conducting due diligence

Once you’ve told the vendor or their selling agent that you’re interested in the property, they will usually provide you with a contract for the sale of land. This contract contains all of the terms and conditions associated with the sale, such as the price, settlement period, how adjustments are made, any obligations of the parties, how settlement will actually take place, and much more. Contracts In NSW are typically 50-100 pages but can range into thousands of pages, and you’ll need a lawyer to review this and provide you with advice on its content.

Apart from the terms of the sale, the contract will also include documents such as title searches, diagrams of the land, planning and zoning information, and details of anything affecting the title to the land, such as positive covenants, restrictions on the use of land, a right of way, or other easements. It’s important that you understand and get advice on anything affecting the title, as encumbrances on title might prevent you from using the property in the way you had intended.

At this stage it’s also important to conduct due diligence on the property. This can include things like arranging for a building inspector to prepare a building and pest inspection report, or arranging for a strata inspector to search the records of the strata scheme and compile their findings in strata report. The sky is the limit when it comes to due diligence, although the circumstances of the sale will often limit the time available to conduct due diligence on the property.

Step 4 – Negotiating and signing contracts

After you have received advice on your contract, your property lawyer may need to negotiate amendments to that contract based on what is in the contract and what your individual requirements are. At this stage your lawyer will reach out to the vendor’s lawyer and will make these requests.

Once the contract is negotiated to a form you are happy with, you’ll then arrange signing (or in the case of an auction, you’ll then be in a position attend the auction and bid on the property.

In New South Wales, contracts are entered into by way of exchanged counterparts – meaning that the vendor will sign one copy and give it to the purchaser to keep, and the purchaser will sign one identical copy and give it to the vendor to keep. At this time a deposit will also be paid by the purchaser (usually 10% of the price) and the contracts will be dated. From this point the contract is binding on both parties, subject to any contract conditions such as a cooling off period.

Step 5 – Completing pre-settlement processes

Once contracts have been exchanged, your property solicitor will be ensuring that you meet all of your compliance obligations, and that the vendor meets all of their obligations. This includes things such as facilitating payment of your stamp duty, and arranging for the various tax declarations to be provided to the tax office by you and the vendor.

At this stage your legal representatives will also be checking to make sure there are no outstanding rates or taxes on the property which you might inherit, and will also be serving the vendor with requisitions on title, which is a bunch of questions that check that the vendor’s title to the land isn’t defective.

During this time your lawyers or conveyancers will also be assisting you in making final settlement calculations, scheduling settlement, and if you have a bank involved in the transaction, making sure that your bank is ready to settle on time.

Step 6 – Completing the purchase of your property

On the date of settlement, you will typically conduct a final inspection of the property to make sure that everything is in the same condition as what it was when you signed the contract.

The actual financial and legal settlement will usually take place in an electronic workspace which will have both parties’ lawyers, as well as any incoming our outgoing lenders.

At the time of settlement, ownership details of the land will be updated with NSW Land Registry Services, and simultaneously the funds that you owe to the vendor will be transferred to them, along with any outstanding payments being made to the council, water authority, the tax office, and any other relevant parties.

Once settlement is complete, you’ll be ready to pick up the keys and enjoy the ownership of your new property. If the property is tenanted, you may not

The property solicitors and conveyancers at Thornton + King have decades of specialised experience in buying property in Sydney and New South Wales. If you’re thinking of buying property, we’d love to work with you. Give us a call or submit an enquiry now.

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What our customers say

Andy was fantastic with our families recent property purchases. We had a longer wait to settle but Andy kept us updated on the status and next steps. As with property purchases the stress levels are high but Andy was calm and reassuring and made the process as seamless as possible. Would recommend Andy and Alan for your next property purchase.

Kylie Bone

a week ago

September 24th, 2024

Highly recommended. The team at Thornton + King was very responsive, very knowledgeable and professional. We felt extremely supported and at ease throughout the sale of our IP. Definitely engaging with the firm again for our next property acquisition/sale.

Jerry L

3 months ago

September 24th, 2024

My wife & I have engaged Vanessa Caputo for conveyancing numerous times over the last 10 years. Our experience has been consistently good. Vanessa is able to tap into her considerable experience to provide salient advice & guidance throughout the whole process, be it a property purchase or a sale. We've also received great service from Vanessa's support team, particularly Andy Ha...

Neil O'Malley

4 months ago

September 24th, 2024

Awesome work by Andy. Kept me in the loop at all times and ensured that a smooth settlement went through for my clients. Highly recommend!

Melvin Bautista

2 months ago

September 24th, 2024

Highly recommended. We were very nervous about our purchase via our Super Fund and these guys are all over it. Kept us calm, knew exactly what to do and were super efficient, even though it was over the Christmas/New Year period, they were there! Thank you so much Vanessa, Alan and Amber who looked after us.

Chriss Costi

9 months ago

September 24th, 2024

I have used Thornton + King's service for the purchase of our first home. All throughout the process, they have been very professional and honest with their feedback. They ensured that we understand the impacts of clauses in the contract and possible risks associated with them. We have been able to take informed decisions for every single time and at the end had a very smooth set...

Narayanan Unni

a year ago

September 24th, 2024

Thornton and King were engaged by my wife and I to handle the sale of our apartment. This was our first engagement with them as our previous solicitor had retired and they came highly recommended. I must say I found the experience smooth and faultless. The communication was concise and clear. All aspects were handled with professionalism and at all times we felt our sale was thei...

Neil Ashley

a year ago

September 24th, 2024

The solicitors and support team were so amazing I have never experienced a well connected team that delivers seamlessly. I have purchased many properties over the past 20 years and never had an experience like this.I highly recommend this amazing team 10/10 from me.Thank you so much for the drive and dedication.

Jane

a year ago

September 24th, 2024

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