Key things you Look for in a Contract of Sale

The things that I look for in a Contract of Sale to protect my clients would be the terms and conditions and what Section 32 look like. The contract can set out a range of special conditions that can be adverse to a purchaser. So a contract of sale definitely favors a vendor in a standard sense so when you layer it up with special conditions, it can further imbalance the scale towards the vendor, that is what I’m looking for.

Can the contract of Sale or Special conditions be amended?

When amendments are required to a contract or in particular, the special conditions, you’re not always in a position to negotiate the removal of those terms. So you have to pick your battles and that may not be one of them. I always say to my clients that we never want to get the contract in the way of a good buy. If the property ticks all of the boxes for you, location and most importantly, price then the contract is secondary or ancillary to that purpose. And of course, its just there to facilitate the transferring of the tile of the ownership to you. We’re very careful and cautious about how we approach the removal of special conditions and very rarely find deal breakers. Once that are so onerous, harsh and unconscionable on the vendor’s part that we would suggest that you really push back on the agent. But a lot of time, if it is going to auction, the vendor will be offering that property as is, including the contract and the terms.