Selling without an agent in Melbourne or Geelong
Private Sale Conveyancing in Victoria
With no agent, the paperwork is yours to organise, and you cannot take an offer until the vendor statement exists. We prepare your Section 32 and contract of sale, then run the sale through to settlement, for the same fixed fee as any sale we handle.
Licensed Victorian conveyancers. We act on property in Victoria only.
What we do for private sellers
The two documents you need before you can list, then the legal side of the sale all the way to settlement. One fee, agreed in writing before we start.
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Your Section 32 vendor statement
We order the certificates, assemble the statement and attach every document the Sale of Land Act requires, then send it to you to sign before you list.
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Your contract of sale
Drafted to match how you are selling, private sale or auction, with the settlement period and any special conditions you need.
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Your sale through to settlement
We deal with the buyer’s conveyancer, your lender and PEXA. Same-day responses, and you deal directly with the conveyancers running your matter.
4,000+
settlements completed
500+
Google reviews across our group, 4.9 star average
20+
years in Victorian property
Same day
responses, Monday to Friday
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I’ve been a client for 14 years and have completed five property transactions with them. Across every engagement, their professionalism, depth of knowledge, and genuine customer focus have been exceptional. In that entire time, I honestly haven’t experienced this level of consistency and service from any other business I’ve dealt with. I wouldn’t consider using anyone else and recommend them without hesitation.
Rhys Staley · ★★★★★ Google review
Selling without an agent? The Section 32 is your job
When you sell through an agent, the agent chases you for the paperwork. When you sell privately, nobody does.
I am Mick Mastromanno, a licensed conveyancer and a director of Conveyancing Professionals. We work with private sellers regularly, and private sale conveyancing is the whole legal side of that sale: the Section 32 vendor statement and the contract first, then everything from the buyer’s signature through to settlement, for the same fee as any sale we handle.
The Section 32 is your duty under the Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic), and it has to exist, signed, before a buyer signs anything. The contract of sale is not a duty the Act imposes, but somebody has to produce it, and with no agent there is nobody else. We prepare both.
Do you need a conveyancer to sell privately?
No Victorian law forces you to engage one. Some duties sit with every seller and others pass to an agent when there is one, so with no agent they all land on you: the signed Section 32, the due diligence checklist at every inspection, the deposit within seven days, and any cooling-off notice the buyer gives.
Doing it yourself is legal, and anyone can apply for most of the certificates. What you give up is the judgment on which ones your property needs, a trained read of what comes back, and a licensed conveyancer’s professional indemnity insurance. If a DIY disclosure is wrong, the buyer’s remedy runs against you, with no insurer behind it.
What we do, and in what order
1
You send us the address and your contact details. We open the file and confirm the fee in writing.
2
We order the certificates: title and plan, council and land information, water, the State Revenue Office certificate, and an owners corporation certificate as necessary.
3
We write the terms you have negotiated into the contract of sale: the price, the deposit, the settlement period, conditions such as finance with a nominated lender, and what is included in the sale.
4
We assemble the vendor statement, attach every certificate, and send both to you to sign.
5
You list the property for sale. Every buyer gets the signed Section 32 before they sign the contract.
6
After the buyer signs, the deposit rule and cooling off apply, both covered below. We tell you what each one needs from you, and the contract we draft already carries the cooling-off notice the Act requires.
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When the contract goes unconditional we take it to settlement with the buyer’s conveyancer, your lender and PEXA, the online settlement platform, covering the mortgage discharge, the adjustments for rates and other outgoings, and your ATO clearance certificate. What happens then is a subject of its own.
Know the fee before you list
Tell us about the property and your fixed fee appears on screen, with the disbursements listed separately.
Already have a buyer?
A verbal agreement is not a sale. In Victoria the property is sold when both of you have signed the contract of sale, and the buyer must have the signed Section 32 in hand before they sign.
That applies to a neighbour, a friend or a tenant just as much as to a stranger. Send us the agreed price, deposit, settlement period, any conditions and what is included, and we write them into the contract.
If the buyer is family and this is really a transfer rather than a market sale, our property transfers page may be the better fit.
How long it takes
We can usually have a Section 32 ready within a week of engagement. The variable is the certificates, not us.
What you need to send us
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The property address, and the certificate of title if you have one.
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Your full name as it appears on the title, and your contact details.
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Your rates notice and water bill, which speed up the searches.
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The owners corporation manager’s details, if there is one.
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Any building work in the last seven years, with permits and any owner-builder insurance.
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Whether the property is tenanted, and the lease if it is.
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If you already have a buyer: the agreed price, deposit, settlement period, any conditions, and what is included in the sale.
What it costs
We charge the same fee for a private sale as for any sale we handle. Section 32 preparation and the contract are part of that fee, not a separate charge, and the fee is fixed in writing before we start. Use the quote form on this page and the figure appears on screen, with a copy emailed to you.
Disbursements, the certificate fees we pay on your behalf, are itemised separately rather than buried in the fee. What drives the total is the property: an owners corporation certificate or unusual title work changes what gets ordered.
What the buyer’s conveyancer will check
A serious buyer sends your Section 32 to their own conveyancer. We read contracts and vendor statements for buyers through our free 24-hour Section 32 and contract review, so I know what gets raised:
Section 32F
Owners corporation figures that have moved since the certificate was issued, because it is a snapshot and statements are sometimes prepared months ahead
Section 32E
A building permit in the last seven years that was never disclosed
Section 32B
Missing information regarding renovations and Owner Builder works, such as insurance information or a report required by s137B of the Building Act 1993.
Section 32C
A covenant or easement described without the details of an existing failure to comply
Section 32I
Missing subdivision or staged-subdivision documents
Section 32H
No statement about the services that are not connected
None of that is exotic. It is disclosure the Act already requires that was missed. A statement that survives that review is a sale that holds together.
Get your quote
Tell us about the property and the figure appears here, with a copy emailed to you. It is the same fee as any sale we handle, with disbursements listed separately.
We act on Victorian property only. Selling in another state? Your local conveyancer or solicitor is the right call.
Before you list
The legal side of selling privately
With an agent, their conveyancer quietly handles all of this. Selling privately, these are the rules that land on you, and the ones we take care of when we act for you. Our step-by-step guide to selling a house privately in Victoria runs through the whole sale in order, including the parts that are not legal work.
What a Section 32 actually is
It is a disclosure document, not the contract. Section 32 requires you to give the buyer a signed statement, before they sign anything, setting out what the Act lists and attaching the documents it names. Electronic signature is valid under Victorian law.
It tells a buyer what is attached to the land: what is owing, what the planning scheme allows, what someone else has the right to do on it, and what is connected. Our clause-by-clause guide to what a Section 32 contains covers it from the buyer’s side.
What goes in it, and who has to order it
The content rules run across sections 32A to 32I. In plain terms, the statement must disclose:
01
Money owing
Any mortgage or government charge not being discharged before possession, plus rates, taxes and other outgoings, or a statement that they do not exceed a stated amount
02
Insurance
Including cover under the statutory insurance scheme where section 137B of the Building Act 1993 applies to a residence, which in practice means owner-builder insurance
03
Land use
Easements and covenants, meaning others’ rights over your land and limits on what you can build, any current failure to comply, bushfire prone area status, road access, the planning scheme, zone and overlays
04
Authority notices
Notices from public authorities currently affecting the land, contamination notices for rural land, and any notice of intention to acquire
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Building permits
Issued for a residence in the last seven years
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Owners corporation
Information, or a statement that the owners corporation is inactive
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Growth areas levy
Every statement must say whether the land is caught, with certificates attached only where there is a GAIC recording
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Connected services
Which of electricity, gas, water, sewerage and telephone are not connected
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Title documents
The Register Search Statement and plan, subdivision plans where they apply, and evidence of your right to sell if you are not the registered owner
Almost none of that comes from your head. A Section 32 is a bundle of certificates ordered from the council, the water corporation, the State Revenue Office and Land Use Victoria.
Ordering them is most of the work, and anyone can apply for most of them. The hard part is knowing which certificates your property needs, reading what comes back, and carrying the risk if something is missed.
The certificate that sets your timeline
10 business days
Owners corporation certificate
The deadline set by section 151(3), running from the day it has your application and the fee.
1 business day
State Revenue Office
The property clearance certificate that covers land tax usually comes straight back.
Order first
Council and water
Quick to return, but the fees change from council to council, so start them early.
If the property is in an owners corporation, that certificate is the slowest thing on the list.
The owners corporation has 10 business days to issue it once it has your application and the fee, and any person can apply, including you. That deadline is section 151(3) of the Owners Corporations Act 2006.
The maximum fee is set in speed tiers, so a two-business-day turnaround costs more than a ten-day one. This is the one step you can pay to shorten.
The State Revenue Office property clearance certificate, which covers land tax, usually comes back in one business day, and council and water certificates are quick too, though fees vary by council.
Start before you put the house on the market, not after.
What is at stake
What happens if it is wrong or missing
The remedy sits with the buyer. Give false information, leave out something the Act requires, or hand the signed statement over late, and the buyer can cancel at any time before they accept title and take possession. That right is provided by section 32K.
The window stays open for months after signing and closes only days before settlement, long after your marketing time is spent.
There is a defence: a court may refuse to cancel where you acted honestly and reasonably and ought fairly to be excused, and the buyer is substantially as well off as if the Act had been followed.
Knowingly or recklessly giving false information is also an offence carrying a fine, and no contract clause can sign the buyer’s rights away.
The deposit when there is no agent
With no agent, the buyer pays the deposit straight to you. That does not make it your money. Within seven days of receiving it, Victorian law says it must go to your conveyancer, lawyer or estate agent, or into a special purpose account in both your name and the buyer’s.
That account has to be with a bank or other authorised deposit-taker in Victoria, and it needs both signatures to draw from, so neither of you can touch the money alone. Leaving the deposit in your own account past the seven days is an offence carrying a fine.
Paid to your conveyancer, lawyer or agent, the deposit is held by them as stakeholder, which just means a neutral holder, generally until settlement. No law fixes the amount, though 10 per cent is usual. Consumer Affairs Victoria sets out the rule in plain terms for private sellers.
Cooling off in a private sale
A buyer of residential property at private sale can cool off, meaning end the contract, within three clear business days after signing, whatever the price. The clock runs from when the buyer signs, not when you do, and a buyer who cools off gets everything back except the greater of $100 or 0.2 per cent of the price.
The main exceptions are a sale by public auction and the three clear business days either side of it, a buyer who is an estate agent or a company, and commercial or industrial land or farmland over 20 hectares. Our cooling-off calculator works through the dates for your contract.
The buyer’s notice can be handed to you personally, or left at the address for service, which is the address your contract names for notices. Therefore, all parties must ensure that they include their correct address in the contract of sale.
The contract must also carry a conspicuous notice telling the buyer about the cooling-off right. Without it, the buyer can cancel at any time before they are entitled to possession, which can be months after signing. A hand-drafted or template contract that gets that notice wrong leaves the whole sale open.
The due diligence checklist is also on you
If you are selling vacant residential land or land with a residence on it, Consumer Affairs Victoria’s due diligence checklist has to be available to buyers from the moment the property is offered for sale. That duty is section 33B.
Engage a licensed estate agent and it lifts off you and onto the agent. Sell privately and it stays with you.
“Made available” has a specific meaning: a copy on display or offered at every inspection, and a copy reachable from any website of yours where the property is listed. Link it from your listing.
Start this today
Get your ATO clearance certificate now
Since 1 January 2025 the buyer must withhold up to 15 per cent of the sale proceeds at settlement unless you hand over an ATO clearance certificate. Limited exceptions apply, and we check them for you.
There is no price threshold any more, so it reaches a $400,000 unit as much as a $2 million house. The certificate is free, the ATO says it can take up to 28 days to issue, and it is valid for 12 months.
Each owner applies separately, so a couple selling together needs two. Up to 28 days is longer than most settlement periods have spare, so apply as soon as you are thinking of selling.
Free
no fee to apply
Up to 28 days
the ATO’s own time to issue
12 months
how long it stays valid
One each
every owner on the title applies
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a conveyancer to sell my house privately in Victoria?
No Victorian law forces you to, but with no agent every seller duty sits with you: the Section 32, the due diligence checklist and the deposit within seven days. Doing it yourself also leaves you without professional indemnity cover behind any mistake.
How much does private sale conveyancing cost?
We charge the same fee as any sale we handle, and Section 32 and contract preparation are part of it. The fee is fixed in writing before we start, and certificate costs are itemised separately. Use the quote form on this page for your figure.
Do I need a Section 32 before I list the property?
You need it before a buyer signs, which means before you list. A private buyer can decide to sign on a Sunday afternoon, and if the statement is not ready you cannot take the offer.
Who holds the deposit in a private sale?
The buyer pays it directly to you. Within seven days you must pass it to your conveyancer, lawyer or estate agent, or bank it in a special purpose account in both your names that needs both signatures to draw on. Leaving it in your own account past that is an offence.
Can the buyer cool off in a private sale?
Yes, within three clear business days of the buyer signing, for most residential private sales. The main exceptions are auction sales, buyers who are companies or estate agents, and commercial land or farms over 20 hectares. The buyer forfeits the greater of $100 or 0.2 per cent of the price.
How long is a Section 32 valid for?
The Act sets no expiry. What ages are the certificates inside it, because rates, land tax and owners corporation figures all move. Refresh it before a buyer signs if the property has sat for months.
Do you act outside Victoria?
No. We are licensed Victorian conveyancers and we act only on property in Victoria.
Ready to sell without an agent?
Send us the property address, or call (03) 9500 0299. We come back to you the same business day, Monday to Friday.