Do you really have a deal?

Do you really have a deal?

Most Brisbane warehouse buyers think they have a deal long before they actually do. It matters much more than they realise.

They’ve had a conversation. Exchanged some emails. Shaken hands, or something close to it. It feels agreed. But feeling agreed and being agreed are two different things. In Queensland commercial property, that gap is where a lot of problems start.

How it’s supposed to be

The price is locked down. The property is exactly what you think it is. The settlement date is locked in. Every condition that matters is on paper, not left to memory. Nothing is left to chance. The ground doesn’t move after you sign. No telephone call about GST or some clause nobody flagged. No stamp duty surprises or grey areas. Just the deal you thought you were getting. It’s not luck or hope. That’s what a contract is supposed to do.

A contract is not a template

Most buyers see a contract and think: standard document, routine step, just sign it and move on. That’s not what a contract is. Stay with us here – a contract is a record of an exact “meeting of minds”. Not approximate. Not almost. Exact. Who is buying and who is selling. What is being bought. For how much, on what terms, by when, and how. Every one of those details has to be agreed, specifically, by both parties.

If any of those details are missing, assumed, or left for later, you may not have a contract at all. You have a conversation that hasn’t finished yet.

A counteroffer is not an agreement

Suppose you send an email asking for ABC. The other side comes back with AB but not C. Or they don’t respond at all. That may be deliberate or accidental.

No agreement.

Agreement requires that both parties accept exactly the same terms. A counteroffer, a partial acceptance, or silence is not a yes. It rejects the offer you made, which then expires. The counteroffer is a new offer that you can accept or reject (or make your own counteroffer).

This matters more than most Brisbane warehouse buyers realise. People walk into transactions assuming a deal was done in correspondence that never actually crystallised. The written record tells a different story.

The lunch test

Here is the clearest way to think about it.

You invite someone to lunch on Wednesday. They say they can do Thursday. Do you have a plan for lunch? No. You have a negotiation in progress.

It is only when you say ‘Monday works for me’ and they say ‘Okay, let’s lock Monday in’ that you have an agreement. Both parties. Same day. Confirmed.

Queensland commercial property works the same way. The details just have more zeros attached.

Sending a request is not the same as agreeing

This is one of the most common misunderstandings in Brisbane commercial transactions.

A buyer’s lawyer sends an email asking for an extension of time on their finance condition. The request goes out on Monday. The buyer assumes the clock stops while they wait for a response.

It doesn’t.

Sending a request does not freeze time. The contract keeps running. The deadline keeps approaching. Until the other side has responded and agreed to the exact terms you proposed, nothing has changed. You are still bound by the original timeframe.

If you need an extension, you need a confirmed, agreed extension. Not a request in transit.

What agreement actually looks like

When two parties enter a transaction, each carries their own understanding of what has been agreed. Their assumptions about price, timing, conditions, and obligations. Most of the time, those pictures overlap significantly. But they are rarely identical.

Contract negotiations close that gap. It replaces two overlapping circles with one. Every term is agreed, recorded, and binding on both sides.

What this means for you

Before you assume a Queensland deal is done, check the correspondence. Is every material term agreed? Has the other side accepted exactly what you proposed, or something different?

If you are in a live transaction and unsure whether what has been exchanged amounts to a binding agreement, that is worth finding out before you act on the assumption that it does.

Get in touch to book a call and we can give you a clear read on where things actually stand.