Property due diligence
The cooling-off period
Cooling-off compared across all 8 Australian states and territories, then Victoria's full detail — length, start date, refund calculation and exclusion list.
Key points
- Two states — Western Australia and Tasmania — have no automatic statutory cooling-off period at all; protection there depends entirely on contract conditions the buyer negotiates.
- Victoria: 3 clear business days, starting the day after the buyer signs — not the seller.
- NSW and Queensland: 5 business days each — materially longer than Victoria; South Australia's 2-day period is the shortest of the states that have one.
- The withdrawal cost differs too: Victoria charges the greater of $100 or 0.2% of price; NSW and the ACT charge 0.25% of the price and Queensland up to 0.25%; the Northern Territory charges no penalty at all.
- Auction purchases get no cooling-off almost everywhere; a Victorian private sale signed within 3 days of that property's auction date also loses it.
- Also excluded in Victoria: mainly industrial/commercial property, rural land over 20 hectares used mainly for farming, a repeat contract on the same terms, and agent/corporate buyers.
How long is the cooling-off period in Victoria?
In Victoria, a buyer in a private sale has 3 clear business days from signing the contract (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026), unless one of the exclusions listed below applies. Withdrawing means forfeiting the greater of $100 or 0.2% of the price (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026). There is no cooling-off right for a property bought at public auction, or within three clear business days before or after one (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026). Other states differ: NSW and Queensland give 5 business days (NSW Department of Customer Service (in collaboration with NSW Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026) (Queensland Government (Office of Fair Trading), verified 12 Aug 2026), while Western Australia and Tasmania have no automatic right (Consumer Protection WA (Government of Western Australia), verified 12 Aug 2026) (Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) Tasmania, verified 12 Aug 2026). The table below compares every state and territory.
Eight jurisdictions, three genuinely different approaches
Most states give a residential buyer a statutory cooling-off right after a private-sale contract is signed, with auctions the near-universal exception — but two states (WA and Tasmania) have no automatic cooling-off period at all, and the length, start date and withdrawal cost vary significantly among the rest. Assuming another state works like Victoria is a genuine, costly mistake.
The starkest difference isn't the number of days — it's that Western Australia and Tasmania have no automatic cooling-off right at all. A WA or Tasmanian buyer's only protection is whatever conditions they negotiate directly into their contract before signing; there's no statutory fallback if they forget one. NSW's and Queensland's five-day periods are materially longer than Victoria's three, and South Australia's two-day period is the shortest of the states that have one at all. The rest of this guide covers Victoria's rules in full detail; see each state's official resource above for its own detailed rules, or how buying works in each state for NSW, Queensland, WA and SA from cooling-off to settlement.
Victoria in detail: the real length and start date
A cooling-off period of three clear business days applies to private sales of residential and small rural property in Victoria. It begins from the date the buyer signs the contract, not the date the seller signs it (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026) — so it can already be running before the sale is even fully agreed. "Clear business days" excludes weekends and public holidays, and counting starts the day after signing.
The refund isn't 100%
If a buyer exercises their cooling-off right, they're entitled to a refund of any money paid, less $100 or 0.2% of the purchase price, whichever is greater (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026). On a $700,000 property, 0.2% is $1,400 — more than the flat $100 — so the buyer would forfeit $1,400, not $100.
The full exclusion list
Victoria's private-sale cooling-off period does not apply if: the property was bought at public auction, or within three clear business days before or after one (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026); the property is used mainly for industrial or commercial purposes; the property is rural land over 20 hectares used mainly for farming; the buyer previously signed a contract for the same property on substantially the same terms; or the buyer is an estate agent or a corporate body (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 30 Jul 2026). The auction-proximity exclusion catches the most buyers by surprise — it applies to a private-sale contract too, not just an actual auction purchase.
Worked example
A buyer signs a private-sale contract on a $700,000 townhouse on a Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are clear business days, so the cooling-off period runs until close of business Thursday. If they withdraw on Wednesday, they forfeit $1,400 (0.2% of $700,000, which is greater than $100) and get the rest of their deposit back.
Common mistake: assuming cooling-off automatically applies to any private sale. If the contract was signed within three clear business days of that property's advertised auction date, it doesn't — even though no auction actually happened for this buyer.
Want this as a checklist for your own purchase? Start free in the Delora app
Practical checklist
If you're relying on cooling-off
- Confirm the property wasn't advertised for auction within the last/next 3 clear business days
- Calculate the exact end date, excluding weekends and public holidays
- Know the forfeit amount (greater of $100 or 0.2% of price) before you sign
- Don't treat cooling-off as a substitute for finance or inspection conditions
Relevant Delora tool
Questions for a professional
- Does cooling-off actually apply to this specific contract?
- What is the exact cooling-off end date for this contract?
Official resources
- Consumer Affairs Victoria: Buying property by private sale
- Consumer Affairs Victoria: Buying property at auction
- NSW Government: Contracts and deposits when buying property
- Queensland Government: Cooling-off period for residential property contracts
- Consumer Protection WA: Sale by Offer and Acceptance
- SA.GOV.AU: Offers, auctions and buying off the plan
- CBOS Tasmania: Advice when buying or selling property
- ACT Legislation Register: Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003
- NT.GOV.AU: Contract of sale
Important limitations: This is general education about how cooling-off works across Australia, not personalised legal advice. Confirm the specific contract's cooling-off status with a licensed conveyancer or solicitor before relying on it. The South Australian and ACT figures are corroborated across multiple independent legal-industry sources citing the same primary regulator/legislation, but the exact primary-source page text wasn't directly extracted this session (a collapsed accordion for SA, an index-only legislation page for the ACT) — treat those two as medium- rather than fully primary-confirmed pending a follow-up check.
Sources and methodology
- Buying property by private sale — Consumer Affairs Victoria (retrieved 30 Jul 2026, last checked 7 Aug 2026). Licence: CC BY 4.0
- Buying property at auction — Consumer Affairs Victoria (retrieved 30 Jul 2026, last checked 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
- Cooling-off period for residential property contracts (for buyers only) — Queensland Government (Office of Fair Trading) (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: Queensland Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
- Sale by Offer and Acceptance — Consumer Protection WA (Government of Western Australia) (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
- Offers, auctions and buying off the plan — Government of South Australia (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
- Advice when buying or selling property — Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) Tasmania (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
- Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003 (A2003-40) — ACT Government (Justice and Community Safety Directorate) (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: Government content, reproduced for research/citation purposes
- Contract of sale — Northern Territory Government (retrieved 12 Aug 2026). Licence: 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.
Evidence record
Keep reading
- The risks of an unconditional offer Next in Complete due diligence
- Sale method and commitment point On Sale process
- Private-sale offers and conditions On Sale process
- Planning verification Also in Complete due diligence
- Make an offer Next step