Settlement delayed? Bridging the gap when your buyer runs late

You did everything right. The property is sold, contracts are exchanged, and you’ve committed the proceeds: to the settlement of your next premises, to clearing a tax debt, to a supplier who’s been patient. Then your conveyancer calls. The buyer’s side needs another three weeks. Maybe six.

The sale hasn’t failed. It’s just late. But the commitments you made on the back of it haven’t moved.

This page is about the vendor’s side of a delayed settlement: you’re owed the money, you just don’t have it yet. A bridging loan can fund the gap between your deadline (Event A) and the delayed settlement (Event B).

Why do settlements get delayed?

Some reasons are routine and some are warning signs. It helps to know which you’re dealing with before you borrow against the outcome.

Reason for delay	What it usually means for your exit
Buyer’s lender still finalising documents	Usually routine; a new date is often reliable
Title, survey or contract issue being fixed	Depends on the issue; ask your lawyer how long a fix takes
Missing ATO clearance certificate or other paperwork	Fixable, but has its own processing time
Buyer’s finance approval withdrawn or reduced	Serious; the settlement may not happen at all
Buyer waiting on their own sale	A chain of dependencies; add buffer

The ATO clearance certificate is a common and avoidable cause. Since 1 January 2025, foreign resident capital gains withholding applies to property of any value, so Australian resident vendors need a valid clearance certificate at or before settlement to avoid the buyer withholding 15% of the price. The ATO says certificates can take up to 28 days to issue. Our guide to clearance certificates and other settlement blockers covers this in detail.

What does a lender need to see?

When the exit is a settlement that has already been contracted, the evidence is mostly paper you already have:

• The exchanged contract showing the price, the parties and the original settlement date.
• Written confirmation of the delay: correspondence between the conveyancers setting out why settlement moved and the new proposed date.
• Any notices issued under the contract, such as a notice to complete.
• Security details for the property being sold and any other property on offer, including existing mortgages.
• What the money is for: the contract for your purchase, the tax statement, the invoice.

The strongest applications answer one question clearly: if this settlement doesn’t happen on the new date, what then? A plan B, such as re-selling, refinancing or another asset, lets a lender see past the worst case. Our page on what happens if a property doesn’t sell covers the fallbacks.

Which structure suits a delayed settlement?

It depends on what’s already registered on the title and how long the gap is.

• If the property being sold has no mortgage, a first mortgage bridge may be simplest.
• If there’s an existing bank loan you want left alone until settlement, a second mortgage or a caveat bridge can sit behind it for a short period.
• If you have another property with equity, that can be the security instead, which keeps the sale property’s paperwork clean for the buyer.

For a smaller gap and a trading business with healthy bank statements, an unsecured cash-flow bridge may cover it without property at all.

If you’re weighing these up right now, you can get a specialist’s read on your delayed settlement without a credit check.

An illustrative example

A dental practice owner has exchanged on the sale of a consulting suite for $780k, due to settle in two weeks. The proceeds are committed to the settlement of a larger suite on the same day. The buyer’s lender then asks for a revised valuation, and settlement of the sale moves out by five weeks. The purchase can’t move without penalty.

The owner’s options: ask the seller of the new suite for an extension (not agreed), or bridge the gap. A bridge secured over both suites funds the purchase on time. When the sale settles five weeks later, the proceeds repay the bridging portion. The owner allows a term of three months rather than five weeks, because a second delay is possible. (Illustrative scenario.)

How long should the term be?

Longer than the new date. If the reason for the first delay hasn’t been fully resolved, it can cause a second one. A reasonable approach is to take the new settlement date, add the time it would take to re-sell if the buyer walked away, and treat that as the outside edge. Our guide to bridging loan terms explains how to set it.

What should you do today?

1. Get your conveyancer to confirm the reason for the delay and the new date in writing.
2. Check whether your contract gives you rights (for example, to issue a notice to complete) and what they cost you in time.
3. List exactly what the sale money was committed to, and the date each item is due.
4. Put the numbers into the bridging calculator using “waiting on a payment” or “buying before selling” to see your peak debt.
5. Make an enquiry early. A few extra days make a real difference to the options available.

Keep your own deadline, even when theirs slips

A buyer running late shouldn’t cost you the premises you’ve committed to, or trigger penalties you never agreed to. Tell us the dates, the contract price and what the money is for. The enquiry takes about a minute and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. Your details stay with one team, never sprayed out to a list of lenders, and a real person calls you to work through it.

The more accurate your answers on the form, especially the settlement dates and the existing loans, the faster we can point you to the right structure.

Tell us about your delayed settlement →