A supplier has put a caveat on your home: how to clear the trade debt and get your title back

You went to refinance, or list the house, or simply pulled a title search — and there it is. A caveat, lodged by a supplier you buy materials or stock from. Your home is now tied up with a trade account.

Here’s the direct answer. If you signed a personal guarantee in that supplier’s credit application, it probably contained a charging clause, and that clause is what lets them lodge a caveat over property you own. The caveat doesn’t take your home. But it does stop a sale, a refinance or a new mortgage from going through until it’s withdrawn. The quickest clean exit is usually to pay the account in exchange for a signed withdrawal, and a short-term property loan can do both at a single settlement.

How did a supplier get onto my title?

Most trade credit applications have two parts: the account terms for the business, and a guarantee signed personally by the directors. Buried in the guarantee there’s often a paragraph along these lines: the guarantor charges all their present and future interests in real property with payment of the debt, and agrees the supplier may lodge a caveat to protect that charge.

Most owners sign these forms at the counter, years before anything goes wrong. When the account falls behind — often in a quiet patch, a slow-paying head contractor, or the run-up to Christmas when suppliers tidy their ledgers — the supplier’s credit team or solicitor uses the clause.

A few things are worth knowing straight away:

• No judgment is needed first. The supplier is claiming an interest in the land under the charge, not enforcing a court order.
• It’s usually over the guarantor’s interest only. If your partner co-owns the home but never signed the guarantee, the charge generally doesn’t reach their share. The caveat can still hold up a sale or refinance of the whole property, though.
• It can be over any property you own. Home, investment unit, the factory you hold in your own name — the clause usually covers all of it.

If you’re not sure what you signed, ask the supplier for a copy of the credit application and guarantee. Have a solicitor read the charging clause before you decide anything.

What does the caveat actually stop?

A caveat is a formal warning on the title. While it’s there, the land registry won’t register dealings that would affect the interest the supplier claims — and that’s the practical bite, in every state.

You want to…	What the caveat does
Sell the property	The buyer’s solicitor won’t settle until the caveat is withdrawn
Refinance your home loan	The new bank will require it removed before it funds
Add a second mortgage or new loan	Registration is blocked without the supplier’s consent or withdrawal
Keep living there and paying the bank	Nothing changes day to day

So the caveat is a lever, not a sale. It sits quietly until the day you need the property for something — and then it becomes the most urgent thing on your desk.

What are your three ways out?

1. Pay the account and get a signed withdrawal

If you owe the money, this is the cleanest path. You get a written payout figure from the supplier, including any interest and legal costs they’re entitled to under the terms. In return for payment, they sign a withdrawal of caveat.

In Victoria, Land Use Victoria’s guide to withdrawal of caveat explains that a withdrawal must generally be lodged through an electronic lodgment network, with paper allowed only in limited exceptions — one being where the caveator has no conveyancer or lawyer. In practice, that means the withdrawal is best lodged by solicitors at the same settlement that pays the supplier.

2. Negotiate a settlement figure

Suppliers want cash, not a long fight over a caveat. If there’s a disputed invoice, a credit not applied, or interest charges you think are wrong, raise it now. A firm offer backed by a settlement date (“we can pay this figure on Thursday in exchange for the withdrawal”) usually gets a faster answer than a request for more time.

3. Challenge the caveat

If you genuinely dispute the debt or the guarantee, there are formal ways to put the supplier to proof. Each state does it differently:

• Victoria: you can apply for a lapsing notice, supported by a lawyer’s certificate. The caveat lapses on the date in the notice — at least 30 days away — unless the supplier shows it has started court proceedings.
• New South Wales: under the Registrar General’s lapsing notice guidelines, the caveat lapses 21 days after the notice is properly served unless the supplier obtains a Supreme Court order extending it.
• Queensland: under the Land Title Act 1994, a caveat lodged without the owner’s consent generally lapses three months after lodgement unless the caveator starts proceedings, and the owner can shorten that by serving notice to start proceedings.
• Every state: you can also ask the court to remove the caveat, and a caveator who lodges without reasonable cause can be ordered to pay compensation.

These routes are right when the debt is genuinely wrong. They’re slow when you simply need the title clear this week — a month or more of waiting is a long time if a sale or refinance is booked.

Want to know what your property could support to clear a supplier quickly? Start a 60-second enquiry — asking doesn’t touch your credit file.

Can you borrow against a property that already has a caveat on it?

Yes, provided the loan is what pays the caveat out. No lender will take security over a title with somebody else’s unexplained claim sitting on it, but a caveat being paid and withdrawn at settlement is routine.

The mechanics look like this:

1. Payout letter. The supplier (or its solicitor) confirms the exact amount to clear the account and their consent to withdraw on payment.
2. Withdrawal ready. Their solicitor prepares the withdrawal of caveat for lodgement at settlement.
3. Settlement. The loan funds, the supplier is paid directly, the withdrawal is lodged, and our security is registered — all in the same transaction.

Which short-term structure does the job depends on where the property is and what’s already on the title:

• Victorian property with a bank loan: a caveat loan behind your existing mortgage — quick to put in place and well suited to a trade debt that will be repaid within months.
• Property in any other state or territory: a short-term registered second mortgage behind your bank, usually arranged just as quickly.
• No mortgage on the property, or a bank loan you’d rather replace: a short-term first mortgage that clears the bank, the supplier and anything else in one go.

Property-secured loans run from $20,000 to $5,000,000 against residential or commercial property. Our residential property as security page explains what using your home involves, and the how much can I borrow tool gives an indicative figure in a couple of minutes.

How fast can a supplier caveat come off?

Funds of $20,000 to $250,000 can be possible the same day on a property-secured loan, and up to $5 million can be possible within 24 to 48 hours. With a supplier caveat, the lender is rarely the slow part. The usual hold-ups are:

• The payout letter. Credit teams can take days to confirm a figure including costs. Ask for it in writing the moment you decide to pay.
• The supplier’s solicitor. If a law firm lodged the caveat, the withdrawal often has to go back through them. Get their name and email early.
• Other debts on the account. If the supplier is also chasing a second company or another guarantor, make sure the payout covers everything the caveat secures — not just one invoice.
• A second caveat. Run a fresh title search. If a different creditor has lodged too, both need to be dealt with at the same settlement.

Our page on how fast private lenders settle covers the rest of the timeline.

An illustrative example

Invented scenario, round numbers — not a real client.

An electrical contractor in Townsville runs a trade account with a wholesaler, guaranteed personally when the account was opened. A large commercial job pays late, the account drifts to about $85,000 overdue, and the wholesaler lodges a caveat over the owner’s home under the guarantee’s charging clause.

The owner finds out when the bank, part-way through a refinance, flags the caveat and puts the file on hold.

The home is worth about $780,000 with a bank loan of $390,000. Because the property is in Queensland, the structure is a short-term registered second mortgage. Borrowing $95,000 to cover the account plus costs takes total debt to $485,000 — a combined loan-to-value ratio of roughly 62%.

The wholesaler’s solicitor provides a payout letter and signed withdrawal. At settlement, the wholesaler is paid directly, the withdrawal is lodged, and the second mortgage registers. The account goes back on normal terms, the title is clean, and the owner repays the short-term loan a little over three months later when the commercial job’s final claim lands. The bank refinance resumes on a title with nothing unexpected on it.

Had the house been in Bendigo, the same plan would have run as a caveat loan instead.

How do you stop it happening again?

Once the title is clear, a few habits keep it that way:

• Read guarantees before signing. Look for “charge”, “caveat” or “real property”. You can ask for the charging clause to be struck out or the guarantee capped at a set amount — some suppliers will agree.
• Keep a list of who holds your guarantee. Every supplier, landlord and equipment financier you’ve personally guaranteed.
• Talk early. Suppliers lodge caveats when they feel ignored. A call before the account goes 60 days overdue often prevents one.
• Plan the exit for any short-term loan. Use our exit date check to stress-test how the loan gets repaid before you sign.

Get your title back and your plans moving

A supplier caveat feels personal — it’s your home, after all. But it’s a business debt with a clear fix, and we see it regularly. If you owe the account and need the title clean for a sale, refinance or just peace of mind, tell us where the property is, what’s on the title and who the supplier is. A real person on our desk will look at your situation and call you to talk through the cleanest structure and how quickly it could settle.

The enquiry takes about a minute and won’t leave a mark on your credit file — no credit check happens unless you decide to go ahead. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders, either — you deal with us directly, so there’s no wave of calls from strangers. Please fill it in accurately, especially the property’s state, the bank loan balance and the supplier’s payout figure, so the first structure we put to you is the right one.

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