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Snapshot

  • Residential off-the-plan contracts exchanged from 1 December 2019 must include the new cooling-off notice and new disclosure statement.
  • Residential contracts which are not off-the-plan contracts must include the new cooling-off notice from 2 June 2020.
  • The 2019 Edition includes changes to reflect eConveyancing progress.

The main driver for the Contract for the Sale and Purchase of Land 2019 Edition (‘2019 Edition’) is the residential off-the-plan reforms, implemented by the Conveyancing Legislation Amendment Act 2018 and the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Amendment Regulation 2019. The 2019 Edition also includes other legislative and practice updates, including changes in relation to eConveyancing, the GST at settlement measure and the foreign resident capital gains withholding measure.

New 10 business day cooling off period

The cooling off period for purchases of off-the-plan properties has been increased from five business days to 10 business days under new off-the-plan reforms. Accordingly, the statutory cooling off notice which appears on page five of the contract for the sale and purchase of land has been revised. This new cooling off notice affects all sales of residential property as it includes both the new 10 business day cooling off period for off-the-plan contracts as well as the existing five business day cooling off period for all other contracts, such as existing residential homes.

The new cooling off notice must be used for all residential off-the-plan contracts exchanged from and including 1 December 2019. The new cooling off notice is separately available to download from the Law Society’s ECOS portal (see: www.lawsociety.com.au/ECOS).

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