Settlement

After deciding to purchase our new home off the plan, we face a challenge aligning the settlement of our new house with selling our old one. We must ensure that the sale of the old house is finalised first, so that we have the funds needed for the new house’s settlement; it cannot occur in the opposite order. My wife and I agreed on a 90-day settlement for our old home, which means we will finalise it in the first week of August. The developer of our new property would like to settle as soon as the house is completed and the occupancy certificate has been issued. While our new home is currently 80% complete, settlement for the new home may be due sooner than we think, leaving us unable to settle our new home.

To reduce this risk, our buyer’s advocate has asked that the settlement for the new home occur no earlier than the first week of August, which the estate agent and developer have verbally consented to. Now, we need our solicitor to include that in the contract, and we will be ready to sign the sale agreement on our new home. We’re almost there.