What we help with / Buying or selling a home
Buying or selling a home in Victoria
What to check before you sign, when you can pull out, and what changes if you live in Poland. This page covers Victorian property only.
In short
- Before you sign a contract to buy, the seller must give you a signed vendor’s statement, often called the section 32 statement. Have both checked before you sign, not after.
- If you buy other than at auction, you usually have three clear business days to cool off. The seller can keep the greater of $100 and 0.2% of the price. Auctions have no cooling-off.
- The buyer pays land transfer duty. Foreign purchasers pay an extra 8% duty, and until 30 June 2029 they generally cannot buy an established home.
- Selling a Victorian home while living in Poland? You can usually sign electronically or through an attorney, without flying in.
- Cost and next step: we give you a written quote before work starts. Phone 1800 776 529 or write to us; we reply within one business day.
What a lawyer does when you buy or sell
On a purchase, we check the contract, the vendor’s statement and the title, and explain conditions such as finance approval. We order further searches where needed, work out the adjustments and run the settlement.
On a sale, we prepare the vendor’s statement, settle the contract with the agent and arrange the mortgage discharge. Settlement is usually electronic, as lawyers and conveyancers must lodge land dealings electronically wherever possible. We act across Victoria, including for people living interstate or in Poland, but not on sales under another state’s law.
The statement lists mortgages, insurance, zoning, notices, permits, any owners corporation, services and title (Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic) ss 32A to 32I). If it is missing, false or incomplete, you can usually rescind until you accept title and take possession (s 32K). A court can refuse this if the seller acted honestly and reasonably and you are no worse off.
Cooling-off: how long it lasts, how to use it and what it costs
You can withdraw until three clear business days after you sign (s 31(2)). Weekends and Victoria-wide public holidays do not count (s 30).
Sign a written notice and, in time, give it to the seller or their agent, or leave it at their address (s 31(3)). The seller may keep the greater of $100 and 0.2% of the price; on $800,000, that is $1,600 (s 31(4)).
Publicly advertised auctions have no cooling-off, nor do sales within three clear business days either side or on the day (s 31(5)). Company and estate agent buyers do not get one either. Land used mainly for industrial or commercial purposes, and farms over 20 hectares, are excluded too (s 31(1)).
The deposit: who holds it and when the seller can have it
The agent, lawyer or conveyancer holding your deposit holds it as stakeholder until you are entitled to a transfer (s 24). The seller can ask for early release only once no condition for your benefit, such as finance, is outstanding. You must also have accepted title (s 27(2)).
The seller must then give you written details of any mortgage and caveat (s 27(3)). You have 28 days to object in writing with reasons, and silence counts as consent (s 27(6), (7)).
Stamp duty, foreign purchasers and FIRB approval
The buyer pays land transfer duty (Duties Act 2000 (Vic) s 12). The State Revenue Office calculator shows the amount and any concession, such as for a first home. A foreign purchaser pays an extra 8% on residential property, with no concession on that part (ss 19A, 28A).
Australian citizens, permanent visa holders and New Zealand citizens resident in Australia are not foreign purchasers (s 3).
A foreign person needs federal approval before buying residential land (Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) ss 47, 81). Applications go through the ATO. A non-citizen counts as foreign unless they spent 200 days here in the past year and may stay indefinitely (ss 4, 5).
Temporary visa holders are therefore foreign persons. Australian citizens, even those living in Poland, are exempt (Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Regulation 2015 (Cth) s 35(1)). So are permanent visa holders, and a spouse or partner buying as joint tenants with either (s 38(2), (3)).
From 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, Government policy generally bans foreign persons from buying established dwellings. The few exceptions mostly concern developers and employers. New homes and vacant land can still be bought with approval, and the contract can be conditional on it (Guidance Note 6).
Selling from Poland
You do not need to fly to Australia. You can usually sign electronically, or appoint an attorney in Victoria (see Powers of attorney). Our guide Property in Victoria from Poland explains identity checks and overseas signing.
A seller who is an Australian tax resident needs an ATO clearance certificate by settlement. Without it, the buyer must hold back 15% of the price. For a foreign resident seller, the buyer withholds 15% unless the ATO approves less (Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) sch 1 s 14-200).
Questions
Have another question? Phone 1800 776 529 or send us a message.
Not under the cooling-off rules, which do not apply at auction (s 31(5)). Other rights may still apply, for example if you never received a vendor’s statement.
No (s 35(1)(a) of the Regulation). You also do not pay the 8% foreign purchaser duty.
Yes. A permanent visa holder needs no foreign investment approval (s 38(2)(a) of the Regulation) and is not a foreign purchaser for duty.
Law referred to
- Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic) ss 24, 27, 30, 31, 32A to 32I, 32K
- Duties Act 2000 (Vic) ss 3, 12, 19A, 28A
- Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) ss 4, 5, 47, 81
- Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Regulation 2015 (Cth) ss 35(1), 38(2), (3)
- Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) sch 1 s 14-200
Radek Dajer is an Australian lawyer and notary public who speaks Polish. He practises Australian law and does not advise on Polish law; for questions of Polish law, we bring in a lawyer or notary in Poland.
Buying or selling a home in Victoria?
Send us the contract and vendor’s statement before you sign; you will hear from us within one business day.
Phone: 1800 776 529
Email: info@polishlawyer.com.au
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5:30 pm
Office: 435 Nepean Highway, Frankston VIC 3199