The pre-settlement inspection: your last look before the keys.

Settlement day is when the balance of the purchase price changes hands and the property becomes legally yours. The pre-settlement inspection — sometimes called the final inspection or final walkthrough — happens shortly before that moment. It's a walk through the property to confirm you're getting what you agreed to buy.

Under the standard Queensland contract, the buyer is entitled to an inspection of the property before settlement. It's a contractual right, not a favour from the seller. Use it. Once settlement happens, problems that would have been the seller's to fix become yours to live with.

What the inspection is actually for

You're checking three things, and only three things:

• Condition. Is the property in substantially the same state it was in when you signed the contract, allowing for fair wear and tear? The seller doesn't have to hand over a freshly cleaned house — but a hole in the plasterboard that wasn't there before, a cracked window, or water damage from a burst pipe are different matters.
• Inclusions. Is everything listed in the contract still there? The contract names the chattels — dishwasher, air conditioners, curtains, blinds, pool equipment, garden shed. Sellers moving house in a hurry have been known to take things the contract says stay.
• Agreed works. If the seller agreed to fix or remove anything during negotiations — repairs raised at building and pest, rubbish to be cleared, a possession to be taken away — did it actually happen?

What the inspection is not for: re-negotiating the deal, discovering faults that were visible when you bought, or changing your mind. That window closed earlier in the process. This is a final check against the contract, nothing more and nothing less.

You're not inspecting the house. You're inspecting the house against the contract.

A Queensland wrinkle worth knowing: risk passes early

Here's something that surprises almost every first-time Queensland buyer. Under the standard Queensland contract, the property is at the buyer's risk from 5pm on the first business day after the contract date — not from settlement.

That means if the house burns down three weeks before you get the keys, it is, in the eyes of the standard contract, substantially your problem. Which is why every Queensland buyer should have building insurance in place from the day after signing — not from settlement day. Your solicitor will tell you the same thing, usually in their first letter.

The pre-settlement inspection doesn't change that allocation of risk. But it's the moment you'd discover damage from the settlement period — and discovering it before settlement, while your solicitor can still act on it, is worth an enormous amount more than discovering it after.

When to do it

As close to settlement as practical — ideally the day before, or the morning of. Inspect too early and there's time for things to change after you've looked; there's little point checking a house a week out if the seller's removalists haven't been through yet.

The inspection is arranged through the selling agent. Ask for it early — tell the agent a week or so out that you'll want your pre-settlement inspection on such-and-such a day, rather than springing it on them the morning of. Agents juggle these constantly; the ones who get difficult are usually the ones given no notice.

The checklist

Bring the contract — specifically the list of inclusions — and work through the property methodically. Room by room, then outside:

Area	What to check
Every room	Walls, floors and ceilings in contract condition. Doors and windows open, close and lock. Light switches work. No new damage from the move-out.
Kitchen	Run the taps, check under the sink for leaks. Turn on the oven, cooktop and rangehood. If the dishwasher is an inclusion, it's present and it runs.
Bathrooms	Flush toilets, run showers and taps, check the hot water actually gets hot. Look for new water stains around wet areas.
Air conditioning	Turn every unit on and let it run while you check the rest of the house. Heating and cooling both, if reverse cycle.
Laundry	Taps, drainage, and any included appliances present and working.
Inclusions	Tick off every chattel named in the contract: curtains, blinds, ceiling fans, pool equipment, shed, fixed shelving, remote controls.
Outside	Pool and equipment condition, fences, gates, clothesline, letterbox. Gardens in reasonable order — not stripped.
Rubbish	The seller's belongings and rubbish gone, or clearly going. A garage full of abandoned junk becomes your skip-bin bill.
Agreed repairs	Anything the seller agreed to fix — sight it, test it, photograph it.
Keys & remotes	Confirm what you'll receive at settlement: all keys, garage remotes, pool gate keys, alarm codes, manuals if available.

Photograph as you go. If everything is fine, the photos cost you nothing. If something isn't, they're your evidence, timestamped, before settlement.

If something is wrong

First: don't panic, and don't announce on the spot that you're refusing to settle. Most pre-settlement problems are resolved without drama, but they're resolved by solicitors, not by arguments in the driveway.

• Call your solicitor immediately. Time matters — settlement may be the next morning. Describe the problem, send the photos, and let them advise before you say anything to the agent beyond "I've noted some issues and my solicitor will be in touch."
• Small problems are usually handled with money. A missing dishwasher or an unrepaired item is typically resolved by the seller fixing it before settlement, or by an adjustment — a negotiated amount off the settlement figure. Your solicitor negotiates this with the seller's solicitor.
• Serious damage is a different conversation. Significant damage discovered before settlement is exactly the situation your solicitor exists for. What happens next depends on the contract and the circumstances — get advice before you do anything.
• Refusing to settle is a serious step with serious consequences. Failing to settle on time under a Queensland contract can put a buyer in breach, with real financial exposure. It is never a decision to make on your own in a driveway. Solicitor first, always.

Where this sits in the whole journey

The pre-settlement inspection is one of the last steps in a long sequence — after the searching, the pricing work, the negotiation, building and pest, and finance. By this point the hard decisions are made. This step exists to make sure what was decided is what gets delivered.

It takes half an hour, it costs nothing, and every now and then it catches something that would have cost thousands. There is no version of buying property where skipping it is the smart move.

The information above is general in nature and isn't legal advice — your solicitor or conveyancer is the right person to advise on your contract and your settlement. If you'd like the full picture of how a purchase runs end to end, the method page walks through how we approach the whole process.