What to check before buying a house in Australia (the full checklist)

Short answer: before you make an offer on a house in Australia, check six things — the title and boundaries, the planning controls (zoning and what you can build), the hazard overlays (flood, bushfire, coastal, contamination), any heritage constraints, the contract of sale (the Section 32 in Victoria or the planning certificate in NSW/QLD), and the holding costs (rates, strata, insurance). Most of it is public and can be checked before you ever book a building inspection. Here's the full list.

The checklist, in the order that saves you money

The logic is simple: do the cheap, public checks first so you only pay for a building-and-pest inspection on a property that's already passed the desktop tests.

1. Title and boundaries

Confirm the lot and plan, the registered easements and encumbrances, and that the boundaries match what's on the ground. A drainage or utility easement can block where you build; a boundary that doesn't match the fence line is a negotiation point. This is all on the title and the plan of subdivision.

2. Planning — zoning and what you can build

The zone sets the permitted uses; the controls (height, floor space ratio, setbacks, minimum lot size) set the envelope. If your price assumes a subdivision, a granny flat, or a knock-down-rebuild, this is where you confirm it's actually allowed. → How to check zoning and what you can build

3. Hazards — flood, bushfire, coastal, contamination

Overlays that change what you can build, how you have to build it, and what you'll pay to insure it. The big two are flood (the flood planning area and floor level) and bushfire (the BAL rating). → How to check flood and bushfire risk before you buy

4. Heritage

Federal, state and — most commonly missed — local heritage and conservation/character areas. A listing can prevent demolition and control alterations. → How to check if a property is heritage-listed

5. The contract of sale

The legal record of everything above sits in the contract and its attached certificate — the Section 32 vendor statement in Victoria, the Section 10.7 planning certificate in NSW, and the council planning record in Queensland. Read the notations; they disclose overlays, easements and orders. Have your conveyancer or solicitor review it before you sign.

6. The costs of holding it

Council rates, strata levies (and the strata fund balance) for apartments and townhouses, land tax where it applies, and insurance — which is where flood and bushfire ratings hit your wallet every year, not just at build time.

And the physical checks (after the desktop passes)

Only once the above is clean do you spend on the building-and-pest inspection, a pool/safety compliance check where relevant, and a walk of the property at a different time of day.

The problem: it's spread across a dozen places

Title office, council planning portal, state and federal heritage registers, flood and bushfire maps, the contract, the strata report — that's a dozen sources for a single property, and you repeat it for every house on your shortlist. Most buyers skip it, and inherit the risk.

The one-address shortcut

This is what SafeBuy is for: enter an Australian address and it pulls the planning controls, the hazard overlays, heritage, title context, the suburb intelligence and the holding-cost picture into one plain-English report in about a minute — from the same live government data you'd otherwise chase across a dozen sites. The free Chrome extension puts the flags inline on realestate.com.au listings so you can screen a shortlist before booking a single inspection.

It doesn't replace your conveyancer's contract review or the building-and-pest — it gets you to "is this one worth those?" far faster, and stops you paying for inspections on properties a desktop check would have ruled out.

Frequently asked questions

What should I check before buying a house? Six things: title and boundaries, planning/zoning, hazard overlays (flood, bushfire), heritage, the contract of sale and its certificate, and the holding costs (rates, strata, insurance). Do the public desktop checks before you pay for a building inspection.

Can I do property due diligence myself? Yes — most of it is public. The information sits with the title office, the council, the state planning portal, and the hazard and heritage registers. The catch is that it's spread across many sources; tools like SafeBuy consolidate it into one report per address.

What's the one check most buyers skip? The overlays — flood, bushfire, and local heritage/character areas. They don't show in listing photos, they change what you can build and insure, and by the time they surface in a building report you've usually already spent money.

Do I still need a conveyancer if I use a tool like SafeBuy? Yes. A report gets you to a fast, informed decision on whether to proceed; your conveyancer or solicitor does the legal contract review and settlement. They're complementary.

Run the full checklist for a specific address with a free SafeBuy report, or browse our due-diligence guides.