NSW
NSW contract for sale review checklist for conveyancing and law firms
What a thorough NSW contract review covers, from prescribed documents and planning to special conditions, and where reviews most often go wrong.
A NSW contract review checks that the contract for sale has every prescribed document attached, that the documents agree with each other, and that the special conditions don't quietly shift risk onto the purchaser. For a firm, the risk sits in the gaps: a missing drainage diagram, a planning certificate affectation nobody mentioned, or a special condition that excludes a standard term. This checklist sets out what a thorough review covers.
What must be attached to a NSW contract?
Under the Conveyancing Act 1919 and the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022, the vendor must attach the prescribed documents before the purchaser signs. These include a title search, the plan, each dealing that creates an easement, covenant or restriction on the title, a section 10.7 planning certificate and a sewer service diagram. Where a prescribed document is missing, the purchaser may have a right to rescind, so purchasers rely on their firm to find problems before exchange.
The NSW contract review checklist
- Front page. Parties, price, deposit, completion date, and inclusions and exclusions match the client's instructions.
- Title. Title search current, vendor matches the registered proprietor, and every dealing on the title identified and explained.
- Plan and dealings. Deposited or strata plan attached, and every easement, covenant and restriction located and read against the plan.
- Planning certificate. Section 10.7 certificate attached, with zoning and affectations such as heritage, bushfire and flood noted for the client.
- Drainage diagram. Sewer service diagram attached and checked against the improvements on the land.
- Swimming pool. Certificate of compliance, certificate of non-compliance or occupation certificate attached where a pool exists.
- Strata. Strata plan and by-laws attached. Levies, special levies and the capital works fund are checked in a separate strata inspection report, which the firm reviews alongside the contract.
- Special conditions. Every special condition read against the standard terms, with any condition that amends or excludes a standard clause flagged for the client.
- Tenancies. Lease attached and consistent with the contract where the property is sold subject to a tenancy.
- Off-the-plan. Disclosure statement and sunset clause reviewed where the sale is off the plan.
- Cooling-off. Cooling-off period stated correctly, and any section 66W certificate handled before exchange.
Where NSW contract reviews go wrong
Most problems are not in a single document. They sit between documents: a plan that shows an easement the dealings don't explain, or a special condition that changes what the standard terms promise. A careful review reads the contract pack as a whole and cross-checks values across it before any advice is drafted.
How firms speed up the review without cutting corners
Contract review software reads every page of the contract pack, extracts the details into a structured review, and cross-checks values between documents. Curia does this for NSW firms, with a citation to the page and clause on every entry, and produces the customer report and amendment list. The firm makes every legal call. Bell Conveyancing cut its average review from 90 minutes to 45.