City Peak Conveyancing · Property resources · NSW
A practical NSW seller guide to preparing the contract, understanding costs, discharging your mortgage and getting ready for settlement.
Before the property is advertised
For a residential sale in NSW, the contract must be prepared and available before the property is offered for sale. Engage your conveyancer early so the required documents can be obtained before your marketing campaign begins.
Documents commonly include a title search, registered plan, relevant dealings, drainage information and a current section 10.7 planning certificate. Additional requirements depend on the property, including strata or swimming-pool matters. This is not an exhaustive checklist.
Tell City Peak Conveyancing about inclusions, exclusions, renovations, tenancies and your preferred settlement date. We can identify the documents and enquiries relevant to your sale and prepare the contract for your agent.
Official guidance: NSW Government — steps to selling a property.
Understand the costs
A professional fee pays for the conveyancing work. Disbursements are third-party expenses incurred for your matter, such as searches, certificates and document charges. Ask for an itemised quote that distinguishes these costs and explains GST, estimates and any additional work.
Depending on the quote and transaction, certificates, title documents, electronic settlement charges and registration fees may be separate items. Agent commission, marketing, lender charges and moving costs also need a place in your sale budget.
Which costs are included? Which are estimates? When are they payable? What happens if the property does not sell, or the matter becomes more complex? Do not assume every provider uses “fixed fee” in the same way.
City Peak Conveyancing can explain the scope and estimated costs for your particular sale before you instruct us.
Official background: NSW Government — conveyancing and costs.
Contact your lender early
A mortgage discharge removes the lender’s registered mortgage from the property title. Paying off the loan and removing the mortgage are related but separate steps; a zero loan balance does not itself confirm that the mortgage has been discharged.
Ask your lender for its discharge process and required notice period. Complete its authority and provide your conveyancer’s details. Where sale proceeds repay the loan, your lender and conveyancer coordinate the payout and discharge for settlement.
Ask about the final payout figure, discharge fees, any fixed-rate break costs and linked securities or guarantees. The balance shown in online banking may differ from the amount needed at settlement. Requirements and timing vary between lenders.
Lender examples: NAB mortgage-discharge guidance and CommBank discharge instructions. Use your own lender’s current process.
Plan the paperwork
Australian resident sellers should address the ATO clearance-certificate requirements early. A valid certificate provided to the buyer by settlement can prevent foreign resident capital gains withholding where the rules apply. Tax residency is not determined simply by citizenship.
A clearance certificate concerns withholding; it does not establish that no capital gains tax is payable. Ask your accountant about your tax position, and tell your conveyancer about any trust, estate, company or overseas-residency circumstances.
Official guidance: ATO clearance-certificate application instructions.
From exchange to handover
At exchange, the seller becomes bound by the contract and does not have the buyer’s cooling-off rights. Settlement timing is governed by the agreed contract. Confirm any move-out arrangements and handover obligations before booking your move.
Ask City Peak Conveyancing to explain the settlement statement, including any council or water rate adjustments, strata amounts where relevant, lender payout, agreed costs and other deductions. Your sale price is not the same as the net proceeds available after settlement.
For a sale and purchase happening together, discuss the sequence and funding arrangements before committing to dates.
Start with your circumstances
Send City Peak Conveyancing your property address, intended sale method, proposed campaign timing and lender details. We can explain the conveyancing steps and what we need to prepare your contract.
Explore our selling conveyancing service ↗Get in touch
Whether you're buying, selling, or still working out whether the contract in your inbox is any good — send it through. We'll come back to you with something useful.
Email the full PDF from the agent — including the annexures and the planning certificate — to info@citypeakconveyancing.com.au, and let us know if there's an auction or offer date we're working to.
