One of the most stressful moments in buying a home is signing the contract. You're committing hundreds of thousands of dollars with a single signature. Your hand is shaking a little. Your brain is quietly screaming "are we actually sure about this?"
The cooling-off period exists for exactly that moment. It's a short window after you sign where you can change your mind and walk away, usually for a small penalty. But here's the part nobody tells you upfront: the cooling-off rules for buying a house are completely different depending on which state you're in.
Cooling-off periods in Australian real estate range from none at all (WA and Tasmania) to 5 business days (NSW, Queensland and the ACT), and the Northern Territory is the only place that generally refunds your full deposit if you pull out. Buy at auction, though, and you get no cooling-off period anywhere in the country.
Updated June 2026 for the new NSW Contract for Sale of Land cooling-off notice, mandatory for contracts exchanged from 1 June 2026.
Here's every state and territory, so you know exactly where you stand before you pick up the pen.
Cooling-off periods by state at a glance
| State | Cooling-off | Penalty if you walk | Key catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 5 business days | 0.25% of price | Off-the-plan contracts get 10 business days. Section 66W waiver available. |
| VIC | 3 clear business days | Greater of $100 or 0.2% | Void if signed within 3 clear business days of a scheduled auction. |
| QLD | 5 business days | Up to 0.25% | Starts the day you receive the signed contract. Insure immediately. |
| WA | None | N/A | No safety net unless you write conditions into the Offer and Acceptance. |
| SA | 2 business days | Up to $100 forfeited | Clock starts when you get the Form 1 or sign, whichever is later. |
| TAS | None | N/A | No mandatory disclosure either. Get legal advice before you sign. |
| ACT | 5 business days | 0.25% of price | Section 17 certificate to waive. Vendor supplies building and pest reports. |
| NT | 4 business days | Generally none | Full deposit usually refunded. Confirm the detail with your NT conveyancer. |
First home buyer? Check every 2026 grant you qualify for before you sign.
Cooling-off is your exit door, but knowing your full scheme stack (the First Home Owner Grant, First Home Super Saver, the 5% Deposit Scheme, stamp duty concessions) before you commit is the bigger lever. Free, takes about two minutes, no broker required.
Open the Eligibility Checker
NSW — New South Wales
Cooling-off period: 5 business days. Penalty if you withdraw: 0.25% of the purchase price. On a $700,000 home that's $1,750.
The clock starts the moment you exchange contracts, and it ends at 5pm on the fifth business day. During that window you can pull out for any reason you like, you just forfeit the 0.25%. It stings, but it's far cheaper than being locked into a house you've gone cold on.
Use the five days properly. That's enough time to get a building and pest inspection done, lock in your finance, and have your conveyancer or solicitor read the contract line by line.
Off-the-plan is different. If you're buying off the plan in NSW, the cooling-off period is 10 business days, not 5. The state doubled it because off-the-plan buyers are committing to something that doesn't physically exist yet, and they need longer to check the fine print.
What is a Section 66W certificate? It's a one-page certificate, signed by your solicitor, that waives your cooling-off period entirely. In a hot market, agents sometimes ask buyers to hand one over to make their offer look stronger. The catch is simple: the second you sign with a 66W attached, you're locked in, no exit. Only go near one if your inspection is already done and your finance is unconditionally approved. The old buyer's rule of thumb still holds: if a seller wants a 66W that badly, they can take the place to auction instead. Get legal advice before you sign anything.
VIC — Victoria
Cooling-off period: 3 clear business days, counted from the day you sign (not the day the seller signs). Penalty if you withdraw: the greater of $100 or 0.2% of the purchase price. On a $700,000 home, 0.2% is $1,400, so that's what you'd lose. The $100 floor only bites on cheaper places.
"Clear" business days means you don't count the day you signed, weekends or public holidays, so the real window is often longer on the calendar than three days sounds.
Before you sign, the seller has to hand over a Section 32 vendor's statement. This is the disclosure document, and it's where the skeletons live: the title details, any covenants or easements, outgoings like council and water rates, owners corporation fees, building permits from the last seven years, and whether there's anything nasty registered against the land. Your conveyancer should comb through it before the cooling-off clock runs out. If the Section 32 is missing key information, that can give you grounds to get out.
The Victorian auction trap. This is the one in the title, and it catches people. Cooling-off doesn't apply when you buy at a public auction, fair enough. But it also doesn't apply to any contract signed within 3 clear business days before or after a scheduled public auction, even if the property was passed in or the auction was cancelled. So if you sign a private deal on the Thursday before a Saturday auction, you've quietly given up your cooling-off rights without anyone spelling it out. Ask the question straight: is this within three clear business days of a scheduled auction? Your conveyancer can tell you in a phone call.
QLD — Queensland
Cooling-off period: 5 business days. Penalty if you withdraw: up to 0.25% of the purchase price, with the balance of your deposit refunded within 14 days.
The start rule trips people up. Your cooling-off period starts the day you receive the contract signed by both parties, or the next business day if that lands on a weekend or public holiday. So if the fully signed contract reaches you on a Friday, your cooling-off generally starts ticking on the Monday.
The REIQ standard contract used across Queensland also includes its own clauses for building and pest, finance, and other conditions. Those sit separately from the cooling-off period and give you extra outs. If your inspection turns up something serious, you can usually terminate under the building and pest condition without forfeiting anything at all.
The Queensland warning worth tattooing on your hand: under the REIQ standard contract, the risk in the property passes to you at 5pm on the first business day after the contract date. After that point, if the place is damaged by fire, flood or storm, that's your problem, not the seller's. So arrange building insurance the moment you sign, don't wait for settlement. (This timing comes from the REIQ standard form, so if you're on a non-standard contract, check the exact clause with your solicitor.)
WA — Western Australia
Cooling-off period: none. Penalty: not applicable, because there's nothing to withdraw from.
Western Australia has no statutory cooling-off period for property. Once you've signed the Offer and Acceptance, you're legally bound. That makes WA one of the easier states to get yourself stuck in if you rush.
The way you protect yourself here is with conditions written into the Offer and Acceptance. At a minimum, your offer should be subject to:
- A satisfactory building and pest inspection
- Finance approval
- Clear title with no surprise encumbrances
If a condition isn't met in time, you can walk. But sign an unconditional offer with none of these, and you have no way out at all. So always include your conditions, and always have your settlement agent or solicitor read the contract before you sign, not after.
For the full WA playbook, including the fast 8-day sale timelines, Keystart, the WA First Home Owner Grant, and how to structure your Offer and Acceptance, see our buying a house in Perth guide.
SA — South Australia
Cooling-off period: 2 business days. Penalty if you withdraw: up to $100, and that's it. The rest of your deposit comes back.
South Australia gives the shortest window of any state that offers one, but it's also one of the most buyer-friendly on the penalty front, sitting close to the Northern Territory. There's no percentage forfeit here. If you pull out during cooling-off, the most you can lose is $100 of your initial deposit, and the balance is refunded.
The clock starts when you receive the Form 1, or when you sign the contract, whichever happens later. The Form 1 is the vendor's disclosure statement, and it's a document worth reading properly: title details, council rates, easements, mortgages over the property, and any known hazards. If the seller hasn't given you a proper Form 1, your cooling-off period doesn't start, which means you can withdraw at any time until they do.
TAS — Tasmania
Cooling-off period: none. Penalty: not applicable.
Like WA, Tasmania has no statutory cooling-off period. Once contracts are signed, you're committed. Tasmania also has no mandatory pre-sale disclosure, so you're walking in with less information than buyers in most other states.
That makes your contract conditions essential, not optional. Build in conditions for building and pest, finance, and any other due diligence you need, and have your conveyancer review the contract before signing, never after.
ACT — Australian Capital Territory
Cooling-off period: 5 business days. Penalty if you withdraw: 0.25% of the purchase price.
The ACT lines up with NSW and Queensland on the headline numbers. Its equivalent of the NSW Section 66W waiver is the Section 17 certificate, signed by your solicitor, which gives up your cooling-off rights. Same warning applies: don't sign one unless your inspection and finance are already sorted.
The ACT does one thing genuinely well for buyers. Sellers have to commission and supply disclosure documents before the property even goes on the market, including a building report, a pest report if the home is occupied, and an Energy Efficiency Rating statement. That's a real head start over the rest of the country. Just remember the reports are paid for by the seller, so if you've got a specific worry, it can still be worth getting your own independent inspector to look.
NT — Northern Territory
Cooling-off period: 4 business days. Penalty if you withdraw: generally none, with your deposit refunded.
The Northern Territory is usually the most buyer-friendly arrangement in the country: withdraw inside the 4 business day window and you generally get your full deposit back with no penalty. We say "generally" on purpose, the treatment can differ depending on how the contract was exchanged and who handled it, so confirm the detail with your NT conveyancer rather than assuming it's automatic.
The cooling-off period can be waived by written agreement between buyer and seller, and as with everywhere else, an auction purchase has no cooling-off at all.
When cooling-off does NOT apply
Even in the states that give you a cooling-off period, several situations switch it off completely. These are the gaps that catch first home buyers, because the rights you assumed you had simply aren't there:
- Any auction, anywhere. Win at auction in any state or territory and the contract is unconditional and binding the instant the hammer falls.
- The Victorian auction window. A private contract signed within 3 clear business days before or after a scheduled public auction in Victoria, even if the property passed in or the auction was called off.
- Buying after a pass-in or failed auction. In NSW, exchanging on the same day the property is passed in at auction usually means no cooling-off. In Queensland, a private contract within two business days of a failed auction has no cooling-off for anyone who was a registered bidder.
- Waiving it yourself. Signing a NSW Section 66W or an ACT Section 17 certificate.
- Some off-the-plan and option contracts. Variations and option arrangements can change or remove the standard window, which is exactly why off-the-plan NSW gets a longer one.
- Large rural land and non-residential buyers. Rural land above the state size threshold, and buyers who are companies or property professionals, often fall outside the protection.
If you're not certain your situation qualifies, treat it as if you have no cooling-off and ask your conveyancer to confirm before you sign.
How to actually pull out (and what happens to your deposit)
Nobody walks you through the mechanics, so here they are. Withdrawing during cooling-off isn't a phone call or a text, it's a formal step, and the timing is unforgiving:
- Notify the seller in writing, through your solicitor or conveyancer, before the deadline. That's before 5pm on the last business day of your window. Miss the cut-off and the right is gone.
- The contract terminates. Once your written notice lands in time, the deal is off.
- Your deposit comes back, minus the penalty. In NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, the percentage penalty is deducted and the rest is returned (Queensland law requires the balance within 14 days). In South Australia you lose at most $100, and in the Northern Territory you generally get the lot back.
The single most common mistake is leaving it to the last afternoon and then not getting the written notice lodged in time. If you're even thinking about pulling out, tell your conveyancer early so the paperwork is ready to go.
Auctions — no cooling-off anywhere
This is the rule that catches the most first home buyers off guard: buy at auction and there is no cooling-off period in any Australian state or territory. Once the hammer falls and you're the highest bidder, the contract is unconditional and binding immediately. No window, no conditions, no second thoughts.
So before you raise your hand at an auction, all four of these need to be done:
- Your building and pest inspection is complete. Get a qualified inspector through the place before auction day, not after.
- Your finance is pre-approved, ideally unconditionally, before you bid.
- Your conveyancer has already reviewed the contract.
- You're ready to pay the deposit, usually 10%, on the spot.
If you can't tick all four, don't bid. Winning a property you then can't settle on is one of the worst positions a buyer can be in, the seller can keep your deposit and sue you for their losses on top.
Should you waive your cooling-off period?
In a competitive market, agents sometimes lean on buyers to waive cooling-off so their offer looks "stronger". It's a high-risk move, and it only makes sense if every one of these is already true:
- You've completed a building and pest inspection
- Your finance is unconditionally approved
- Your conveyancer has reviewed the contract and given you the all-clear
- You're genuinely comfortable with the property and the price
If even one of those is shaky, keep your cooling-off period. The penalty for changing your mind is small (0.2% to 0.25% in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, capped at about $100 in South Australia, and nothing in the Northern Territory) compared to the cost of being locked into the wrong house.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the cooling-off period in each state?
It ranges from none to 5 business days. NSW, Queensland and the ACT give 5 business days, Victoria gives 3 clear business days, the Northern Territory gives 4, South Australia gives 2, and WA and Tasmania have no statutory cooling-off period at all. The table near the top of this page lays out the days and penalties side by side.
Is the cooling-off period 10 days in NSW?
Only for off-the-plan purchases. A standard NSW residential contract gives you 5 business days of cooling-off, but an off-the-plan contract gives you 10 business days because you're committing to a property that hasn't been built yet.
Am I entitled to a 14-day cooling-off period?
Not on a property purchase in Australia. No state or territory gives 14 days on real estate, the maximum is 5 business days (or 10 for off-the-plan in NSW). The 14-day figure people remember comes from UK consumer law and online or door-to-door sales contracts, not house buying.
What is a Section 66W certificate?
It's a certificate signed by your solicitor in NSW that waives your cooling-off period, so you're locked into the contract the moment you sign. Only agree to one if your building inspection is done and your finance is unconditionally approved, otherwise you're giving up your only easy exit.
Does WA have a cooling-off period?
No. There's no statutory cooling-off period in Western Australia, so the only protection you have is the conditions you write into the Offer and Acceptance, such as finance, building and pest, and clear title. Sign an unconditional offer and you're bound with no way out.
When does the cooling-off period start?
It depends on the state. In NSW it starts at exchange of contracts, in Victoria from the day you sign, in Queensland the day you receive the contract signed by both parties (or the next business day if that's a weekend or public holiday), and in South Australia when you receive the Form 1 or sign, whichever is later.
Can I get a cooling-off period at auction?
No. Auction purchases are unconditional in every Australian state and territory, there's no cooling-off period and no way to withdraw once the hammer falls. Complete all your due diligence before auction day.
What happens if I withdraw during cooling-off?
You notify the seller in writing, through your solicitor, before the window closes, and the contract terminates. You forfeit the penalty (0.2% to 0.25% in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, up to about $100 in South Australia, generally nothing in the Northern Territory) and the rest of your deposit is refunded.
Can the seller withdraw during the cooling-off period?
Generally no. Cooling-off is a buyer protection, so the seller is bound to the contract from the moment of exchange. Specific circumstances and state laws do vary, so check the detail with your conveyancer.
Knowing your cooling-off rights is just one checkpoint in a much bigger process. See exactly where signing the contract sits on your first home buyer journey, read our full guide to how the buying process differs by state, line up a conveyancer before you make an offer, and run the numbers with our free borrowing power calculator.
