How to Make an Offer on a House in Perth: The WA O&A Explained

The one rule

That's what happened to the buyer above. Gazumping, a seller accepting a different offer after verbally agreeing to yours, is legally possible right up until signatures are exchanged, no matter what was said on the phone. And once you are signed and unconditional, WA gives you no cooling-off period either. There is no window afterwards to reconsider. The work has to happen before you sign, not after.

Two facts, one moment: the same signature that finally protects you is the same signature that finally binds you.

How to stop your own offer being strung along

Agents must present every written offer to the seller as soon as practicable. Flagging that the property is in a multiple-offer situation is fair-dealing practice, not a legal requirement. There's no formal "best and final" process required by law either, and nothing stops an agent quietly calling other buyers to see if they'll beat your price while yours is being drawn up.

There's one case with a standard industry answer: the 48-hour clause. If your offer is subject to selling your own home, the seller can keep the property on the market, and if a second, usually unconditional, offer lands, give you written notice that you have 2 clear business days to waive your remaining condition or the contract ends with your deposit refunded. It's commonly called the "48-hour clause", but it's not a literal 48 hours: weekends and public holidays don't count, so notice served on a Thursday afternoon can run past the following Monday. It only ever applies to a signed conditional contract, never to a verbal maybe, and never once you're unconditional.

What you're actually signing

The second time around, the same buyer did it properly: a signed offer with a deadline, on the right form, with conditions that actually protected them.

The full name of the form is the Contract for Sale of Land or Strata Title by Offer and Acceptance, used with the Joint Form of General Conditions for the Sale of Land, published jointly by REIWA and the Law Society of WA. Depending on the property, separate annexures get attached too: a structural inspection annexure, a timber pest annexure, a subject to sale annexure, and for strata properties, a strata disclosure statement.

Price and settlement date are the headline terms, but the deposit is where buyers most often assume a rule that doesn't exist.

Few offers go in unconditional. Finance, inspection, and subject to sale are the ones you negotiate: attach them, set the timeframe, and they give you a way out if something doesn't stack up. The working order clause is different. It's standard on almost every contract, not something you negotiate, and it just confirms the fixtures and inclusions still work at settlement the way they did when you offered.

On the negotiated conditions, a shorter period generally reads as a stronger offer to a seller, because it resolves faster. Weigh that against how much time you need, particularly for finance.

What a real signed O&A looks like

This is the contract from that second, successful offer, with the address, names, and figures changed.

The special conditions section is where the real detail sits: two separate inspection annexures (structural and timber pest), confirmation of RCD and smoke alarm compliance (a legal requirement regardless of the contract, not a negotiated term), and one more thing the seller volunteered rather than waited to be asked about, written straight into the working order clause:

That single clause protected both sides. The seller disclosed known faults upfront instead of risking a dispute at the final inspection. The buyer knew exactly what they were and weren't covered for before they signed, not after moving in. Read what a working order clause excludes, not just that one is in the contract.

What to check before you make an offer

A few checks are worth doing before you put a number down, not after.

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  Get pre-approved for finance before you start making offers, not after you fall for a place. Knowing what you can actually borrow is what stops you writing an offer you can't back up.
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  Ask for the Certificate of Title and check for caveats or other encumbrances against the property.
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  For a strata or survey-strata property, ask for the Form 804 precontractual disclosure statement before you sign. The seller is required to give it to you before the O&A is signed, and it covers the strata scheme's finances and by-laws.
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  Line up a settlement agent or conveyancer before you offer, not after, so they can review the contract the same day it's drawn up.
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  Know that since January 2025, sellers need an ATO foreign resident capital gains clearance certificate for every property sale, not just sales above the old $750,000 threshold. Without one by settlement, you as the buyer have to withhold 15% of the price and pay it to the ATO instead of the seller, so confirm the certificate is in hand before you commit to a settlement date.
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  Expect your agent to ask for identity verification. From 1 July 2026, real estate agents have to run customer due diligence on both buyers and sellers under federal anti-money-laundering law, not a WA rule. It's a new standard step, not a sign anything is wrong.

What happens after your offer is accepted

The buyer from our story got their second offer signed and communicated within the hour, deadline intact, nobody else in the room to shop it to. Their deposit went into trust, their finance and inspection clocks started running, and the sale moved into the same process every WA property sale follows from here.

If you offered through KeyHive, you can track all of this yourself, deposit, conditions, and settlement date, in your buyer portal instead of waiting on a phone call to find out where things stand.

For what the rest of the contract says, read the WA property contracts guide. For what happens between now and getting the keys, read the WA settlement guide.