When can I put a sold sticker on my sign?

There are no rules relating to when you can put a sold sticker on a sign except the general rules that you can’t mislead the public. So in theory once a contract is signed you could put a sticker on the sign. Very few agents will do this because you are sending a message to the public that the property is no longer for sale.

This raises another issue. When should an agent stop taking offers for the property?

The common view is that once there is an unconditional contract on the property it has in effect been sold and you are no longer required to communicate offers to the Seller. It is at this stage that agents will commonly put a sold sticker on the sign.

This is not correct as you are under a duty to continue marketing the property and communicating offers to the Seller until settlement. Remember if the Buyer is not able to settle on the due date the Seller can terminate and may want to do that if there is a higher offer on the table. So notwithstanding that the existing contract may be unconditional you must continue communicating offers to the Seller.

We recommend inserting a special condition in the listing agreement stating that you are only required to communicate offers to buy the property if the potential buyer has signed a contract.

So back to the original question. You should not put a sold sticker on the sign until the contract is at least unconditional and our preference is that you shouldn’t do it until the contract has settled.

Under contract stickers, can be put on the sign any time after a contract is signed. For further information please contact Roland Taylor on 0417 605 185 or rtaylor@swc.net.au.