Conveyancer Guide to Buying Real Estate

When you are ready to purchase a property, you can expect to go through four phases with us: preliminary actions, purchase, contract, and purchase completion. If you have any questions about any of these steps, please do not hesitate to contact us, or to look up definitions and full term explanations in our Real Estate Dictionary.

To begin your purchase, use our automatic emailing system to get pre-purchase assistance. Our recommendations include completing a full inspection of the property you desire to purchase, including inspections for building, pest and strata reports (if applicable). This is an important part of buying real estate and should not be neglected.

Phase 1

The next phase is the purchasing. The vendor and purchaser each sign one copy of the contract. These copies are ‘exchanged’, usually between the solicitors and the contracts become binding.  After exchange you may have time to “cool off”. If for any reason you decide to not to proceed with the purchase and the cooling off period applies, you have 5 business days from the date of exchange to rescind the contract. If you rescind the contract during this time you will forfeit 0.25% of the purchase price. However, not all sales have this option so if you think you might need to back out of the purchase, be sure that this cooling off period applies to your situation. To get more information contact us with any questions.

If you choose to go through with the purchase and have signed the Contract of Sale, make sure that we have received a copy of the contract from the estate agent.

Cooling off does not apply if you are considering purchasing your property through an auction.

Phase 2

Phase 2 is the contract process. When we receive the original, signed Contract of Sale, preparations for the Transfer of Land will begin. You can expect to receive this transfer and a letter explaining what you can expect next.

When you have confirmed that you have received these documents, we will get a title search and request any rate or planning certificates that we require for the conveyancing process. The Vendor’s solicitors will be responsible for the requisitions on the title.

Phase 3

If you are receiving a loan to help pay for the property, your lender will likely contact us. We then forward the Contract and the Transfer of Land to your broker. These documents will assist your lender to organise the mortgage documents.

The next step in phase 3 is to obtain the property’s account details from the council and water authority. We will prepare a Statement of Adjustments and see that all parties confirm the settlement arrangements. When the settlement date is getting closer, we will ask the Vendor’s solicitors  for cheque details and hand these over to the appropriate parties.

On the day of settlement, one last search will be performed. We will hand over the appropriate settlement cheques as directed by the vendor’s solicitors and the Vendor’s solicitors will give us the documents we need to register the transfer. If you have a lender, these documents are handed over to the lender at settlement. They will be responsible for the registration of the Transfer in addition to that of the mortgage.

As it applies to your purchasing situation, stamp duty will be paid to the State Revenue office and the title registration fee will be paid at the Land Titles office to enable registration of the Transfer. Again, if you are using a lender, they will use a portion of the loan to pay the stamp and registration fees while they also attend to the above concerns.

When all matters have been completed, you will receive a letter of confirmation. We also let the council and water authority and strata manager (if applicable) know that the property’s ownership has transferred to you, the new owner.

If while you are going through the process of buying a new property you are also trying to sell one, we will handle both matters.