What to check before buying a house in NSW: the pre-purchase checklist

The checks, in order

Costs are stated only where read from a government or registry page on 16 September 2026; otherwise the line says a fee applies. Everything in the table is expanded below.

Exchange binds you; settlement usually takes place around six weeks later. Do the free checks before you offer, the paid ones between offer and exchange, and use the cooling-off period only as a safety net.

The contract and what is attached to it

The contract for sale

In NSW the vendor's solicitor or conveyancer prepares the contract, and the agent must give it to you on request. The NSW Government's selling guide lists what it must include: a copy of the property certificate (the title search), the registered plan and dealings; a drainage diagram; a current section 10.7 zoning certificate from the local council; and a statement of your cooling-off rights in the prescribed form. If there is a swimming or spa pool, a valid compliance certificate, an occupation certificate issued within three years with evidence of pool registration, or a certificate of non-compliance must also be attached. Ask for the contract before you offer and send it to your conveyancer straight away; anything you want changed is negotiated before exchange, not after.

The section 10.7(2) certificate

The certificate is the council's statement of the planning rules for the parcel: the zone, the planning instruments that apply, and hazard notations including bush fire prone land, flood related development controls and contaminated land notices. It describes the parcel on its issue date and nothing beyond the boundary. Read the date first; if it is old, or you want the council's 10.7(5) advice the vendor did not buy, order your own from the council for a council fee. Our section 10.7 certificate page explains the certificate, compares three councils' fees and turnarounds, and lists what it does not cover.

Title search, plan and dealings

The title search names the registered owner and the dealings recorded on the folio. The registered plan shows the lot's boundaries, and where easements or restrictions were created on subdivision they are set out in a section 88B instrument that accompanies the plan. Your conveyancer reads each dealing and tells you what an easement or covenant lets someone else do on the land, or stops you doing. Under the Torrens system, title is guaranteed by the State Government, which is why the register is the document that matters.

A copy is already in the contract. If you want your own, NSW Land Registry Services' 2026-27 schedule lists a title search at $17.00 excluding GST, $18.70 including GST, over the counter, and plan images and 88B instruments at the same price. The public portal at NSW LRS Online offers a free street address inquiry to find the title reference, and refers wider record purchases to its authorised information brokers, who add their own charge.

NSW Government, Steps to selling a property · NSW LRS 2026/27 fees · NSW Registrar General, Property and conveyancing

If it is a unit: strata records and the section 184 certificate

Two documents make up what agents call a strata search. The first is an inspection of the owners corporation's records under section 182 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, usually commissioned from a strata inspector as a strata report; the NSW Government says it will reveal the scheme's finances, insurance, building defects, safety requirements, legal matters and meeting notes. The second is a section 184 certificate from the owners corporation, which states the names and addresses of the strata committee, the levies to be paid, any outstanding levies on the lot, and the proposals for funding the 10-year capital works plan. A fee is payable for the certificate. Read the by-laws, which bind every resident. Before any of that, the free NSW strata search tool shows the plan number, address, registration date, lot information and when the scheme last completed its annual reporting.

NSW Government, Buying a strata property · Pre-purchase inspection reports

The building and the land

Building and pest inspection

Arrange a building inspection and a pest inspection once your offer is accepted and before exchange; the NSW Government's buying checklist puts both under organising inspections and reports. Building inspections are usually done to Australian Standard AS 4349. Vendors do not have to commission any report or tell the agent about existing ones, but if the agent holds a record of a report they must note who prepared it and whether it is available for re-purchase, keep that record for three years, and disclose it to a buyer who asks for the contract. Ask. A re-purchased report is cheaper, but it was written for someone else; ask the inspector whether they will issue it to you.

Flood and bushfire

The 10.7 certificate says whether flood related development controls apply and whether the land is bush fire prone. It does not say how deep, how often, or what building to a bushfire attack level would cost. Both hazards have lot-level mapping you can read yourself, and both change what you can build and what you pay to insure. See flood check by address and bushfire prone land for the mapping and the council certificates, which are a council fee where offered.

Contaminated land record

The NSW Environment Protection Authority keeps a public record of the notices it issues under Part 5 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997, including preliminary investigation orders, together with site audit statements for significantly contaminated land. On 16 September 2026 the record held 2,296 notices relating to 446 sites. Search it by local government area, suburb, notice type and date, or by notice or area number. The EPA states the record is not a record of all contaminated land in NSW and does not list the notifications of contamination it receives; a former service station or dry cleaner next door will not be on it unless the EPA acted. The 10.7 certificate carries the council's own contaminated land notation, so read both.

NSW EPA, About the contaminated land record of notices · NSW Government, Buying property in NSW

The neighbourhood

Zoning and what can be built next door

Search the address in the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer and turn on the land zoning layer. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure describes the layer as identifying land use zones and the land uses that are permitted with or without consent, or prohibited, under the relevant environmental planning instrument; zones fall into business, environment, industrial, residential, recreation, rural, special and waterways groups. The zone on the lots around you tells you what could be built there. The council's development application tracker tells you what is proposed. Our land zoning check and development applications near an address pages walk through both.

Land value

The Valuer General determines a land value for every property at least once every three years. It is the value of the land only, not the home or other structures, and it is what council rates and land tax are based on. The land value search and the Land Values and Property Sales Map are free. You need the property number, which you can find from a property address enquiry or a title reference enquiry, or on the notice of valuation. If the tool does not work for you, the Valuer General takes land value searches on 1800 110 038. It is not a market valuation and Prova gives no view on price.

School catchments

The Department of Education says many NSW Government schools have specific local enrolment areas, and that the designated intake areas are determined by the department. Enter the address in School Finder to see the local school; the tool does not keep your address. The department notes a designated local school may not be the closest public school to the home. Intake areas are set by the department and can change, so check the address itself rather than relying on the listing.

Transport and noise

No dataset replaces standing on the footpath. Visit on a weekday morning, a weekday evening and a weekend night. Listen for the road, the rail line, the flight path and the pub. Time the walk to the station and the drive to work at the hour you would actually make them. If the Spatial Viewer shows a rail corridor or a classified road beside the lot, the planning controls for noise are in the 10.7 certificate's list of instruments; ask your conveyancer what they require.

NSW Planning Portal, Land Zoning dataset · NSW Government, Land value services and tools · Service NSW, Find out the land value of a property · NSW Department of Education, Enrolment

Money, the cooling-off period and your conveyancer

An insurance quote before exchange

Get a building insurance quote before you exchange, not after. A quote tells you two things a contract does not: whether an insurer will cover the property at all, and what flood or bushfire mapping does to the premium. Ask your conveyancer on what date your cover must start under the contract, and have the policy ready for that date.

The cooling-off period

When you buy a residential property in NSW you have a five business day cooling-off period after you exchange contracts. It starts at exchange and ends at 5pm on the fifth business day after the day of exchange. If you withdraw in that window you pay the vendor 0.25 per cent of the purchase price, $250 for every $100,000. There is no cooling-off period if you buy at auction or exchange on the day of the auction after the property is passed in, and off-the-plan contracts carry a 10 business day period. You can waive it by giving the vendor a 66W certificate, which vendors often ask for in a competitive sale; that is a decision to make with your conveyancer, not the agent. Settlement usually takes place around six weeks after exchange, and on the morning of settlement you do a final inspection to confirm the property is as it was at exchange.

What a conveyancer does

The NSW Government says conveyancers and solicitors are equally qualified to do conveyancing, and that in NSW conveyancers must be licensed with NSW Fair Trading. The work runs to sixteen steps, from examining the contract for sale, through checking the title with NSW Land Registry Services and arranging inspections, to exchanging the contract, calculating rate adjustments and attending settlement, where rates and utilities are pro-rated between buyer and seller on the settlement date. You can do your own conveyancing, but you are personally liable if there is a problem with the sale. Engage your conveyancer before you make an offer, so the contract is read before you are asked to sign it.

NSW Government, Contracts and deposits · Exchanging contracts and settlement · Conveyancing for property buyers and sellers

Questions about buying a house in NSW