Conveyancing tips

Buying a home can be the best time of your life. The moment when you realised you finally stood on your own two feet. The first time you felt free of the rental cycle trap. The moment you realised that you will become an actual property owner!

When buying a home, you must seek out the advice of a conveyancing solicitor. Whether the home is bought via auction, private sale or through a real estate agency, as the buyer, it is your responsibility to hire a conveyancer, and it will be your neck on the line if something goes wrong or the process is not completed properly.

Without being too negative about the process of buying a house, it is a good idea to keep some of the possible pitfalls in mind, so that you can ensure the conveyancing process goes as you have planned.

Possible pitfalls of buying a home

There are plenty of potential snags or problems which can get in the way of you buying a home. Here are some:

• A lost title

One of the major jobs of your conveyancer is to ensure the title on the home you’re purchasing is true and correct before it is transferred into your name, and then, that it is actually transferred into your name properly. If the title is lost, or the measurements of the property do not match those of the current title on the home, or there is discrepancy in the former owner’s name, then you may have some title issues. This is a job for your conveyancer to sort out, but it is something to keep in mind and ensure you ask your conveyancer how things are going with the title. Read all title documentation provided to you, check, re-check and triple-check your name on the new title and take note of all measurement details etc.

• Illegal structures that are not approved by council

This usually applies to extensions and things like pergolas and other structures that are attached or not attached to the home. Your conveyancer will often require you to make the purchase of the property conditional on the council clearance of these structures, if they exist. Or else, your conveyancer can write into the settlement contract that a lower price is to be negotiated to cover the cost of you pursuing the council approval of these structures at a later date. If you fail to recognise these structures and seek to have them approved you may not be able to sell the property at a later date and could incur all sorts of legal issues if the structure fails.

• Damaged property that is discovered after final inspection

This is a common pitfall of buying a new home. Regardless of whether your conveyancer writes into the contract what goods and chattels should remain with the home when it is sold, often times, people try to get away with taking things with them when they leave – i.e., washing lines, curtains and blinds, and even fixed equipment like dishwashers and inbuilt coffee machines etc. If this happens to you immediately contact your conveyancer. Your conveyancer will need to activate legal proceedings to ensure you receive what is rightly yours, or some compensation to the value of the missing or damaged property.

Be cautious and take notice of the little things. Property purchasing can be fraught with pitfalls, but if you get the process right, it is well worth the effort when you first cross the threshold as the owner of your own place!