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Section 32 Review

A section 32 review that reads each page of the vendor statement and the contract, checks every required disclosure, and explains each defect for the buyer before cooling-off ends.

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From the first check to the buyer’s advice ↓
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The problem

The cost that changes the advice sits in the meeting minutes at the back

The vendor statement arrives as one long PDF: the form, title, plan, rates and water notices, the planning certificate, the owners corporation’s rules, accounts and minutes, then the contract. No two selling agents order it alike, so the conveyancer reads every page. The law lists what must be there, not where it sits.

What hurts the buyer is usually in an attachment. A levy was voted at the last annual general meeting. An overlay sits on the second page of a planning certificate. The building permits answer is blank, or the certificate the index promises is not there. And on a fixed fee, nobody pays for the extra hour of reading.

Then the buyer needs it in her own words: can she walk away, what does it cost, and by when. Advice that lands after cooling-off has closed, or that leaves out her right to end before settlement, costs her a way out.

Built forLicensed conveyancersProperty lawyersConveyancing clerksPrincipal conveyancers

The Problem Today

A buyer gets three business days to cool off, and the costly news hides deep in a hundred-page vendor statement.

3 days
for a home buyer to cool off, counted in business days published
0.2%
of the price, or $100 if more, kept when a buyer cools off published

Still read by hand

  • Title
  • Planning
  • Levies
  • Contract
  • Levies hide in the minutesA special levy sits in the minutes, missing from the fees
  • Fixed fee, slow readHours spent reading each statement come out of the fee

The Solution

  1. Every page read and indexedTitle, plan, certificates, rules, minutes and contract, each page cited
  2. Each disclosure checkedPresent, missing or defective, against its section of the law
  3. Defects explained for herWhat each one lets this buyer do, with the seller’s possible answer
  4. Advice approved and sentLetter, special conditions and questions; the conveyancer signs off

Built-in controls

  • Nothing reaches a buyer or agent unapproved
  • A clerk prepares; a licensed conveyancer sends
  • A buyer’s papers serve her file alone

What You Get

The buyer gets her choices, costs and deadlines in plain words, with each fact cited to a page.

40 min
of the conveyancer’s time on a statement, from 2–3 hours our estimate
  • Plain-words advice letterThe findings, her options and the dates that bind her
  • Special conditions draftedThe seller pays the levy, or the buyer may walk away
  • Questions to the seller’s agentOne per finding, approved before cooling-off ends
Check, explain, advise

How a section 32 review runs here, one screen and one finding apiece

Nine features of the review, as a file moves through the practice from the disclosure check to the deadlines, and who uses each.

  1. 01The check, run

    Every required disclosure marked present, missing or defective, with its page

    How it works

    • The statement and contract arrive as one 146-page PDF, and each of its 12 attachments is indexed
    • Each required item is marked present, missing or defective, cited to the Act and to a page
    • The tally reads 21 present, 2 missing and 1 defective, 14 minutes after the statement came in
    • The agents’ steps stay on screen: what was read, and what was found

    Licensed conveyancerStarts from a finished checklist with each row cited, so her time goes into the rows that matter instead of reading all 146 pages.

  2. 02Needs you

    A filter that keeps only the rows needing the conveyancer’s judgment

    How it works

    • One click hides the present rows and keeps what is missing, defective or not disclosed
    • Each row carries a one-line plain meaning beside its page
    • A page ribbon draws each attachment as a block, with an empty slot where a document should be
    • The queue across the top shows the 7 statements in today, with the state of each

    Licensed conveyancerKnows straight away which rows need her judgment and which a clerk can close, even with seven statements waiting in the queue.

  3. 03The levy, at its page

    Levies voted in the owners corporation minutes, set against the fees line

    How it works

    • The owners corporation’s rules, accounts and minutes are read as closely as the statement form
    • Resolution 7, on page 118, strikes $1,110,000 for façade cladding, shared by lot entitlement
    • This lot’s share is $18,500, in two installments of $9,250
    • The statement’s fees line shows only the $6,240 annual fees

    Licensed conveyancerCatches the cost a buyer most needs to hear about, which ticking the list of required items alone would have let through.

  4. 04Page 88

    A check that each attachment the index promises is really in the pages

    How it works

    • The statement’s index lists the certificate at page 88
    • Pages 88 to 111 turn out to be the building insurance and the accounts
    • The row turns red: missing, so the buyer may end the contract before settlement

    Conveyancing clerkStops a missing certificate slipping through because the index says it is there, the easiest miss when ticking against the agent’s own list.

  5. 05Contract of sale

    Contract terms read, waiver clauses flagged and special conditions drafted

    How it works

    • Price, deposit, dates and finance read from the particulars of sale, with a page beside each
    • Special condition 14 would have the buyer accept the owners corporation information as provided
    • Condition A has the vendor pay the whole $18,500 levy at or before settlement
    • Condition B asks for the certificate within 5 business days, or the buyer may end the contract

    Licensed conveyancerGets wording she can approve, edit or leave out, rather than drafting two special conditions from a blank page against the cooling-off clock.

  6. 06Defects and rights

    Each defect explained for the buyer, with the vendor’s likely reply beside it

    How it works

    • Three ways out across the top: cool off, end before settlement, or negotiate
    • Cooling off costs her $1,880, the 0.2% of the price the vendor keeps
    • Each finding: what was found, what it changes for her, and the rights it gives
    • The vendor’s possible defense sits beside each right to end

    Licensed conveyancerTurns four findings into choices a first-home buyer can act on, without overstating a right the vendor may be able to defend.

  7. 07Questions to the agent

    Questions to the vendor’s agent, one per finding, each with its page

    How it works

    • Each question carries its finding and a page number
    • They cover the certificate, the levy, the permits answer, the overlay and special condition 14
    • Answers are asked for within the cooling-off period
    • The clerk prepares; the licensed conveyancer approves, and the questions go from her mailbox

    Conveyancing clerkHas the questions ready before the conveyancer reaches them, and nothing leaves the practice until she has approved it.

  8. 08Advice to the buyer

    A plain-words advice letter with a page cited for each fact

    How it works

    • It opens with what was checked: 24 things across 146 pages, and 21 in order
    • The levy, the certificate, the permits answer and the overlay, each with its page
    • Three options, negotiation first, each with its cost and its deadline
    • Checks before sending: a page for each fact, and no internal file note left in

    Licensed conveyancerSends advice the buyer can read on her phone and act on before cooling-off ends, with each sentence traceable to a page.

  9. 09Dates

    One deadline view for cooling-off, settlement and each right to end

    How it works

    • 1 business day left to cool off, at a cost of $1,880
    • 58 days left to end the contract for the missing certificate, until settlement
    • A timeline from signing through both levy installments, the second after settlement
    • Reminders the day before cooling-off ends and a week before settlement

    Principal conveyancerSees each live deadline on a file at once, including the day a right to end runs out at settlement.

A façade levy, an empty permits box, a missing overlay and a waiver clause

What the agents turned up in this one statement, and where each went: the advice, a condition or a question.

A levy the fees line leaves out

Resolution 7 sets $18,500 for this lot, one installment before settlement and one after. Page 3 shows only the $6,240 a year, so the levy becomes special condition A.

A permits answer left empty

The building permits box on page 6 says neither none nor a permit number. If work was done without a permit, a later owner can be ordered to fix it.

An overlay the form leaves out

Page 4 names the zone. The planning certificate on page 33 adds a heritage overlay over the whole site, which can mean a permit for the cladding works.

A clause that waives the objection

Special condition 14 has the buyer accept the owners corporation information as provided, taking away her objection to the missing certificate. Condition B deletes it.

Around the checklist

More of the vendor statement review: the pages behind the rows, and who acted

What the clerk, the conveyancer and the principal open around the checklist.

The owners corporation rowsRules, minutes and insurance present and cited, the certificate missing. The minutes row already points to the levy resolution on page 118.
The fees line, as the vendor wrote itRates of $1,486, water of $742 and owners corporation fees of $6,240 a year, and nothing else. The reader marks the levy missing here.
The clause, where it sitsSpecial condition 14 on page 144: the buyer would make no objection, requisition or claim about the owners corporation information as provided.
The note that goes with the letterA short covering note to the buyer on the levy, the missing certificate and the end of cooling-off, asking her to call so the agent can be told her choice.
Who read, who checked, who sentSix agent steps, the clerk’s questions, then each approval and both sends by the licensed conveyancer.
The rules the checklist runs on24 items for an apartment, 19 for a house, 15 for vacant land, four kinds of defect, and a same-day turnaround target.

An $940,000 apartment, a 146-page statement and an $18,500 levy

The terms of the file on the screens above, as the contract and the minutes state them.

TermOn this file
Price$940,000
Deposit10%, $94,000, held by the vendor’s agent
Cooling-off3 clear business days from signing
Cost to cool off$1,880, being 0.2% of the price
Settlement60 days after signing
Owners corporation fees$6,240 a year
Special levy, not disclosed$18,500, in two installments of $9,250
Statement and contract146 pages, read and checked in 14 minutes

Who may prepare, who may send, and who countersigns a notice to end

The agents draft. Each message and each notice leaves the practice under a person’s approval.

Conveyancing clerk
Sees
The day’s queue, the checklist rows and the questions drafted for the vendor’s agent
Signs
Prepares the questions and checks the citations; cannot send advice
Licensed conveyancer
Sees
The findings with their pages, the buyer’s rights and the vendor’s possible answer
Signs
Confirms each row, approves the special conditions, and sends the advice and the questions
Principal conveyancer
Sees
Any notice ending a contract, and each change proposed to the checklist or the roles
Signs
Countersigns notices ending a contract, and every settings change
Property buyer
Sees
A plain-words letter with her options, the cost of each and the deadlines
Signs
Her engagement letter, and the notice on AI-assisted review

Questions conveyancers raise about a section 32 review

What is a Section 32 review?

A Section 32 review is the conveyancer’s check of the vendor statement a seller must give a buyer before signing. This solution reads each page of the statement and the contract, marks each required disclosure present, missing or defective with its page, and drafts advice that a licensed conveyancer approves and sends.

Can a buyer end the contract over a defective vendor statement?

The law lets a buyer end the contract for a defective statement before settlement, unless the vendor shows they acted honestly and reasonably and the buyer is in substantially as good a position. The solution states that defense beside each right to end, and a notice ending a contract is countersigned by the principal.

Where does a special levy show up when the statement leaves it out?

In the owners corporation’s own papers. The checker reads the certificate, rules, minutes, insurance and accounts, sets any levy voted at the last annual general meeting against the fees the statement declares, and cites both pages. It never estimates a levy that is not in writing.

Does it work out the cooling-off period?

Yes. It counts clear business days from signing, works out what the vendor keeps if the buyer cools off, and sets a reminder the business day before it ends.

Who can send advice to the buyer?

Only a licensed conveyancer. A clerk can prepare the letter and the questions, and the agents draft them, but nothing reaches the buyer, the vendor or the vendor’s agent until the conveyancer approves it.

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