Conveyancing: Legal documents

Buying and selling homes may look like a piece of cake to those who have never been involved with property before, but in reality, it is laden with red tape and legal documents. There are certain legal documents that will need to be finalised when you are completing a property transaction.
Buying a property is probably one of the biggest transactions you will ever make, so it's a good idea to ensure that you know generally what will happen during the conveyancing process. This allows you to keep an eye on the ins and outs of one of the most important decisions you will make in your life.

Documents you can expect to come across during conveyancing

There are some standard documents that are involved with most normal conveyancing procedures. These can include:

• Conveyancing Quote - Get this upfront and there will be no unforseen costs at the end of your settlement.
• Mortgage - This is a lengthy set of paperwork outlining what you have been cleared by your banking or lending institution to borrow, what deposit of cash you may have added to this figure, some details about repayment conditions and plenty of terms and conditions you will need to read thoroughly and carefully.
• First Home Owners Grant - This is obviously only relevant to those people who are first home buyers. If you are buying a property with another first home owner, you can only claim the grant ONCE, so technically one of you will lose your grant by buying into the property together.

This paperwork is taken care of by your conveyancer and he/she will determine what forms need to be filled out and will take care of lodging them with the Federal Government for you.

• Lands Department Registration - A document to show the correct lands department checks have been carried out and details of the Property Title.
• Stamp Duty and other Government Registration fees - Usually these Government fees will be collated by your conveyancer and you will receive a final figure of their costs.

If you want a more detailed explanation of what you will be paying, you should ensure that you ask your conveyancer.

• Building Insurance documents - You need to take out building insurance if an existing building is on the property you buy. Your conveyancer will tell you what to do here.
• Rates adjustments - Again, your conveyancer will know what to do here, but make sure everything is adjusted accordingly and you are not left paying the bills of those who lived there previously.

Council approvals on all building and materials - This is something that should show up in your conveyancers initial searches, but ensure everything is council-approved before you settle on the property - you can sometimes make this a condition of sale.