I am selling a property and the transfer is delayed. What evidence should I keep if a dispute starts?

How to use this guide

Keep originals unchanged. Use copies for highlights and notes, and identify information reconstructed after the event. The objective is to show what was required, who controlled it, what happened, when it happened and how the alleged consequence is connected to that event.

Freeze the operative agreement record

Save the signed sale agreement, annexures, disclosure forms, suspensive conditions, addenda, extensions and amendments as separate files. Create a version register showing the date, parties, clauses affected and whether the document was fully executed.

Preserve the original message or delivery record accompanying each version. Do not replace an older agreement file with a later scan or edit a copy so that disputed wording appears resolved.

If fulfilment, waiver or extension of a condition is contested, keep the condition, required form, supporting proof and every notice or response relating to it.

Build a source-linked chronology

Start with offer acceptance and continue through finance, deposits, guarantees, bond cancellation, identity requests, tax, clearances, compliance work, signature, lodgement, registry notes, withdrawal, relodgement and registration.

For each entry record the date, participant, event, source file, next action stated at the time and any later correction. Distinguish a contemporaneous document from a later recollection. A factual call note can be useful, but do not present it as a verbatim transcript unless it is one.

Keep milestone evidence by dependency

For buyer finance, retain approval conditions, accepted lender terms, bond-attorney updates, guarantee records and evidence of any own-contribution shortfall available to the seller.

For the seller's bond, preserve the cancellation instruction, bank acknowledgement, title-deed location, settlement figures, guarantee coordination and later changes.

Keep identity and authority requests, the dated submission index and recipient acknowledgements without circulating private material more widely than required.

For SARS, retain the declaration status, supporting-document requests, assessment or approval, payment instruction, proof and receipt status. For clearances, preserve requests, figures, payment, allocation, certificate issue, validity and later reconciliation.

If a Deeds Office issue is alleged, request the lodgement record and examiner's note or accurate written description. Keep correction, withdrawal and relodgement updates rather than relying on a general “rejected at Deeds” statement.

Preserve communications in context

Export complete email threads and message conversations with dates and participants. Keep attachments with the message that transmitted them. A cropped screenshot can omit qualifications, earlier instructions or delivery information.

Maintain a correspondence ledger showing subject, sender, recipient, reference, response promised and next follow-up. Where participants give different explanations, place each version in the chronology without deciding which is true before evidence is assessed.

Preserve delivery and deadline evidence separately

Create a notice register for any demand, breach allegation, extension request, cancellation communication or reservation of rights. Record the clause relied on, sender, authorised recipient, delivery address or method, date and time sent, proof of receipt, response date stated and action taken. Keep the whole transmission, not only the attachment or a screenshot of its first page.

Do not assume that an email was a contractually effective notice merely because someone read it, or that a telephone discussion extended a written date. Record what happened and let the operative agreement and current legal advice determine the effect. Where several dates are in circulation, mark the source of each and avoid selecting the most convenient one for the chronology.

Keep administrative follow-up dates apart from legal response dates. A conveyancer’s expected update, a certificate validity date and a period stated in a formal notice may all require attention, but they do not carry the same consequence.

Prove payments and impact separately

Create a payment trail showing payer, verified payee, amount, date, reference, invoice, bank confirmation, receipt, allocation and any refund or adjustment.

For each alleged loss, keep the invoice, statement or calculation; period covered; proof of payment; agreement clause or legal basis; event said to have caused it; and steps taken to limit further loss.

Bond interest, occupational rent, rates, levies, insurance, utilities, storage, tenant loss or added professional work may arise during a delay. Their existence does not automatically prove recoverability or identify the responsible party.

Record steps taken to contain the alleged loss

Keep evidence of reasonable efforts to prevent an avoidable amount from growing: requests for corrected documents, efforts to renew an expiring item, attempts to arrange access, quotations for necessary work, payment queries and proposals addressing continued occupation. Preserve responses and note why an available step was or was not taken. Do not manufacture correspondence after the dispute begins to make the earlier file appear more active.

Separate a genuine mitigation step from an admission of liability. A seller may investigate a practical solution without accepting that the seller caused the delay or must bear every related cost. If wording around a payment or remedial step could prejudice the dispute, obtain advice before communicating it as a final position.

At each update, retain the prior loss schedule. The progression from a provisional estimate to an invoiced and paid amount can matter, and a later refund or adjustment must also be shown.

Protect integrity and privacy

Preserve notices, proposed extensions, waivers, settlement offers and responses with delivery evidence. Save drafts separately from signed documents. Record who holds each original and restrict identity, banking, tax, tenant and access information.

Create an issue matrix with one row for each disputed proposition: the required event, source term, alleged fact, supporting evidence, contrary evidence, missing record and outcome requested. This keeps an accusation separate from the proof offered for it and helps a reviewer locate the decisive gap quickly.

Use the delay analysis, seller document guide, evidence checklist and conveyancing route to structure the file. Authentic context matters more than a polished chronology that hides uncertainty.

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