The Conveyancing Process from Both the Buyer’s and Seller’s Perspective

By October 5, 2017 No Comments

The conveyancing process is a bit different depending on which side of the table you’re on. However, it’s obviously highly important no matter what, and it’s worth focusing on so you know how the whole process works from both perspectives.

Conveyancing Process Overview

Conveyancing is the key part of a property transaction where the title is transferred from seller to buyer. It entails all of the paperwork needed in order to make this happen. It also often involves things like a title search to help to ensure that there aren’t extra complications on a property such as extra encumbrances, liens, or additional mortgages.

Conveyancing Professionals

In order to understand conveyancing processes in general, it’s first worth noting that there are two main kinds of professionals that do it. There are conveyancers and conveyancing lawyers. Conveyancing lawyers can do all the things that lawyers can do, but they can also handle basic conveyancing issues as well. For example, there are times that you need a lawyer to sign on to documents.

On the other hand, conveyancers can still do most of the main conveyancing processes. This includes doing title searches for you, for example.

Documents Needed Throughout Process

The Contract of Sale is an important part of the process in terms of documents that you need. Generally, this should be prepared by a professional conveyancer or a lawyer.

There’s also an official document called a “Vendor’s Statement” that’s important during the conveyancing process as well. For this, you definitely need a professional conveyancing lawyer or a professional conveyancer.

Finally, there’s the actual Certificate of Title. The expectation is that the seller will have cleared this of any encumbrances by the time it’s ready to be signed off by the buyer. Obviously, you can’t absolutely count on this, which is why it’s important to have a professional check it for you.

Conveyancing Process from the Buyer Side

If you’re on the buying side of a transaction, then a conveyancer can help you with this process by checking for anything that you might need to worry about on the title that might not have been initially obvious before the sale finalises. Sometimes titles have additional fees connected to them before they can be sold, for example. Other things to worry about include whether rates are going to change based on any shifting circumstances, or any taxes that you may not have known about before.

They will also be handling the settlement part of the event. In other words, they can be your representative that can tell you when the property is settled, that is when the title is now in your hands and everything has completed.

They can also handle the part of the process where they put the deposit money from your account into a trust account where the seller knows that you’re acting in good faith.

Conveyancing Process from the Seller Side

It’s important to make sure that legal documents are all figured out before a property is sold, and a conveyancer can help a seller with this. Another important issue is interacting with the buyer’s side of things. This includes working with them directly as well as with any agents that are working for them.

One of the reasons why this is critically important is because things can get ugly and uncomfortable sometimes in sales, and often not necessarily because of the fault of anyone involved in it. That’s why it’s useful to have a degree of separation if you can, generally. For example, if the buyer needs to turn back from the sale near the end of the transaction, it’s better to have a conveyancer or other conveyancing professional handle it because they can figure out the nuances.

They will be able to tell you if it’s just a matter of soothing nerves, or whether it looks like the buyer really can’t come up with the money even though they thought that they would be able to do this initially. It will also be possible for the professional to help you with other matters as well, such as evaluating risk for things like the buyer trying to bring a lawsuit against you after the transaction has concluded.

You will obviously need a lawyer for this as well. Conveyancing professionals can also help you through the process if you make some error in the transaction early like getting the property dimensions wrong or failing to properly account for some other detail. They serve as a check for you during the process, in other words, since these are serious matters and mistakes can be highly costly and irreversible past a certain point in the conveyancing journey.

This is why it’s so important to have someone to help you out and look over your shoulder to make sure that there’s nothing wrong and that everything is working out well.

Overall, the conveyancing process can be a complex one, and it’s going to be unwise to try to take it on alone. Fortunately, there are plenty of professionals out there that can aid you in getting it done. You really don’t want to risk the slightest error on something that is going to be this permanent and long-reaching in terms of effects.

Need a conveyancer? Contact us now, and we’ll be happy to help!