Buying a property in the ACT: the complete step-by-step guide

Talk to your lender or mortgage broker early and get pre-approval, so you know how much you can borrow. Remember to budget for more than the price: stamp duty, lender’s fees, the cost of the seller’s reports, insurance and our fees all add up.

If you haven’t owned property in the last 5 years and you’ll live in the home, you may pay no stamp duty at all. See step 6.

Before an ACT property is offered for sale, the seller must have the required documents available for you to inspect. These include the draft contract, the Crown lease, a building and compliance inspection report, a pest report for a home that’s been lived in, an energy efficiency rating statement where one exists, and asbestos information. For units, there’s also information from the owners corporation.

The building and pest inspections must have been done no more than 3 months before the property was first advertised. If you buy, the contract requires you to reimburse the seller at settlement for the cost of the first building and pest reports. The building and compliance report alone typically costs around $1,800 to $2,000. Our guide to building and compliance reports explains when your own report is worth it. If a report is materially false or misleading, or wasn’t prepared with reasonable skill and care, you can claim compensation from the person who prepared it.

Our advice draws on years of acting for Australia’s major banks and lenders. We’ve seen where transactions go wrong and the things that are often missed, so we know what to look for before it becomes a problem. You get the benefit of that experience. In other words, the benefit of hindsight.

This is also when to decide how you’ll hold title if you’re buying with someone else, as joint tenants or tenants in common. We’ll explain the difference and help you choose.

Most properties are sold through an agent, by private treaty or at auction. You can negotiate the price, deposit, settlement date and conditions, but nothing is binding until contracts are exchanged.

Because the seller’s documents are available upfront, the best time to get advice is before you make an offer. If you’re buying at auction, there’s no cooling-off period, so do your checks and arrange your finance before auction day.

For most private sales, you can cool off until 5pm on the 5th working day after the contract is made. To cool off, you give the seller written notice signed by you or your lawyer. If you cool off, you forfeit 0.25% of the price, which can come out of your deposit, and the rest is refunded.

There’s no cooling-off if you buy at auction or by tender, if you buy on auction day after the property is passed in and you were a registered bidder, or if you’re buying through a company. You can waive or shorten cooling-off, but only after a lawyer advises you and signs a certificate. Cooling-off only protects the buyer. The seller has no cooling-off right.

You pay the deposit, typically 10% of the price, on exchange. It’s usually paid to the selling agent’s trust account, where it’s held until settlement.

If your contract includes a finance condition, you must make reasonable efforts to get the loan and give notice by the deadline if it isn’t approved. Act within the dates in the contract, or you lose the right. We track those dates for you.

Building and pest conditions are rarely agreed in the ACT, because the seller’s reports are already available. That makes reviewing those reports before you exchange all the more important. You can get your own independent inspection, but remember you’ll also be paying for the seller’s report at settlement, so in effect you pay twice. It’s usually worth it only if the seller’s report raises concerns or leaves questions unanswered.

Under the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, for contracts from 1 July 2026, eligible buyers pay no duty on a home or vacant land, whatever its value, and there’s no income test. To be eligible, every buyer must be an individual aged 18 or over, no buyer or their partner can have owned an interest in property in the last 5 years, and at least one buyer must live in the home for at least a year, starting within a year of settlement.

If you’re not eligible, duty is calculated on the general rates, which are lower for owner-occupiers. Unlike in other states, ACT duty isn’t paid at settlement. The transfer must be lodged within 14 days of settlement, and duty is due 14 days after the title is registered. The First Home Owner Grant ended in the ACT in 2019.

Before settlement, we check the settlement adjustments for general rates, water and sewerage, and owners corporation levies for units. We prepare your settlement statement and confirm the figures with your lender. About 7 days before settlement, we’ll email you a pre-settlement summary. It includes the statement of adjustments, what you need to do before settlement and exactly how much you need to have available to settle.

Book a final inspection to check the condition of the property and the inclusions.

Settlement usually takes place electronically through PEXA, Australia’s main digital property settlement platform. The balance of the price is paid by your lender and by you, depending on how much you’re borrowing. At the same time, the transfer and your mortgage are lodged, and the seller’s loan is paid out. Once we confirm settlement, the agent releases the keys.

After settlement, we send you a final letter confirming the purchase.