How to prepare and send a contract of sale

Prepare, customise, and send a contract of sale for signature to buyers and sellers directly from your property page.

BEFORE YOU START

- The property must be live on Openn with at least one buyer/bidder.

- Ensure seller details are added to the property.

- Have your contract documents or templates ready (uploaded to the property or saved as templates).

STEP 1: OPEN THE CONTRACT FLOW

You can start the contract of sale flow from two places:

- From the action panel: on your property page, click 'Prepare contract of sale' in the action panel on the right-hand side.

- From a buyer's sidebar: open the sidebar of a progressed buyer (e.g. an accepted offer) and click 'Prepare contract of sale'.

STEP 2: CUSTOMISE THE RECIPIENT LIST

The recipient screen is pre-populated with the buyers on the selected offer and the property's sellers.

- Set the signing order. 'Send automatically when signed' sends to the next recipient immediately after the previous one signs (default between buyers and between sellers). 'Send manually' lets you control when it is sent (default between the buyer and seller groups). Use the ... menu on any step to switch.

- Add or remove recipients: click 'Add signee' to add buyers, sellers, observers, attendees or external contacts; click x to remove.

- Add Cc recipients (optional): click 'Add Cc' to send a read-only copy to solicitors or conveyancers. Cc recipients do not sign.

Click Next.

STEP 3: SELECT DOCUMENTS

- Property documents (files already uploaded to the property) are shown first.

- Templates appear below, sorted by relevance. Browse My Templates, Agency Templates and Openn Templates.

- Select one or more documents/templates and drag to reorder. Click Next, name the contract, and click Next. Multiple documents are merged into a single PDF.

STEP 4: PLACE FIELDS AND SIGNATURES

The field editor opens with your merged document.

- Standard fields: text, checkbox, date, initials.

- Data fields: pre-configured fields (Buyer, Seller, Agency, Agent, Property, Legal) auto-populated from the property and offer.

- Signature fields: drag a signature box for each recipient onto the appropriate pages.

A signature count indicator shows placed vs required signatures; use Saved fields to apply a pre-configured layout.

STEP 5: PREVIEW

Click the Preview tab to review the contract with fields populated. Click 'Edit data' to update contract data before sending.

STEP 6: SEND THE CONTRACT

Click Send. The contract is generated and sent to the first recipient in the signing order, and becomes visible in the buyer sidebar and the Signature tab.

AUCTION-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOUR

- WA and QLD: the auctioneer is added as a standard signee and can sign on behalf of the buyer.

- ACT, NT, TAS, VIC, SA and NSW: a 'send sequentially' option lets either the bidder or the auctioneer sign; once one signs, the step is complete.

- Openn supports up to 4 buyers on a single contract of sale.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Can I edit a contract after it's been sent? A: No. Once sent, a contract cannot be edited. Cancel the existing contract and prepare a new one.

Q: What happens if a buyer hasn't completed registration? A: You can still prepare and send a contract to pending or incomplete buyers.

Q: Where can I see the signing progress? A: Open the buyer sidebar on the property page, or check the Signature tab.