From the outside, buying property can look fairly straightforward. You find a place you like, agree on a price, sign a contract, and move toward settlement. In practice, however, the period between agreeing to buy and becoming the legal owner is where most risks sit.
From a conveyancer’s point of view, due diligence is not a single task or checklist. It is a process of understanding what you are buying, what legal obligations come with it, and what could affect the property now or in the future. When done right, it gives buyers clarity and otherwise, can lead to costly surprises after settlement.
What follows is a practical explanation of the key areas conveyancers focus on when assisting buyers through due diligence.
Start With the Contract, Not the Property
Most buyers focus on the property first and the contract second. Legally, it should be the other way around. The contract of sale sets out your rights, your obligations, and what happens if something goes wrong. While many contracts follow a standard form, the special conditions are where risk often sits. These clauses can shorten cooling-off periods, limit inspection rights, or impose penalties that buyers don’t expect.
A conveyancer looks closely at how these clauses change the balance of risk. Something that seems minor on first reading can have serious consequences later, particularly if finance approval is delayed or settlement does not proceed on time.
This is why reviewing the contract before signing matters. Once the contract is exchanged, options narrow quickly.
Title Searches: What Stays With the Land
Title searches confirm ownership, but they also reveal interests that remain attached to the property regardless of who owns it. Easements, covenants, and restrictions are common. Some are harmless, but others affect how the land can be used or developed. An easement may give a third party access across part of the property. A covenant might restrict building materials, height, or land use.
These issues don’t always affect day-to-day living, which is why buyers sometimes dismiss them. From a conveyancer’s view, the question is not whether they matter today, but whether they could matter later. Once you own the property, these restrictions become your responsibility.
Zoning and Planning: Where Expectations Often Clash With Reality
Zoning is one of the areas where buyers are most confident and most often mistaken. A property may look suitable for renovation or extension, but planning controls don’t work on appearance. They work on classification, overlays, and local rules. Heritage listings, flood overlays, or development controls can limit what is possible, even when neighbouring properties look similar.
From a legal perspective, zoning checks are not about predicting approval. They are about identifying constraints. If a buyer is purchasing with future plans in mind, those constraints need to be understood early, not discovered after settlement.
Council Searches: The Issues You Don’t See at Inspections
Council searches are often treated as administrative, but they frequently reveal practical issues. Unapproved structures are common, especially in older homes. A shed, extension, or internal alteration may have existed for years without approval. While councils may not actively pursue these issues, responsibility often passes to the new owner.
Council searches can also reveal notices, orders, or future infrastructure plans that affect access, noise, or use of the property. So, it is important that you pause and assess. From experience, buyers are far more comfortable dealing with known issues than unexpected ones.
Building and Pest Inspections: Legal Protection Matters
Most buyers arrange building and pest inspections. Fewer buyers understand how little protection those inspections provide without the right contract terms. Inspection clauses vary widely. Some allow termination only if a defect meets a strict definition. Others allow renegotiation but not withdrawal. Timeframes can be short, leaving little room to act.
From a conveyancer’s point of view, the inspection itself is only half the equation. The other half is whether the contract gives you a meaningful right to respond to what the report finds.
Strata and Community Title: Buying Into a Shared System
When purchasing an apartment, unit, or townhouse, you’re not just buying a property. You’re buying into a system. Strata records reveal how that system operates. Financial statements show whether maintenance is properly funded, meeting minutes reveal ongoing disputes, building issues, or upcoming works and by-laws control how the property can be used.
Low levies are often seen as a positive, but they can indicate underfunding. Special levies, when they arise, tend to arrive without much warning and can be costly. A conveyancer reviews strata records to identify patterns, not just isolated issues.
Finance, Cooling-Off, and Settlement Timing
Many buyers assume finance will fall into place because they have pre-approval. In reality, lenders often impose conditions that delay final approval. From a legal standpoint, finance clauses must be clear and enforceable. Cooling-off rights need to be understood, particularly if they are shortened or waived. Settlement dates must align with lender timeframes.
Delays at settlement can trigger penalty interest or default notices. These costs add up quickly and are often avoidable with early planning.
The Mistakes Conveyancers See Most Often
Over time, certain mistakes appear again and again:
- Signing before obtaining legal advice
- Relying on verbal assurances
- Assuming standard terms mean low risk
- Skipping reviews because of time pressure
In most cases, buyers don’t regret the property they bought. They regret the issues they didn’t know about.
A Practical Conveyancer’s View on Due Diligence
Due diligence is not about being overly cautious. It’s about understanding risk while you still have options. Property purchases move quickly, and pressure is often part of the process. Taking the time to review contracts, titles, and searches early gives buyers control. Once contracts are binding, that control is largely gone. From a conveyancer’s perspective, the most valuable advice is to: involve a professional before you sign. That single step often prevents problems that are expensive and stressful to resolve later.
If you’re considering buying property and want clarity before committing, get in touch with our experts at Easy Link for conveyancing advice. With us by your side, be sure to make informed property decisions.