Off the plan conveyancing: deposits, disclosure changes and sunset dates in NSW, VIC, QLD and WA

An off the plan conveyancing file carries four things a standard conveyance does not: the deposit's trust position until the plan registers, the vendor's disclosure document, each notice of change and the deadline it starts, and the sunset date. MatterFirst, a legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, calculates those key dates and cites the governing statute.

Why an off the plan file behaves differently

In a standard conveyance the settlement date is in the contract. In an off the plan matter it is tied to an event: registration of the plan of subdivision or the strata plan, or the issue of an occupancy permit. So the deposit is not the vendor's money, and sits in trust or controlled money until that event. The thing being sold can also change after signing, as lot areas move, entitlements are recalculated and plans are redrawn at the Registrar's requirement, and the statutes respond by making the vendor disclose the change and giving the purchaser a short window to get out. Those windows rarely run from the contract date. They run from the day a notice is served, or the day the registered plan is given to the purchaser.

Where the deposit sits until the plan registers

In Victoria the contract must also carry a conspicuous notice about the deposit limit under s 9AA(1A) of the Sale of Land Act 1962, and a failure to comply with s 9AA lets the purchaser rescind at any time before registration under s 9AE(1). In Western Australia, Consumer Protection tells buyers they can ask for an interest earning account, with the interest paid to them, where the deposit exceeds $20,000 or settlement is more than 60 days away.

When the vendor has to disclose a change, and how long the purchaser then has

This is the part most commonly missed, because the clock is started by the other side.

In NSW the 21 day pre-settlement period is also a shield: the Registrar General states the purchaser cannot be compelled to settle within it. Some changes, such as a proposed lot number or street name, need no notice, so not every amendment starts a clock.

Queensland has two further rights beside s 214. Under s 213(5) of the BCCM Act the buyer may terminate where the seller never gave a disclosure statement before the contract was entered into. Under s 217, where the established or changed scheme differs from what was disclosed and the buyer would be materially prejudiced, notice must be given no later than the latest of three days before completion is otherwise required, or 14 days after the buyer is told the scheme is established or changed.

In Western Australia, Consumer Protection warns that some contracts let the developer change specifications without the buyer's approval, and that accepting a variation clause may prevent a later compensation claim. Review that before exchange and record the advice given.

Sunset dates: who can walk away, and on what terms

The Victorian scheme is the most prescriptive. On an application under s 10E the Court must consider the terms of the contract, whether the vendor acted unreasonably or in bad faith, the reason for the delay, the likely registration or permit date, whether the lot has increased in value, and the effect on each purchaser. The vendor pays the purchaser's costs unless it satisfies the Court that consent was unreasonably withheld.

Victoria has also added two purchaser rights tied to the building. The version as at 9 September 2026 includes s 9ADA, under which the vendor must not require or permit possession of a lot in a residential apartment building before an occupancy permit issues, and s 9AEA, under which the purchaser may rescind where a permit has issued but the developer has not arranged a developer bond securing at least what s 137ZP of the Building Act 1993 requires. Both are new entries for a Victorian apartment checklist.

Cooling off is a separate clock

Cooling off and off the plan rescission rights have different triggers, and both need diarising.

In NSW the period can be waived or shortened only where the purchaser's lawyer or conveyancer gives the required certificate. In Victoria s 31 does not apply to sales by publicly advertised auction, or within three clear business days either side of one.

What the file has to record

Four things, in every jurisdiction: the governing Act and the disclosure document given, with dates; the deposit amount, the account holding it and the event that releases it; the registration or occupancy event, with sunset date and long stop recorded separately; and each notice of change, with its method of service and the date the resulting rescission or compensation right expires.

The provisions differ elsewhere but the structure holds. In South Australia the Form 1 vendor's statement drives the cooling off clock, and the Law Handbook SA notes that a Form 1 inaccurate when served is treated as defective.

How MatterFirst handles this

MatterFirst is a legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, built by North Cape Technology in Melbourne. Matters can be recorded in all eight Australian jurisdictions, and four parts of the product carry an off the plan file.

Obligation and limitation date rules calculate key dates and cite the governing statute, in the same form as a rule citing the Limitation Act 1969 (NSW) s 14(1). The 14 day window after a notice of change in NSW or Victoria, the 21 day window after a Queensland further statement and the long stop under s 9AE(2) or s 217B each sit on the matter as a date with its statutory reference attached, synced to the calendar.

Document AI extracts key terms from an uploaded contract, flags risks and connects the result to the matter workflow, and custom extraction rules let a firm define its own fields: sunset date, registration deadline, deposit percentage, the trust arrangement specified, the notice provisions and any area or entitlement tolerance.

Automations run trigger, condition and action rules, and generating a document can be a workflow step. Document generation is deterministic by default, built from merge fields, matter data projections, clause library entries and signature blocks, with AI used only where a section calls for synthesis. A rescission notice is merge field work and should come out the same way every time.

Trust accounting is built for Australian jurisdictions, with a compliance review workflow covering NSW, VIC, QLD and WA. That is four jurisdictions, not all eight. The client portal gives the purchaser somewhere to track progress on a matter that may run for years. Data and AI processing are hosted in the AWS region the firm chooses, Sydney by default, as set out on the security page.

How this compares

The facts below come from each vendor's own public pages, checked in October 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a fact, the cell says so.

Check numbers against each vendor's own pricing page, including MatterFirst's pricing and AI pricing. Every MatterFirst plan includes a monthly AI balance in Australian dollars that metered AI work draws down; deterministic work, such as generating a document with no AI sections, draws down nothing.

Who this suits, and who it does not

MatterFirst suits Australian firms of roughly two to twenty fee earners that need onshore hosting, state based trust accounting across NSW, VIC, QLD or WA, and a file that calculates its own statutory dates. Conveyancing practices running a high volume of similar matters get the most from deterministic document generation and automation rules.

It is a weaker fit in three cases: a firm that needs a connected PEXA or InfoTrack integration today, since both are listed as coming soon; a firm whose trust compliance review must cover SA, TAS, ACT or NT; and a single seat practice, which should compare the workspace price against a per user plan. The evaluation checklist sets out the questions to put to any vendor, including this one.

FAQ

Does MatterFirst calculate off the plan sunset dates? Yes. Obligation and limitation date rules calculate key dates, cite the governing statute and sync to the matter calendar. You enter the contract specific inputs, such as the sunset date and the date a notice of change was served.

How long does a purchaser have to rescind after a notice of change? In NSW, 14 days from the notice, with compensation of up to 2 per cent of the price as the alternative. In Victoria, 14 days from being advised of an amendment that will materially affect the lot. In Queensland, 21 days after a further statement where the buyer would be materially prejudiced if compelled to complete.

Can a developer cancel an off the plan contract using a sunset clause? Not freely. NSW, Victoria and Queensland each require the purchaser's consent or a Supreme Court order, and Victoria requires at least 28 days' written notice before consent is sought. Queensland's land provisions commenced on 22 November 2023 and, per government guidance, do not apply to community titles schemes.

Does MatterFirst handle Victorian trust accounting? Yes. Trust accounting is built for Australian jurisdictions and the compliance review workflow covers NSW, VIC, QLD and WA, those four only.

Does MatterFirst connect to PEXA? No. PEXA is listed as coming soon. The integrations you can connect today are Xero, Stripe, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, plus a documented REST API with webhooks: see the integrations page.

The short version

Off the plan matters fail on dates, not on drafting, and in each of these states the dates sit in different provisions with different clocks. Check the current text before advising: Victoria's Act was amended as recently as September 2026, and Queensland's community titles provisions are current as at 1 August 2025. For how a matter file holds those dates with their statutory references attached, see matter management.