Many people have only a vague idea of what a conveyancer does. They know we’re involved with preparing and reviewing the contract, but have few details beyond that. So here’s some more detail on what a conveyancer does and why you should choose yours with care.
Your conveyancer is your legally licensed representative. Their main purpose is to represent you and your interests – even if that goes against their own best professional interest! For example, I’ve advised a client before that they should not continue to settlement. That reduced my fees, but it was in the best interests of the client in that particular deal.
When you’re buying or selling property, your conveyancer will deal with a whole range of interested parties. At every point, they are representing you and you alone.
Here’s another recent example. I had a client who was buying a property from an investor and who wanted vacant possession. When I reviewed the contract, it indicated that there was a tenant in the property. There wasn’t. The real estate agent was keen to exchange contracts – only natural since real estate agents love doing deals, and that’s what they’re paid for! He suggested that my client sign and ‘sort it out later’. But that would have exposed my client to risk. The vendor could have introduced a tenant before the sale completed, and that tenant would have had rights.
My primary role as a conveyancer is to identify any risk to you my client; to make sure you are aware of it and to manage that risk in the best way possible for you. That’s the same whether you are a vendor or a purchaser, although specific tasks vary.
The very first thing a conveyancer will do for you as a vendor is to draw up a contract.
There are standard contract templates, but it’s important that the contract is clear and reflects the specific property, in its actual state at time of sale. So a simple template is not enough – it can only ever be the starting point.
The very first thing we do when acting for a vendor is to set your file up and seek really detailed instructions from you regarding the property. This includes everything from works done on the property (with or without council approval) to pool safety certificates to whether items like dishwashers, curtains or security systems are included in the sale.
We also clarify your objectives and ensure the contract matches those too. For example, you might want a delayed settlement date so that you can remain in the property for a number of weeks or months.
We won’t issue a draft contract to get your property out to market quickly. We know from experience how much confusion and extra work that causes. It can also mean delays between exchange and settlement as issues are clarified. So we make sure your contract is right the first time, to give the best possible chance of a smooth sale process.
Many if not most vendors have a mortgage. If you don’t discharge the mortgage, your property can’t be sold. We know the timelines which banks take and we’ll follow up to ensure you’ve communicated with them. We’ll also follow up with the bank to make sure they’re doing everything they need to.
PEXA (Property Exchange Australia) is an app which the industry uses to make the process of buying and selling easier. Every transaction has its own private exchange room online, which the relevant parties can log onto. We set that up and invite you. We’ll also invite your bank and other parties, which makes it really easy to see their progress.
When you’re purchasing property, we don’t draw up a contract but we do review the contract the vendor provides to you.
What are we looking for during that review?
· First of all, we see contracts every day of the week, so if there is anything unusual, we’ll notice it straight away.
· We also make sure we understand your goals for the purchase, so if there’s anything which might affect that, we flag it. For example, you may need to settle on a particular day. Or you might have plans to redevelop, in which case we need to check sewage and drainage.
· We have a list of points we clarify for every single purchase we handle. Unless every single one of these is covered by the contract (very unusual) we are proactive in asking the other party about all these.
We start from the principle that it’s better to check too much than not enough. So our review is very thorough.
Most purchasers need a loan, and sometimes there are delays getting the pre-approval confirmed for a specific purchase. If you’ve exchanged by private treaty, we’ll make sure the cooling off period is extended until your have your loan approval. We’re happy to speak directly with your broker or your lender –we know you’re busy enough already.
We also assist with council searches and pest and building reports as needed.
Council searches confirm the details provided in the contract, and can uncover additional information. In one case we had, the search showed approval for some renovations, but no certificate of approval – and further investigation showed the actual floor plan wasn’t what had been approved!
If neither you or the vendor has organised pest and building reports, we can arrange those for you too.
We always recommend you find a good conveyancer as soon as you start looking seriously for property. You have the most negotiating power before you exchange contracts. Also, if you’re considering buying at auction, you really need to review the contract in advance. There is no cooling off period, so once you exchange, you have no legal power to change anything and can only rely on the goodwill of the vendor. That’s not a strong position for you!
If you come to us once contracts are exchanged in a private treaty, we’re still able to negotiate, including extending the cooling off period.
Once any questions about the contract have been settled, the conveyancing process is similar for a sale and a purchase.
The most visible task we have as conveyancers is to calculate and check all the financial aspects of the transaction. This can be quite complex as there are many parties involved in addition to the vendor and purchaser
· Lenders for any existing or new mortgages
· The real estate agent
· Stamp duty or other tax payable to the NSW Government
· The local council (who need to know who’s liable for what rates)
· The water company (who need to charge appropriate amounts depending on the date of settlement)
This used to be a very complex manual process. Nowadays we use PEXA and it’s much easier. From your point of view, you log into your own private workspace and you provide all your bank details there. It’s online, real-time and very secure. Sometimes, vendors know even before we do that settlement has taken place – they can see the money in their account.
Less obvious, but just as important is the way we monitor every transaction where we are acting for a client. That includes checking who has registered in the PEXA workspace and what stage they’ve reached – especially lenders.
Part of our daily routine is to review every single current transaction and look for red flags. If we see anything which looks like it might cause a delay, we jump on it!
It’s very common that people are both selling their current home and buying a new one.
To you, these two transactions are closely linked. A change in either settlement date can have a big impact – if your sale is delayed, you may not have the funds to complete your purchase. If your purchase is delayed, you may find yourself unexpectedly without a place to sleep or store your possessions.
For everyone else involved, however, there’s no link at all between the two deals. They won’t even consider these impacts. So it’s a great idea to use the same conveyancer for both sale and purchase helps. You have expert eyes with visibility of all the moving parts across both transactions, so if there are issues you can react promptly. The only time we can’t do this for you is when one of the transactions is in another state.
As you can see, there’s a lot more to conveyancing than simply filling in details on a template contract. The best conveyancers combine the attention to detail needed for the paperwork with the people skills to understand your goals and communicate any issues. They are helpful, responsive and thorough – and above all they are by your side to help you with one of the largest financial transactions of your life.
If you’re looking to buy or sell, it’s worth spending some time to make sure you choose a good conveyancer. If you think that might be us, let’s talk!
