Cooling-off and Section 66W, flagged

The problem with time-critical clauses

Cooling-off is one of the few parts of a contract for sale of land that runs on a clock. In NSW a buyer normally has a five-business-day cooling-off period — ten business days on an off-the-plan contract — unless it has been waived by a Section 66W certificate, or the sale was by public auction. Getting the position right, early, matters: it shapes the advice you give and the deadline your client is working to.

The trouble is that the cooling-off position is spread across the contract and its certificates, and a Section 66W certificate is easy to overlook in a thick bundle. Confirm it late and you are advising against a clock that may already be running.

How Torri handles cooling-off and 66W

• 1

  Read the position

  Torri surfaces the cooling-off position as it appears in the contract, so you know from the first read where your client stands.

• 2

  Flag a Section 66W

  If a Section 66W certificate is attached, Torri flags it — that is the instrument that waives the cooling-off period, and it changes the advice immediately.

• 3

  Put the deadline first

  Because it is time-critical, the cooling-off position is surfaced up front rather than left to be discovered, so the deadline is on the table from the start.

Built for NSW conveyancing

The cooling-off period — five business days, ten for off-the-plan — and the Section 66W waiver are creatures of the Conveyancing Act 1919, specific to NSW. Torri reads them in that frame — including that cooling-off does not apply to a sale by public auction — so the position it surfaces matches the rules that actually govern the matter.

Where it fits your review

A missed cooling-off deadline is the kind of error that has nothing to do with skill and everything to do with a document read too late. Torri brings it forward on every contract; you make the call on what it means and how to advise. It is a check that runs first, every time — and you still own the advice and the report.