Most often people buy an existing property. However, when someone decides to purchase a property, such as a home unit, before it has even been constructed then they are selecting it off a plan that is presented to them.

In New South Wales a vendor must give more information to a purchaser than for an existing home by attaching a Disclosure Statement to the Contract providing important information like the sunset date (the date by which the relevant plan has to be registered otherwise the purchaser can rescind the Contract) and attaching documents including the draft plan, a draft floor plan, the proposed schedule of finishes and the draft strata by-laws in the case of a strata unit.

Contracts for an off-the-plan purchase are always much more involved and far longer than those for an existing property and can often run into the hundreds of pages. This is because the developer selling the property needs to include many additional clauses relating solely to this type of transaction including clauses allowing the sunset date to be extended due to certain construction delays, allowing the variation of the floor plan or schedule of finishes or relating to the rectification of defects after settlement.

Special care and consideration needs to be given to off-the-plan contracts to ensure that you are well aware of all the different rights and obligations that apply.

July 2021