Received a notice to complete: funding settlement before it expires

A notice to complete changes the tone of a purchase. Before it arrives, a late settlement is an inconvenience the other side may tolerate. Once it is served, there is usually a fixed final date, time becomes essential, and the consequences of missing it are spelled out in your contract.

If you are the buyer and the money is the problem, the job now is narrow: get the full amount needed on the day, settle before the notice expires, and leave enough margin for something to go wrong. This page explains how.

How many days are left on the notice?

Start with the date the notice was served and the period it gives. Then count only business days, because PEXA financial settlements run Monday to Friday and not on national public holidays or holidays shared by Victoria and New South Wales.

Business days left on the notice	What is realistic	Do this now
8 or more	Full replacement funding or a gap loan; time to choose the better one	Send the contract, the notice and the figures today
4 to 7	A gap loan over property you already own, or a first mortgage over the purchase if documents are ready	Book your solicitor to sign loan documents the day they arrive
2 or 3	Usually a caveat or second mortgage for the balance only	One email with everything, plus a written extension request to the seller
Final day	Only small, simple amounts, and only if documents were already with us	Ask the seller for an extension in writing immediately
Expired	The seller may already be able to terminate	Speak to your solicitor before anything else

Smaller property-secured amounts of $20k–$250k are possible the same day once documents are in.

What does a notice to complete actually do?

Settlement dates in many contracts are not, on their own, strict deadlines. A notice to complete converts a missed date into one. Under the 2022 NSW standard contract, a party can serve a notice to complete if it is otherwise entitled to, and the standard conditions leave the period to the parties. Special conditions commonly fill that gap: one NSW council’s 2022 contract, for example, requires completion within 14 days of the notice and makes time of the essence.

The same contract shows the extras that often follow a missed date:

• Late-settlement interest on the unpaid balance, under a special condition
• A fee for issuing the notice, added to the amount payable at settlement
• The seller’s remedies if you still fail, including termination

Every one of those adds to the cheque you need to write. See our glossary entry on default interest for how penalty charges are usually framed.

How do notice periods differ by state?

There is no single national rule. The period and the consequences come from the contract form used in your state and any special conditions. What we could confirm on published sources is below. Where a box says “check”, ask your solicitor or conveyancer to read your contract.

State	What the published standard terms say	What to check
NSW	2022 standard contract: a notice to complete can be served; the period is commonly set by special condition (14 days is common)	The special conditions on notice period, late interest and notice fees
VIC	Default notices sit in the contract’s general and special conditions	Check the default clause and its period with your solicitor
QLD	REIQ contracts define a business day to exclude 27 to 31 December; terms on timing are strict	Check whether you are owed any notice at all before termination
WA	2018 Joint Form: if settlement is not completed within 3 business days of the due date, the defaulting buyer pays interest from the settlement date	Check your edition and its default notice clause
SA, TAS, ACT, NT	We could not verify a standard period on an official source	Check with your solicitor

How it works: funding settlement inside the notice

1. Day one. You send the contract, the notice, the settlement statement or an estimate of it, ID, and details of any property offered as security.
2. Within hours. A specialist calls with a plain answer on structure and amount.
3. Letter of Offer. You sign it, and loan documents go to your solicitor.
4. Settlement booked. Your solicitor books settlement in PEXA with the private lender as incoming financier, either replacing your bank or alongside it.
5. On the day. The seller receives the full balance, including any late interest and notice costs agreed between solicitors.

Two structures do most of the work here. A fast second mortgage or a caveat loan over another property you own can fund the gap behind your bank. Or a private first mortgage over the property you are buying can replace the bank altogether.

How does this compare with the alternatives?

Option	Can it beat the notice?	Main cost or risk
Wait for the bank	Only if it is ready with days to spare	Lose the deposit if it is late
Ask the seller to extend	If they agree in writing	Extra interest and costs; they can say no
Caveat or second mortgage over other property	Often, for the balance	A second property is at risk; costs more than a first mortgage
Private first mortgage over the purchase	Often, if the deposit paid is meaningful	A clear exit is needed within 24 months
Sell another asset	Rarely in time	Forced-sale price

If the issue was the bank pulling out late, our page on bank finance falling through covers the structure choice in more detail.

Who it suits

• Business buyers of commercial, industrial or investment property who missed settlement because of funding, not because the deal went bad
• Owners with equity in other property, held personally, in a company or in a trust
• Buyers with a believable exit: the bank finishing its approval, a refinance elsewhere, or the sale of another asset

When this isn’t the right move

• The contract is in dispute. If you are refusing to settle because of a defect or the seller’s breach, you need legal advice, not a loan.
• There is no exit. Borrowing short to settle a property you then cannot refinance or sell turns one default into two.
• The purchase is a home to live in. These are business-purpose loans only.
• The notice has expired and the seller has terminated. Funding cannot revive a contract on its own; your solicitor needs to negotiate first.

What it costs (without the guesswork)

Pricing is set on each deal’s security, loan-to-value ratio, term and exit, and we aim for the sharpest price your situation allows. The cost components:

• Interest for the term, which can be prepaid or capitalised
• A small assessment fee, varying per loan and shown on the Letter of Offer
• Legal and registration costs for the loan
• Whatever the seller is charging for the late settlement, which the loan can include

A second mortgage or caveat usually costs more than a first mortgage because it ranks behind. Compare all of it with the deposit you stand to lose.

Documents you’ll need

• The contract of sale and the notice to complete, with the date it was served
• The seller’s figures for late interest and costs, or your solicitor’s estimate
• Photo ID for borrowers, directors, guarantors and security owners
• Addresses of properties offered as security and what is owing on each
• Company or trust documents if either is the buyer
• Evidence of the exit, such as the bank’s conditional approval

How fast can it settle?

With documents in, funding is possible within 24–48 hours, and there is no formal valuation required, which removes the step most likely to slip a deal past its deadline. What slows things down: missing ID for a guarantor, a trust deed nobody can find, or a solicitor who is away. Fix those first. Send the notice and contract now and we will tell you on the first call whether your date is achievable.

Illustrative example: funding the balance

Illustrative example: a Townsville logistics company contracted to buy a $900k depot. Its bank approval lapsed before settlement, and the seller served a notice giving 14 days. The company needs the $810k balance on the day (duty is already set aside), plus $9k in late-settlement interest and the seller’s notice costs. The managing director owns a Cairns investment unit worth about $500k with $120k owing, and the depot itself is unencumbered at settlement. A private first mortgage over the depot at an illustrative LVR band of 65% raises about $585k. A second mortgage over the unit, at an illustrative band of 70%, adds about $230k of headroom.

Step	Amount
First mortgage over the depot	$585k
Second mortgage over the unit	$230k
Less capitalised interest allowance and loan costs (illustrative)	$55k
Cash on hand	$59k
Total available on the day	$819k

The $819k covers the $810k balance and the $9k of extras. The exit is a bank refinance of the depot once the company’s lodged accounts are ready, with the unit’s loan repaid from the same refinance. This is an illustration, not a client record.

Key terms at a glance

• Notice to complete: a written notice after a missed settlement date that sets a final period to settle and usually makes time essential.
• Time of the essence: a term meaning a deadline is strict, so missing it can allow the other side to end the contract.
• Late-settlement interest: a charge on the unpaid balance for each day settlement runs past the contract date, where the contract provides for it.
• Resale shortfall: the gap a seller may claim if it ends the contract, resells for less and sues the original buyer.
• Incoming financier: the lender whose money arrives in the PEXA workspace to fund the buyer’s side.

Other urgent situations we fund

• Settling a purchase on time, when you still have weeks
• Off-the-plan settlement shortfalls
• Your buyer failed to settle
• Settling before the Christmas shutdown

Buying in north Queensland? See our page for a private lender in Townsville and Cairns. For every notice period in one table, read our guide to debt and notice deadlines.

Notice in hand? See if you qualify

You do not need to explain how you got here. Tell us the date the notice was served, the amount needed on the day, the property you are buying, and any other property you can offer with what is owing on it. There is no credit check to enquire, the enquiry goes to one direct lender rather than a panel, and a specialist (not a bot) reads it.

Precise answers about the property and the debts on it let us give a firm view on the first call, while there is still time to act on it. Start the 60-second enquiry.