Blog · For buyers
The off-the-plan buyer’s register checklist
Eight things to verify before you sign, and exactly where each one is publicly searchable. Every check below can be done from a laptop, for nothing, in under an hour.
Most of what a purchaser needs to know about an off-the-plan contract is already on a public register. The difficulty is that the answers sit in six different places, none of which talks to the others, and none of which is written for a buyer. This is the order we would work through them.
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Identify the company you are actually buying from
Large developers sell through single-purpose companies, often one per site. The name on the front page of your contract is likely a numbered company, not the brand on the signage. That distinction decides which entity you are a creditor of, and whether that entity is the one in difficulty.
Where: the contract of sale, then ASIC Connect for the company’s status, registration date and officeholders. -
Establish how your deposit is held, before you pay it
Under section 66ZT of the Conveyancing Act 1919, money paid under an off-the-plan contract must be held as trust or controlled money by a law practice or licensed conveyancer, and cannot be released to the vendor before completion. Money held that way is not the developer’s and cannot be pooled with the assets available to creditors. Money that has been released, or was never placed in trust, leaves you an unsecured creditor.
Where: the deposit and release clauses in your contract, and the trust account statement from your conveyancer. -
Count the storeys
Clause 56 of the Home Building Regulation 2014 exempts new buildings with a rise of more than three storeys containing two or more dwellings from home building compensation cover. If your building is four storeys or taller there is no home warranty policy, none was required, and none is missing. Three storeys or fewer, and cover is mandatory for work above $20,000.
Where: the approved plans on the council’s DA file — the drawing list names the levels. -
Find the certificate, and read the builder’s name on it
Where cover is required, one certificate is taken out per dwelling before building work starts. The principal contractor named on it is the entity that owes you the statutory warranty, and it is frequently not the developer whose brand you saw. On land subdivisions the certificate often names the purchaser’s own builder instead.
Where: the SIRA HBC Check register, searchable by address. -
Check that builder’s licence and compliance record
The licence record shows status and expiry. The compliance profile shows penalty notices, disciplinary actions, prosecutions, public warnings, suspensions and cancellations — each with a date and, usually, an amount.
Where: verify.licence.nsw.gov.au, by licence number or company name. -
Read the consent, and read its conditions
The determination tells you what was approved and when. The conditions tell you what has to happen before construction can lawfully begin — registration of a parent subdivision, for instance. A consent granted years ago on a site with no construction certificate is a very different proposition from one about to break ground.
Where: the council’s DA tracker, searchable by address, and the NSW Planning Portal. -
If it is an apartment, confirm the strata building bond
For strata buildings of four or more storeys, a building bond of two per cent of the contract price must be lodged with NSW Fair Trading before the occupation certificate issues. For most apartment purchasers that bond, the statutory duty of care under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, and the contract itself are the protections — not home warranty insurance.
Where: NSW Fair Trading, Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme. -
Compare the dates against the ground
Put the consent date, the certificate date and current imagery side by side. A site approved in 2019, modified in 2024 and still bare earth in 2026 is telling you something no brochure will. Aerial and street-level imagery are both dated, and both free.
Where: the council’s DA tracker for dates; any mapping service with historical imagery for the ground.
If a developer has already failed. Ask the administrators to confirm which entity holds your contract, and whether your deposit is in trust. Find out the answer before you lodge a proof of debt — if the money is genuinely held in trust you have a proprietary claim, which is materially stronger than a creditor’s claim and is not available to be pooled.
This is general information drawn from public registers and legislation. It is not legal or financial advice, and it is no substitute for your own conveyancer.
We do this at scale
DISTintel.ai monitors ASIC notices, company formations, planning consents, licensing actions and insurance certificates across 21.7 million Australian entities — and flags it when the pattern breaks.