What does a conveyancer check?

If you have ever stared at a thick contract or Section 32 statement and felt your stomach drop, you are not alone. In Melbourne, most people only buy or sell a handful of properties in their lifetime. The paperwork, the jargon, the deadlines, the money moving around it is a lot.

That is where a conveyancer comes in.

A good conveyancer is not just pushing paper. They are quietly checking dozens of details in the background, so that when you sign a contract in Brunswick or hand over keys in Brighton, you are not walking into a hidden problem that could have been spotted earlier.

So, what do they actually check for you?

Let us walk through it, stage by stage, from a Victorian point of view.

First Things First: What a Conveyancer Actually Does

In Victoria, a licensed conveyancer is authorised to carry out conveyancing work and give legal advice about the transfer of title for property. They can prepare or review the Section 32 vendor statement, contract of sale and other documents needed to complete a property transaction.

Consumer Affairs Victoria actively encourages buyers to have the Section 32 checked by their own legal practitioner or conveyancer before they commit to a property.

At Pearson Chambers Conveyancing, that checking work usually falls into three broad buckets:

Before you sign: spotting red flags and helping you decide whether the deal still makes sense
Once you are under contract: ordering searches, managing dates and protecting your rights
At settlement: making sure money, title and keys all line up so you can move on with your life

On the seller side, there is a parallel set of checks: preparing accurate disclosure, managing deposit release and ensuring your title can be transferred cleanly.

Before You Sign: The Early Checks That Save a Lot of Pain

This is where a quick email to a conveyancer can make a huge difference. You might be looking at a townhouse in Preston, a unit in a Docklands tower or a weatherboard in Glen Waverley. In each case, the first thing a conveyancer will ask for is the marketing contract and Section 32.

1. Section 32 Vendor Statement

Under the Sale of Land Act 1962, a Victorian vendor must give a written Section 32 statement before a purchaser signs a contract. This statement is supposed to disclose information that might affect the value or use of the property, including:

Current title details
Mortgages and other registered interests
Planning information and zoning
Services connected (water, sewerage, electricity, gas)
Owners corporation details for apartments or townhouses
Outgoings such as council and water rates, and any land tax

Your conveyancer will read the Section 32 with a sceptical eye. They are looking for missing certificates, inconsistent information and hints that something important is not being told to you.

2. Title, Plan and Boundaries

A Victorian title search and copy of the plan are standard early checks. Your conveyancer will usually:

Confirm the seller matches the registered proprietor on title
Check for mortgages, caveats or other encumbrances
Review the plan to understand lot boundaries, common property and any easements that might limit what you can build or where you can park

In inner Melbourne, it is very common to see laneways, right of way easements and small strips of land that do not quite match the fence line. Your conveyancer will look at whether the title and what you saw at inspection actually line up.

3. Planning Zones, Overlays and Nearby Development

Melbourne is full of planning controls. A quiet street in Coburg can sit in a General Residential Zone with heritage overlays, while a block away is earmarked for medium density apartments.

Conveyancers use Victorian planning tools such as the Planning Property Report and VicPlan to identify the zone and any overlays affecting the land, including heritage, flooding, environmental or design overlays. These controls influence:

What you can build or extend
Whether you are likely to need planning permits
Future development nearby that may affect sunlight, privacy or traffic

If the property is near a major project, rail line or new tram corridor, your conveyancer may recommend extra searches or suggest you speak with the local council before you sign.

4. Building Works, Permits and Unapproved Structures

In many Melbourne suburbs, homeowners have added decks, carports or attic conversions over the years. Some are fully permitted. Some are not.

While conveyancers are not building inspectors, they will:

Scan the contract and Section 32 for references to building permits, final inspections and warranty insurance
Flag obvious inconsistencies between the paperwork and what appears to be on site
Suggest you speak with a building consultant if there is a large extension or suspicious "extra room" that does not appear on the plan

They will also consider Victorian disclosure rules around "material facts" and whether an undisclosed issue, such as flooding history or serious structural problems, might justify further enquiries.

5. Owners Corporation Issues

If you are buying an apartment in the CBD, a townhouse in a Brunswick complex or even a villa in an older block in Mentone, your conveyancer will pay close attention to the owners corporation (body corporate) information.

They will review the owners corporation certificate and attachments, which must include prescribed information under the Owners Corporations Act and regulations, plus current rules and recent resolutions. They are checking for:

Large or unusual fees
Special levies for major works (for example, cladding replacement or lifts)
Insurance arrangements
Disputes or arrears that could follow you as the new owner

If something looks out of the ordinary, they may suggest negotiating the price, seeking a contribution from the seller or walking away before you are bound.

6. Contract Terms, Special Conditions and Cooling Off

Victorian contracts of sale follow a broad template, but the fine print can vary a lot between agents and law firms.

Your conveyancer will:

Check the purchaser's names are correct and the property description matches the title
Review special conditions around finance, building and pest, subject to sale, rent-back arrangements or early access
Explain how the Victorian cooling off rules apply to your situation

For most private sales in Victoria there is a three business day cooling off period after you sign, with a penalty of the greater of $100 or 0.2 per cent of the purchase price, but there are important exceptions, including properties bought at auction or within three clear business days before or after an auction.

This early contract check is often where buyers in Melbourne tell us they feel the biggest sense of relief. They finally have someone on their side, explaining what all the clauses and certificates actually mean.

After You Sign: Deeper Searches and Date Management

Once you are under contract, the checking continues in the background. This is the part buyers and sellers often forget about, because it is not as dramatic as auction day, but it is where a lot of problems are either fixed or avoided.

1. Ordering Searches and Certificates

Your conveyancer will usually order a suite of searches tailored to the property, such as:

Updated title and plan
Council land information certificate (rates and charges)
Water authority rates and usage charges
Land tax certificate from the State Revenue Office
Owners corporation certificate (where the property is part of an owners corporation)
Planning and zoning checks, including a fresh planning report

These searches confirm what is owing on the property and help calculate "adjustments", so you only pay your fair share of rates and outgoings from settlement day.

If any search reveals a surprise, such as unpaid land tax or a large outstanding rates bill, your conveyancer will insist that it is paid by the seller at or before settlement.

2. Keeping Track of Key Dates

Victorian contracts are tight on timeframes. Your conveyancer will diarise and manage dates such as:

Finance approval due date
Building and pest inspection deadline
Any due date for paying the deposit balance
Settlement date and any special milestones (for example, sunset dates on off the plan contracts)

If your bank is slow, or you need more time to satisfy a special condition, your conveyancer is the one negotiating extensions and making sure you do not accidentally default.

3. Liaising With Your Lender

Most Melbourne buyers rely on bank finance. Your conveyancer works with your lender to:

Provide the contract and searches the bank needs
Confirm how much the bank will advance at settlement
Check who needs to sign mortgage documents and by when

For sellers, their conveyancer deals with the outgoing lender to arrange discharge of the existing mortgage.

4. Electronic Settlement and PEXA Checks

In Victoria, most property transactions now settle electronically using PEXA, Australia's main electronic lodgement network for property settlements. Licensed conveyancers are required to use the national electronic conveyancing system if they wish to settle online.

On PEXA, your conveyancer will:

Set up the digital workspace with the buyer's and seller's representatives and banks
Ensure name and title details match precisely
Check all loan and payout figures, duties and adjustments are correct
Confirm that funds are being transferred to the right accounts

If there is a last minute change, such as a revised payout figure from a bank, your conveyancer adjusts the workspace and double checks that everyone agrees before settlement is booked.

Special Checks for Sellers

If you are selling in Melbourne, your conveyancer's work starts even earlier. Before your property hits realestate.com.au, they are already checking what you can safely say and what you must disclose.

1. Preparing a Compliant Section 32 and Contract

For sellers, the first major task is preparing a compliant Section 32 vendor statement and contract of sale. A licensed conveyancer in Victoria is fully qualified to do this work.

They will:

Order title searches and mandatory certificates
Collate planning, services and outgoings information
Insert any special conditions you need, for example, a flexible settlement date or rent-back
Check for issues that might require extra legal advice, for example, complex planning overlays or unapproved building works

Good preparation at this stage tends to reduce nasty surprises once the buyer's conveyancer starts asking questions.

2. Disclosure of Material Facts

Victorian law requires vendors and their agents to disclose "material facts" that might reasonably influence a purchaser's decision to buy or the price they are willing to pay.

A conveyancer can help you:

Work through what needs to be disclosed, beyond the bare minimum on the title
Document known issues, such as structural movement, previous flooding or cladding concerns
Avoid misleading omissions that might later lead to disputes or claims

In practice, this often means gently telling sellers that they cannot just "hope no one asks" about an old insurance claim or a long running leak in the basement.

3. Deposit Handling and Early Release (Section 27)

Once the buyer pays the deposit, it usually sits in the estate agent's trust account or the conveyancer's trust account until settlement. There is a separate regime for early release of deposits under Section 27 of the Sale of Land Act.

Your conveyancer will:

Check whether you can safely request early release of the deposit, taking into account your mortgage and any other charges on the title
Prepare and review the Section 27 statement that goes to the buyer
Explain what happens if the buyer reasonably withholds their consent

For many Melbourne sellers who need the deposit to fund their next purchase, this is one of the most stressful topics, so it helps to have someone explain the law in plain English.

Everyday Melbourne Examples: What We Actually Spot

To make this less abstract, here are a few common scenarios we see in practice.

Example 1: The Inner North Townhouse With Cladding Works

A couple falls in love with a three level townhouse in Northcote. The Section 32 mentions an owners corporation but seems light on detail. When we review the owners corporation certificate and AGM minutes, we find:

A proposed special levy of more than $30,000 per lot for combustible cladding works
A note that scaffolding will block access to garages for several months

Armed with this information, the buyers renegotiate the price and insist on the seller paying the special levy in full at settlement.

Example 2: The Bayside Home With "Harmless" Flood History

A single buyer is keen on a freestanding home in Edithvale. The marketing material makes no mention of flooding. A planning search shows a relevant overlay suggesting flood risk, and the Material Fact Guidelines remind agents that flood history can be a material fact.

We ask targeted questions through the agent. The seller then discloses that the property has flooded twice in ten years during extreme storms. The buyer decides to walk away during the cooling off period and later finds a similar property a few streets away without the same risk.

Example 3: The Seller Who Forgot an Old Crossover

A vendor in Footscray is selling a house on a corner block. The title search shows an old right of carriageway in favour of the neighbour, who has long since fenced off that area and uses a different driveway.

We advise the seller about the existence of the right of carriageway, the need to disclose it and the potential for future access questions. The contract is drafted in a way that clearly explains the easement. The buyer proceeds, because they understand the position rather than discovering it later in a nasty surprise.

When Should You Contact a Conveyancer and What Should You Send?

Ideally, you bring a conveyancer in before you sign anything.

For buyers in Melbourne, that usually means:

As soon as you are seriously looking, have a conveyancer lined up
Email the marketing contract and Section 32 for any property you are considering, even if you think it might sell out of your price range
Ask for a simple "yes, this looks broadly fine" or "no, there are some real concerns here" before you stretch to make an offer

For sellers:

Speak to a conveyancer before you sign an agency authority with a real estate agent
Have your Section 32 and contract prepared properly so the agent is not cutting corners with old or incomplete information

Good conveyancers are used to working quickly around Melbourne's fast paced auction and private sale cycles. A quick review can prevent expensive regrets.

How Pearson Chambers Conveyancing Can Help

Buying or selling in Melbourne can feel like a full time job, especially when you are juggling work, school pick ups and Saturday morning inspections. Having a calm, detail oriented conveyancer in your corner takes a lot of that load away.

At Pearson Chambers Conveyancing, we:

Review contracts and Section 32 statements for houses, townhouses and apartments across Melbourne and regional Victoria
Order and interpret Victorian searches and certificates, including title, plan, council, water, land tax, planning and owners corporation documents
Coordinate with your lender and the other side's representative through PEXA for a clean electronic settlement
Keep in touch with you in plain language, so you always know what is happening and what comes next

If you are thinking about buying or selling, or you already have a contract sitting in your inbox, you do not need to puzzle through it alone.

Reach out for a complimentary Section 32 contract review and a chat about your plans:

Email: contact@pearsonchambers.com.au

We will walk through the paperwork with you, highlight the key checks that matter for your particular property and help you move towards settlement with a lot more confidence and a lot less stress.