NSW Contract for Sale of Land: 2026 Edition Changes

On 15 August 2025, the Conveyancing and Real Property Amendment Act 2025 (NSW) (2025 Amendment Act) received assent after passing through both houses earlier that year.

The 2025 Amendment Act introduces changes to the rules and regulations that govern the sale and purchase of land in NSW. To give immediate and practical effect to these changes, the Law Society of NSW has since released a new and updated 2026 edition of the contract for sale and purchase of land (2026 COS).

Of particular importance, following a short period of transition up to and including 31 May 2026, a new cooling off notice is set to become mandatory in any contract for sale or option agreement which is exchanged or made on and from 1 June 2026.

The 2026 COS is already available for purchase online from the NSW Law Society, and the new edition has been compiled to incorporate each of the necessary amendments introduced by the 2025 Amendment Act.

1. What are key changes introduced by the 2025 Amendment Act?

The full text of the 2025 Amendment Act in PDF format is available here.

(a) Disclosures and cooling off provisions now explicitly apply to put options

To the extent that it had previously been unclear, the 2025 Amendment Act expressly provides that the cooling off rights, terms, conditions and warranties prescribed by the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022 (NSW) (CSLR) apply generally to options, which, for abundant clarity, are now clearly defined to include:

• an option to purchase residential property (known more generally as a ‘call option’); and

• an option to compel the purchase of residential property (known more generally as a ‘put option’).

The position is now abundantly clear that these provisions apply to both call options and put options where previously, there was ambiguity as to whether they extended to put options.

The 2025 Amendment Act also makes it clear that contracts made pursuant to the exercise of any option (in other words either a ‘call option’ or a ‘put option’) will have no cooling off period. Previously, wording in section 66T of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) (Conveyancing Act) could have been interpreted in such a way that put options were not caught by the section.

(b) Cooling off notice

Schedule 5 of the CSLR contains prescribed statements or ‘forms’ that the Conveyancing Act mandates must be attached to any contract for the sale of land. The changes introduced by the 2025 Amendment Act which, as mentioned above, expand the definition of ‘option’ have flow-on effects for these mandatory forms.

Whilst the 2025 Amendment Act does allow for a transition period, between 15 August 2025 and 31 May 2026, we strongly recommend that all contracts made from this point moving forward be updated to include the latest approved forms.

(c) Section 88B instruments

The 2025 Amendment Act also operates to expand the types of interest that can be released by way of a section 88B instrument lodged with a plan. Such interests now also include:

• a positive covenant for maintenance or repair (created under s 88BA);

• a public positive covenant; and

• a restriction on the use of land imposed by a prescribed authority under s 88D or s 88E.

These changes are expected to take effect shortly, following an announcement from NSW Land Registry Services.

2. What are the key changes in the 2026 COS?

In response to the 2025 Amendment Act, the Law Society of NSW has released an updated edition of the contract for sale of land – the 2026 COS. Simultaneously with that release, the Law Society has published a helpful 4 page summary of the main changes made in the new edition.

The summary in PDF format is available for download here.

While the changes are not particularly extensive, they are nevertheless important. The changes span the inclusions check boxes on the front page, the list check-boxes for certain types of documents on page 4, the updated cooling off notices referred to earlier, changes to the FRCGWT and AML/CTF warnings on pages 11 and 13 respectively, and substantive amendments to clauses 12, 13, 20, 23, 24, 28 and 29 of the standard contract provisions.

We would encourage all legal practitioners and conveyancing professionals to familiarise themselves with these updates. At a bare minimum, practitioners should be cross-checking these updates against their standard form special conditions, in particular, any special conditions that seek to amend the standard provisions (some of which, and their numbering, may now have changed).

3. How Farahs Legal can help

We will be carrying out an audit of any contracts of sale and purchase of land that we have prepared or issued recently, as well as any contracts that have already exchanged but not yet completed. We would encourage all other real estate professionals to do the same.

We encourage you to reach out to us directly if you are a service provider who requires any assistance or clarification, and we would be happy to provide you with tailored advice.

If you are looking to buy or sell land, or indeed have any other property transactions with which you require advice or assistance, we would be very glad to meet with you to see if we can assist.

At Farahs Legal, we welcome the opportunity to assist you with any legal enquiries.