The buying process in the ACT

Buying in Canberra follows the same broad arc as anywhere in Australia: finance, search, checks, contract, settlement. Three things change the order of the work. The seller's contract already carries the crown lease, the title extract and a building and compliance inspection. Much of the reading therefore happens before an offer. The cooling-off period is five working days from when the contract is made, and there is none at auction. And who may do the legal work here was not confirmed by the research behind this page, so that is the first question to settle.

The steps in order

1. Get finance in shape. A lender's pre-approval sets the ceiling. If the Home Buyer Concession Scheme or the 5% Deposit Scheme is in play, check the eligibility tests early. They change the cash needed at settlement.
2. Check the agent. Look the selling agent up on Access Canberra's public register of licensed real estate agents before dealing with them.
3. Engage the legal help. Appoint a solicitor, or a conveyancer if the ACT permits one to act, before making an offer, so the contract can be read at once.
4. Read the contract pack. The seller's section 9 documents: the crown lease, title extract, deposited plan, encumbrances, conveyancing inquiry documents, energy rating and building and compliance inspection. For a unit, the section 119 certificate.
5. Build the price evidence. Recorded comparable sales, a fair-value range, and a walk-away number set before negotiating starts.
6. Make the offer or bid. At auction, register for the bidders record beforehand; there is no cooling-off afterwards.
7. Exchange. Contracts are signed and exchanged and the deposit paid. Where the cooling-off period applies it runs to 5 pm on the fifth working day.
8. Between exchange and settlement. Formal finance approval, the lender's requirements, the buyer verification declaration ACT Land Titles publishes for electronic lodgement, and the duty exemption claim.
9. Settle. The balance is paid, the transfer of the crown lease is registered, and the keys change hands.
10. Move in on time. A Home Buyer Concession Scheme exemption needs at least one buyer living in the home for 12 months, starting within a year of settlement. The off-the-plan and pensioner exemptions carry residence conditions of their own.

Who does the legal work

The agency pages name a solicitor: the Suburban Land Agency says a solicitor assesses and signs the contract, and points to the ACT Law Society to find one, and Access Canberra says only a legal practitioner or financial institution can use e-conveyancing. Two further points bear on it. The cooling-off waiver is a lawyer's certificate under section 17 of the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003. Shortening or waiving the period therefore needs a lawyer, whatever else is true. And the Land Titles (Electronic Conveyancing) Act 2020 is on the register, with ACT Land Titles publishing a buyer verification declaration, so electronic conveyancing exists here. Whether and how practitioners must hold professional indemnity insurance was not part of this research. Give the practitioner the full contract pack as soon as the property is chosen. Add identification for the verification declaration and the details of any exemption claim.

Checking the agent

Access Canberra licenses real estate, business, and stock and station agents under the Agents Act 2003. Once licensed, an agent's name appears on one of two public registers. One covers licences issued before 1 July 2022 and the other licences issued after that date. Both are reached from Access Canberra's public registers page; the direct search links were not confirmed, so start at the index. Assistant agents are registered rather than licensed and have their own page. A name on neither register is a reason to stop and ask.

If something goes wrong

Access Canberra is both the consumer regulator and the licensing body. A complaint about an agent's conduct, a price representation or an auction goes there. The entry point is its fair trading and consumer rights section. Fair Trading is the first point of contact; a complaint is lodged online or by phone, and Access Canberra aims to resolve less-complex complaints within 30 days. Access Canberra also runs an inspection program on real estate auctions. Where the dispute is with a solicitor or conveyancer rather than an agent, the body that handles it was not confirmed at the time of checking.

How long it takes

The typical time from exchange to settlement in the ACT was not confirmed. The one official example, on the ACT Revenue Office's Home Buyer Concession Scheme page, has exchange on 12 August 2025 and settlement two weeks later. That is an illustration, not a rule. What stretches it is familiar: formal finance approval, an off-the-plan completion date, or a Suburban Land Agency block. There a 14-day holding notice runs before exchange.