Can I choose my settlement date?

How the date gets set

Before the campaign starts, your lawyer prepares the sale and purchase agreement and the settlement date goes in then. Buyers making an offer work from that document, so the date you want is the starting point of the negotiation rather than something raised at the end.

A buyer can still ask for a different date, and often will, because their own finance, lease or move depends on it. At that point the date becomes part of the same negotiation as the price, and it can be traded against it.

What to think about before you pick one

• Your next place. If you are buying, the two settlements have to line up, or you need finance to cover the overlap.
• Your mortgage. If a loan is fixed, ask your lender what a break cost would be and whether the loan can be moved to a new property, so the date is a decision rather than a surprise.
• The move itself. The house is normally empty on settlement day, so the pack and the truck have to fit before it.
• Tenants. If the property is tenanted, the notice periods set the earliest workable date.
• Work and school. A date in the middle of a term or a busy stretch at work makes for a hard week.

What limits the choice

Settlement runs through the banks and the two law firms, so the date needs to be a working day, and dates immediately around public holidays are harder for everyone involved.

A very short gap can narrow your buyer pool, because a buyer who needs to arrange finance or sell their own house cannot meet it. A very long gap does the same in the other direction, since some buyers cannot wait. Somewhere in the middle keeps the most buyers in the room, and the right point depends on how much the date matters to you.

If the date is not negotiable for you

Say so plainly at the start, to your lawyer and in the campaign. A buyer who knows the date is fixed either works with it or steps aside early, which is far better than discovering the clash once an offer is on the table.