The five checks that cannot wait
First, the contract. Get it from the agent early and put it in front of a conveyancer or solicitor before you commit to bidding; auction contracts are sometimes amended on the day, so your representative should also know what to look for at the room.
Second, finance. Preapproval in general is not approval on this property: lenders can and do decline specific addresses or lend less against them. Confirm the approval names the property you intend to bid on.
Third, the building and pest inspection. It must happen before auction, at your cost, with no guarantee you will win. That feels wrong to many first time bidders and it is still cheaper than discovering the defect as the owner.
Fourth, the strata report if it is an apartment: levies, the capital works fund, past defect discussions and upcoming special levies all live there.
Fifth, the registers. Flood and bushfire mapping, zoning and height controls, EPA contamination entries, serious defect orders, development applications around the address. These are the checks people skip under time pressure precisely because they are scattered across many government sites, and they are the ones that produce the worst surprises after settlement.
The night before: a 20 minute register sweep
If the auction is imminent and the big four are done, the register sweep is still worth an evening. The free route: the council or state planning portal for flood and zoning, the rural fire service map for bushfire, the EPA public register for contamination, the Building Commission register for defect orders if it is an apartment, and the council DA tracker for what is being built around the block. Write down what you find next to its source.
The shortcut: a PropertyFlags report runs the same sweep on the address in about 60 seconds and hands you the findings as red, yellow and green flags, each named with its register, in a PDF you can read on the way to the auction. It does not replace the contract review or the inspection, and it says so on its own pages.
Run a free flag count on the address → · See a full sample report · The full due diligence checklist
Common questions
Is there a cooling off period at auction in NSW?
No. If you are the winning bidder, exchange happens on the spot, unconditionally, and the deposit is payable immediately. The same applies if you exchange on the same day the auction was scheduled. Everything you would normally check during a cooling off period has to be finished before you raise your hand.
What must be done before auction day?
Five things, in rough order: the contract reviewed by your conveyancer or solicitor, finance approved on the specific property, the building and pest inspection done, the strata report read if it is an apartment, and the register checks run on the address: flood, bushfire, zoning, contamination, defect orders and development nearby. None of these can be fixed after the hammer.
The auction is this Saturday. What can I still check in time?
The register half moves fastest: the mapped hazards, planning controls, contamination entries, defect orders and surrounding development applications can all be checked in an evening, free through the official registers or in about 60 seconds with a report. Inspections and contract review need days, so book those the moment you decide to bid.
Do buyers agents run these checks?
The good ones run them for every shortlisted property, week in week out, because their clients bid at auction with no safety net. If you have a buyers agent, ask what was checked and against which registers; if you are doing it yourself, the checklist above is the same one they work through.