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Sheet 00 · Overview

Selling your home when it is not simple

A tenant in the home, a pool, smoke alarms, a strata title or work the owner built: each one adds a paper, a notice or a deadline to a sale, and each has a first step set by the state’s own rules. This is a guide to those five, in plain words, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page.

Project
Selling your home
Sheets
5 complications, one per sheet
Rules described
By state, named each time
Checked

The house, marked up

Each number on the drawing is one complication, and each has its own sheet. Under every number is the first thing a state’s rules ask of the seller, with the state named.

Every sheet is laid out the same way. It opens with the rule that answers its question, then a box marked First step, then the rest of each state’s rules, with a schedule wherever the states compare. Each sheet names the official pages it draws on near the top and lists every one at its foot.

A street section drawn as an architect’s sheet, with five numbered markersA block of units on the left, a two-storey house in the middle with a dashed rear extension, and a fenced pool on the right, all cut through at ground level. Marker 1 sits on an upstairs bedroom stacked with moving boxes, marker 2 on the pool fence, marker 3 on a smoke alarm on the ceiling, marker 4 on one unit in the block, and marker 5 on the dashed extension. 1.2 m 41235 UNITSHOUSEEXTENSIONPOOL N
Drawing for this guide, not to scale. Illustration only.
  1. 1

    Selling with tenants in the home

    QLDThe tenant is given a Notice of lessor’s intention to sell premises (Form 10).

    SAThe landlord tells the tenant in writing within 14 days of signing an agency agreement to sell, and the home is not advertised or shown before those 14 days pass.

  2. 2

    Selling a home with a pool

    NSWA registration certificate from the Swimming Pool Register is attached to the contract, with one of three pool documents: a valid certificate of compliance, a relevant occupation certificate issued within the last 3 years, or a valid certificate of non-compliance.

    QLDA copy of a current pool safety certificate goes to the buyer before settlement; with none, a Form 36 is lodged and a copy given.

  3. 3

    Smoke alarms when you sell

    QLDEvery existing home, townhouse and unit needs interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms by 1 January 2027, and a seller may need to show proof of compliance.

  4. 4

    Selling a strata unit

    VICAn owners corporation certificate goes into the Section 32 statement, and the owners corporation must issue one within 10 business days of a written request and the fee.

  5. 5

    Selling after owner-builder work

    QLDWhere an owner-builder project finished in the last 6 years, the buyer gets a written notice about the work before signing the contract.

    NSWWithin 7 years and 6 months of the permit, the contract carries a consumer warning that an owner-builder permit was issued.

Which states each sheet covers

Selling rules are written state by state, and the official pages behind this guide do not cover every state for every complication. This schedule shows where each sheet has a state’s rules and where it does not.

“Yes”: the sheet sets out that state’s rules. “Part”: it holds some of them. “Not here”: that state is not covered on this site.
SheetNSWVICQLDSAWATASACTNT
1 · TenantsPartPartYesYesYesNot hereYesNot here
2 · PoolYesNot hereYesNot hereNot hereNot herePartYes
3 · Smoke alarmsPartNot hereYesNot hereNot hereNot hereNot hereNot here
4 · StrataPartYesYesNot hereYesNot herePartNot here
5 · Owner-builderYesYesYesPartNot hereNot herePartNot here

About this guide

This is a plain-words guide to five complications in a home sale, published by Dotto. It describes each rule as the state body or regulator sets it out on its own page, and it names the state every time, because a rule from one state says nothing about another. It is general information, not legal advice: a lawyer or licensed conveyancer is the person who applies a rule to a particular sale.

Some parts of a sale sit outside these five sheets: the contract and cooling-off in general, settlement, and tax on the sale. The state bodies below cover them on their own pages.

The state pages this guide draws on most: