Buying by state

Buying a home in New South Wales

How the cooling-off period, the contract, auctions, the deposit and settlement work in New South Wales, with every rule linked to the government source it comes from.

Cooling-off period

• In New South Wales, a buyer of residential property has a 5 business day cooling-off period starting from exchange of contracts and ending at 5pm on the fifth business day after exchange (Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) s66S). Off-the-plan contracts get a 10 business day cooling-off period. No cooling-off period applies to a property bought at auction, or where contracts are exchanged on the same day as an auction after the property is passed in. A buyer can waive the cooling-off period with a signed section 66W certificate, or vary it by written agreement with the vendor. (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)
• If a NSW buyer withdraws from a residential contract during the 5-business-day cooling-off period, they must pay the vendor a termination penalty of 0.25% of the purchase price (Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) s66W(1A)) — for example $250 for every $100,000 of purchase price. (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)
• No cooling-off period applies to a property bought at auction in New South Wales, or where contracts are exchanged on the same day as the auction after the property has been passed in. (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)

The contract and the seller's disclosure

• A NSW vendor must attach prescribed documents (Schedule 1 of the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022) to the contract before it is signed — including a zoning certificate, drainage diagram, title/plan documents and, for pool properties, occupation/registration evidence — plus a statement of the buyer's cooling-off rights. If a required document is missing, the buyer may be entitled to rescind the contract within 14 days of exchange, unless settlement has already occurred. (NSW Government, verified 7 Aug 2026)
• In New South Wales, the seller of a strata property must include a copy of the strata plan and the scheme's by-laws as part of the contract of sale — a legal requirement. (NSW Fair Trading, verified 12 Aug 2026)
• In NSW, an agent is legally obliged to pass on to the vendor any further offers received for the property up until the exchange of contracts -- the same core disclosure duty as Victoria's, though NSW frames the risk of a seller changing their mind after an agreed price as 'gazumping'. If a buyer is gazumped, neither the agent nor the seller has to compensate them for money spent on legal advice, inspection reports, or finance application costs -- but any expression-of-interest deposit paid must be refunded in full. (NSW Government (NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)

Buying at auction

• To bid at a residential or rural property auction in NSW, a buyer must register with the selling agent and present proof of identity, recorded in the agent's bidders record. (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)
• At an NSW auction, the auctioneer is entitled to make one bid only on behalf of the seller (a vendor bid), and must announce immediately before or while making it that it is a vendor bid. The vendor's reserve price must be given to the auctioneer in writing before the auction starts. (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)
• Dummy bidding at an NSW auction is illegal. A court penalty of up to $55,000 may be imposed on an individual (a person who makes a dummy bid, arranges for one, a seller who requests one, or an involved agent/auctioneer), and up to $110,000 on a corporation. (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)

Every auction rule in New South Wales, from registering to a passed-in property: buying at auction in New South Wales.

The deposit

• The successful bidder at an NSW auction must sign the contract of sale and pay the deposit — usually 10% of the purchase price — on the spot at the fall of the hammer. (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026)

The NSW Government's contracts page says a deposit is paid at exchange but states no private-sale percentage, so none is given here.

Settlement

• In NSW the buyer pays a deposit at exchange of contracts, and exchange is what makes the purchase legally binding: until then either side can usually change their mind. The NSW Government says settlement usually takes place around 6 weeks after exchange; at settlement the buyer pays the rest of the price and becomes the legal owner. The contract sets the actual date. (NSW Government, verified 22 Oct 2026)
• In New South Wales, transfer duty must be paid to Revenue NSW by the earliest of: the settlement date (for a property transfer), or within 3 months of signing the contract for sale. This can require payment before settlement if settlement is negotiated to occur more than 3 months after the contract is signed. Revenue NSW charges daily interest on any overdue amount. (Revenue NSW, verified 12 Aug 2026)

Buying in another state

The same five steps work differently across the border. Compare them on buying a home by state, or go straight to Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia.

Practical checklist

Before you sign in New South Wales

• Read the seller's disclosure documents with your own conveyancer, settlement agent or lawyer
• Check whether a cooling-off period applies to the way you are buying (private sale or auction)
• Make sure any condition you rely on, such as finance or an inspection, is written into the contract
• Confirm the deposit amount, when it is due and who will hold it
• Put the settlement date, and every deadline before it, in your calendar

Questions for a professional

• Does a cooling-off period apply to this contract, and when exactly does it end?
• Which disclosure documents has the seller given me, and is anything missing?
• What conditions are in this contract, and what happens if one is not met?
• When is the deposit due, and when can it be released to the seller?

Official resources

• NSW Government: contracts and deposits
• NSW Government: buying property at an auction
• NSW Government: making an offer on a property

Sources and methodology

• Contracts and deposits when buying property in NSW | NSW Government — NSW Government (retrieved 7 Aug 2026). Licence: CC BY 4.0
• Contracts and deposits when buying property in NSW — NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading) (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: NSW Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
• Buying property at an auction — NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading) (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: NSW Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
• Steps to selling a property | NSW Government — NSW Government (retrieved 7 Aug 2026). Licence: CC BY 4.0
• Buying a strata property — NSW Fair Trading (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: NSW Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
• Making an offer on a property — NSW Government (NSW Fair Trading) (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: NSW Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
• Contracts and deposits when buying property in NSW | NSW Government — NSW Government (retrieved 22 Oct 2026). Licence: CC BY 4.0
• Who pays transfer duty and when — Revenue NSW (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: NSW Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes

Figures on this page are drawn from Delora's local knowledge graph, refreshed from these primary sources and checked for changes on a regular schedule. If a figure here looks out of date, the official source above is always the authority — please let us know.