When the NSW Supreme Court rescinded a $6.2 million Bronte property sale in May 2026 and ordered a $310,000 deposit refunded over undisclosed planning information, it served as a timely reminder across the industry. While the specific detail belongs to that case, the underlying issue belongs to every practitioner: incomplete information at the point of exchange, and the costly consequences that follow.
For property lawyers and conveyancers, the most reliable protection is not knowing every material fact about every property off-hand. Instead, it is running the right searches, consistently, on every matter, so that material facts have nowhere to hide.
A property transaction involves a complex web of registered interests, planning controls, financial obligations, entity structures, and physical characteristics that are rarely visible from the contract alone. A title search confirms who owns the property and what encumbrances are registered, but the certificates and searches that follow reveal what the contract does not include. This may mean outstanding charges, planning constraints, unregistered interests, development overlays, and risks to the physical land itself.
Practitioners who apply a consistent, comprehensive search order to every matter demonstrate a clear standard of professional care and give their clients the complete picture before exchange, rather than after it.
The following searches and certificates form a solid foundation for residential purchase due diligence and are available through InfoTrack’s national Searches and Certificates .
1. Title and property
A current title search confirms registered ownership, encumbrances, caveats, and dealings. A deposited plan provides the surveyed boundary detail that underpins the property description in the contract. A dealings search identifies any instruments lodged against the title that have not yet registered, including pending mortgages, transfers, or caveats that a title search alone may not surface.
2. Planning and services
A zoning certificate, such as a Section 10.7 Planning Certificate in NSW or its statutory equivalent in other states, discloses council-issued zoning, development restrictions, heritage listings, and road-widening proposals that affect a property’s use and value.
Similarly, water authority searches are essential across all jurisdictions to confirm utility positioning. While a Sydney Water service location print and sewer service diagram are the standard for NSW transactions, equivalent water authority diagrams must be run nationally to confirm the exact location of water and sewer connections. This step is critical for any matter involving development potential, renovations, or building works.
3. Financial obligations
A council rates certificate confirms whether outstanding rates or charges are registered against the property. A land tax clearance certificate confirms the vendor’s land tax position and protects the buyer from inheriting unpaid liability at settlement.
4. Entity and personal searches
Where the vendor is a company or trustee, an ASIC company search confirms registration status and officer details. A PPSR search confirms whether any security interests are registered against the vendor entity. For individual vendors, an AFSA bankruptcy search confirms there are no proceedings that could affect their capacity to complete. A National Property Ownership Search provides a cross-jurisdictional view of property held by an individual or company, which is particularly useful where the vendor’s broader asset position is relevant to the matter.
5. Environmental, climate risk, and seller disclosure
The Groundsure Climate Index report identifies current and future climate risks including flooding, bushfire, coastal erosion, and subsidence, while the Agtuary Rural Land Report provides land capability assessments critical for rural and regional properties. Furthermore, in jurisdictions with strict statutory disclosure laws like Queensland (Property Law Act 2023), practitioners can utilise specialised Lotsearch Seller Disclosure Searches directly within their workflow. These comprehensive environmental and contamination intelligence tools look beyond standard due diligence checks to uncover hidden statutory liabilities, including Contaminated Land Notices (Environmental Protection Act 1994), complex Zoning overlays, and federal or state Heritage designations, ensuring full compliance for sellers and preventing costly post-settlement litigation or contract termination before signing.
All these searches are available through InfoTrack’s Searches and Certificates platform in a single, guided workflow, with data pre-populated from the title and your practice management system to reduce manual entry and the risk of a critical search being missed.
