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What Does a Conveyancer Do When Buying a Property

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Education & Training with Property Investment Wise

 

If you have ever bought or sold property and dealt with the real estate market, you probably understand just how complicated and stressful the process can be. There are legal requirements that have to be met by both parties involved, paperwork that has to be filled out and fees that must be paid. Conveyancing is a process that simplifies these types of transactions for you.

 

What is conveyancing?

In general, the term conveyancing means moving bulk commodities from one place to another. Legally speaking, conveyancing is transferring the legal title of a fixed property from one person to another. A fixed property is in the form of land or buildings. There are three stages to conveyancing, and they are:

 

  • Before the contract

  • Before the completion

  • After the completion

 

Before the contract, there are items that need to be addressed such as checking on the title to make sure it is clear and ensuring that the owner does have the right to sell the property.

 

Before completion, there are requirements that may need to be met. The contract that is drawn up may state conditions to buying or selling the property that one or both persons involved may have to address. Examples of conditions are ensuring the buyer has suitable financing or receiving a good report on the building being purchased. Real estate contract disputes should be cleared up at this time. Once these conditions are met, the process can then move forward.

 

It is worth learning about a put and call option at this point. You can learn more in this blogpost, where it is clearly explained what a put and call option is for.

 

After completion, the title is transferred to the new owner. Any monies owed are paid and the sale is completed. The property will then be registered in the courthouse in the new owner's name.

 

What is property conveyancing?

Property conveyancing is the process described above. There is a conveyance fee applicable to both the buyer and the seller for conveyancing due to all the paperwork that is involved, but this process takes so much stress away from both parties.

 

The deed of conveyance is a signed legal document that shows the title order has been transferred from one owner to the other. This document is signed, witnessed and notarized by both parties and anyone else who may be involved in the property transfer.

 

Property conveyancing generally takes between six to eight weeks, but that is not guaranteed. The time frame depends on factors that may come up during the process such as property interest. This is the percentage of ownership and rights the owner has to transfer or sell the property.

 

What does a conveyancer do?

One of the biggest jobs in property conveyancing is handled by the conveyancer themselves. There are mountains of paperwork to be addressed and questions to be asked that only a legal expert would know. Their job is to basically help with the settlement and title transfer by ensuring their client is meeting legal obligations, and their rights are protected from things like breach of real estate contract.

 

An experienced conveyancer will ensure that their client understands each step clearly and what documents they are signing. Different duties of a conveyancer include:

 

  • Title and government searches

  • Preparation and certification of legal documents

  • Advising on the contract

  • Attendance at the settlement

 

Either the buyer or the seller can acquire the services of a conveyancer.

When you are searching for professional conveyancing services, there are certain questions you should ask them to determine who is right for you. For instance, find out what are the maximum fees and charges they expect you to pay for the legal process, and find out what their fees are. When they are describing their fees, make sure they let you know what each fee covers in detail. Ask if there will be any additional, hidden costs or government fees applicable. Finally, you should be given a general time frame for the process and question how they will keep you informed throughout the process.

 

Summary

If you are in the process of buying or selling a property, a conveyancer can save you much time and headache. The process can be stressful enough without dealing with the added weight of legal jargon and paperwork involved. A professional conveyancer will take care of the difficult process for you, ensure that everything runs smoothly, advise you on what to do or not to do and protect your rights. Protecting you alone is worth the cost because one legal mistake can cost you so much more.

 

 

Posted by

Joe McCord works at REAA.

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