Be up-front with your Contract of Sale conditions

So you have decided to sell your property.

Selecting the agent, getting the property ready for sale, thinking of what needs to be done to get the best sale price will all be occupying your mind.

To ensure that the settlement of the sale proceeds smoothly, you should also be thinking at that early stage about any conditions you wish to include in the agreement for sale. Similiarly, if you are purchasing you should include such conditions in the negotiations, not just raise them at the time of signing.

It is always best to put your desired conditions 'on the table' early on in the process when negotiating the sale details with the selling agent. That can avert an awkward conversation when signing the Contract of Sale if any conditions need to be altered or added. Within the standard Contract of Sale, these conditions are referred to as "Special Conditions".

As a vendor selling a property, receiving an unconditional offer from a buyer to purchase your property is the best offer you can receive. To have that offer amended later with conditions when a purchaser signs a contract can be quite frustrating for you and of course the selling agent.

However, when buying a property you need to ensure you are protected with conditions that you may require, such as "subject to finance" or "subject to a satisfactory pest/building inspection report". These are the most common conditions for any purchaser to consider to have included in a contract. Whilst you can often rely upon a cooling off period, which is generally 3 business days after signing, the better approach is to discuss any conditions you require as early as possible to be fair to everyone involved in the Contract of Sale.

If you are unsure on what conditions to include, you should discuss that with the OFRM conveyancing department with a call to 03 5445 1000.