When it comes to purchasing a property in Queensland, (residential property in particular), there are a number of typical conditions in place designed to protect a buyer and provide them an option to exit the contract should something go wrong.
These potential exits start from execution with the cooling off period, which acts essentially as a get-out-of-jail-cheaply card – permitting a buyer to terminate for any reason whatsoever (or no reason, as can sometimes be the case) within the first 5 business days of receiving the full signed and accepted contract. Designed as relief from hasty decisions which are quickly rued (or when something better comes up JUST after you sign the dotted line), a successful cooling off ends the contract quickly, with the only cost a penalty of no more than 0.25% of the purchase price, deducted from an otherwise refunded deposit. Notice to terminate must be given by 5pm on the 5th business day in a prescribed format – for goodness sake don’t just text the agent (it happens). While a cooling off period is the default, watch out for if this has been deleted as it can be waived, and does not apply to properties sold at auction under any circumstances.
Once past your first week, the most common conditions inserted for the buyer’s protection will be a finance clause and/or a building and pest clause. For the sake of absolutely clarity - neither of these require a special condition in an REIQ approved contract – they are standard clauses provided for within the contract framework. Its important here not to assume that they offer as broad and generous a coverage as your cooling off.
In order to trigger a finance clause to terminate, the buyer needs to have applied for finance, FROM THE BANK NOMINATED, acted reasonably, and been rejected (with evidence of same). If you have ANZ nominated and you come back with a no from NAB, you might find the seller (and their conveyancer) arguing the point, potentially at your cost.
Similarly with the building and pest clause, you need to engage a licenced inspector and act reasonably in regards to the report provided. Termination requires notice in time, provision of the report to the seller, and your reasoning for why the report is unsatisfactory. This is a clause broadly in favour of the buyer in most cases, but you can push too far. If something is readily apparent on physical inspection – i.e. peeling paint, rusty roof or a hole in the wall – well its hard to justify that as a surprise later.
As always, time is of the essence – give notice by the right date, and speak to your conveyancer if ever in doubt.