Property Settlement: What Happens and What You Pay

In short. Settlement is when the balance of the price is paid, the seller's mortgage is discharged and the transfer is lodged, so the land can be registered in the buyer's name⁷. Many settlements now happen in an online workspace instead of a meeting room.

Both sides' representatives and both banks meet in an electronic workspace, the funds move, and the transfer is lodged for registration.

What actually happens at settlement?

Your lender releases the loan funds, the seller's lender discharges their mortgage, the balance of the price is paid, and the transfer documents are lodged so the land titles office can record you as the owner. The keys are released when that is done, which is why agents talk about keys "on settlement" and not at a set hour.

What happens between signing and the day?

You sign, and where a cooling-off period applies the clock starts: 5 business days from exchange in NSW², 3 clear business days from signing for a Victorian private sale⁴.
The deposit your contract sets is paid and held. In Victoria it is held in trust by the agent or by the seller's legal practitioner or conveyancer until settlement⁵.
Your conveyancer orders searches and reviews the title, the plan and any certificates.
Your lender values the property and issues loan documents. Allow time for this step.
Figures are agreed with the other side, including adjustments for rates and other periodic charges.
Settlement happens, the transfer is lodged, and duty is dealt with as part of the transaction.

The gap between signing and settlement is usually a matter of weeks and is set by your contract, not by law. Ask what yours says before you plan a removalist.

How does electronic settlement work?

The representatives on both sides and the banks join a shared online workspace, where the documents are prepared, signed and lodged. SRO Tasmania describes it as a way to create and sign transfers, pay duty, complete the financial settlement and lodge with the land titles office, and names PEXA as the approved network there and elsewhere in Australia¹⁰.

For you it means three things: the settlement time is a booked slot, not a meeting, the platform fee appears in your disbursements, and nobody needs to meet in person with bank cheques.

What falls due on the day?

The balance of the purchase price, less the deposit already paid.
Transfer duty, unless it has already been paid, worked out from your state's schedule. The calculator gives the figure.
Your conveyancer's professional fee and the disbursements they have paid on your behalf.
Adjustments so that rates and similar charges are split between you and the seller at the settlement date.
Your lender's own fees, where your loan carries them.

Ask your conveyancer for the settlement figures before the day and read them. They show what is being paid, to whom, and how the rates and other adjustments were worked out, and before settlement is the easiest time to query a mistake.

Which clocks start on settlement day?

If you claimed first home relief, the residence conditions run from settlement, and they are binding conditions. Miss one and the revenue office can reassess the duty you did not pay.

Residence conditions that start at settlement. Queensland also bars selling, leasing or giving exclusive possession of the whole property during that first year. Source: Revenue NSW¹; State Revenue Office Victoria³; Queensland Revenue Office⁶; RevenueSA⁸; ACT Revenue Office⁹.

Chart data

Jurisdiction	Move in within	Then live there for
New South Wales	12 months of settlement	At least 12 months
Victoria	12 months of settlement	At least 12 months
Queensland	12 months of settlement	No minimum stated on the source page
South Australia	12 months of settlement	At least 6 months
ACT	12 months of settlement	At least 12 months

If you are thinking of renting the place out before you move in, raise it with your conveyancer or solicitor before settlement. In Queensland, for example, leasing the whole property before you move in can cost you the concession⁶. This is general information, not advice about your own plans.

What if settlement runs late?

It can happen, for example when loan funds are not ready in time. Contracts often provide for interest or other consequences when a party is not ready on the due date, and the amounts come from your contract, not from a general rule. Read that clause when you sign, not on the morning it bites.

Then keep the costs checklist beside you, so nothing on the day is the first time you have seen the number.

Source notes

For a new or existing home bought under the NSW First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, one of the first home buyers must move in within 12 months after settlement and live there as their principal place of residence for at least 12 continuous months. Revenue NSW (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)
Buying residential property in NSW comes with a 5 business day cooling-off period that starts on exchange and ends at 5pm on the fifth business day after the day of exchange. NSW Government (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)
For the Victorian first home buyer exemption or concession, at least one buyer must live in the home as their principal place of residence for 12 continuous months within 12 months of settlement. State Revenue Office Victoria (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)
Private sales of residential property in Victoria have a cooling-off period of three clear business days, starting from the date the buyer signs the contract. Consumer Affairs Victoria (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)
Consumer Affairs Victoria says a seller's agent must hold the buyer's deposit in a trust account until settlement or pass it to the seller's legal practitioner or conveyancer, who holds it in trust. Consumer Affairs Victoria (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)
To keep the Queensland first home concession you must move in and live there within 1 year of settlement, and not sell, transfer, lease or give exclusive possession of the whole property in that first year. Queensland Revenue Office (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)
The Queensland Government says conveyancing involves all steps necessary to ensure that the registration of the land is in the name of the buyer at the government's land title office. Queensland Government (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)
South Australian first home buyers claiming relief must live in the property for a continuous period of at least 6 months, starting within 12 months after settlement for a new home. RevenueSA (Government source, checked 12 September 2026)
Under the ACT Home Buyer Concession Scheme, buyers and their partners must not have owned property in the last five years, and at least one buyer must live in the home for at least 12 months starting within one year of settlement. ACT Revenue Office (Government source, checked 12 September 2026)
SRO Tasmania describes electronic conveyancing as an optional way to create and execute land transfers, pay duty, complete financial settlements and lodge transfers with the Land Titles Office, and names Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) as the approved Electronic Lodgement Network Operator for Tasmania and elsewhere in Australia. State Revenue Office Tasmania (Government source, checked 16 September 2026)