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Legal legwork? Leave it to the professionals

You've arranged the finance, made the wearisome rounds of the local real estate scene with inspections, open days and auctions, found the right property, made your offer and had it accepted.

What's left? Someone has to take care of the legal transfer of the property from the vendor to you, through the process known as conveyancing. But before you do anything else, remember

golden rule number one - don't sign anything yet!

Conveyancing is usually handled by solicitors or professional conveyance's. There's nothing to stop you doing it yourself, but you must be aware of the serious risks involved.

The agent looking after the sale (or the vendor themselves) will have given you a contract of sale. This important document must be looked at in fine detail to ensure that everything about the property is understood and that there will be no unpleasant surprises after the sale has gone through.

Such issues can be expensive, time consuming and difficult to resolve without professional help. The most common are:

• Caveats and covenants attached to the property,
• Building extensions which have not been approved by local council,
• Land dimensions differing from the measurements on the Certificate of Title, and
• Finding the property is damaged (or missing, don't laugh, it's happened!) when you conduct the final inspection.

Once you've signed the contract, you're legally bound to proceed with the sale. That's why signing a contract without having an experienced person check it first is verging on lunacy.

Any special conditions you want to negotiate into or out of the contract must be agreed before you sign.

Most people choose their conveyancing service on price considerations, although there's a little more to it than that. Most solicitors and conveyancer's offer a-fixed price, but you need to find out exactly what is included in the price, and what isn't. You may simply want the appropriate forms completed and lodged, or you might need an additional service such as assisting with the negotiations for a private sale. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Extra work costs more, so make sure you ask the right questions.

If you use a solicitor or conveyancer, you should have the security of their indemnity insurance which covers them if something goes wrong with the transfer. Experience is expected, but you should ensure that if a junior person is doing the legwork on your behalf, the person who signs off on the process knows what they are doing.

But don't be too suspicious! The vast majority of professionals do a faultless job at a fair and moderate price. But since you're paying for their knowledge and experience, make the most of it by asking about anything you don't clearly understand.

For further information please contact Mike Lloyd at mike@fusionfinance.com.au

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