Hello, my name is Robin and I own a medium sized business which is based in a suburb of Perth, Australia. Many business owners do not understand the importance of commercial law on their operations. I know that I certainly didn't when I set out. At first, this wasn't an issue but as my business grew, I realised that if I didn't teach myself about the legal rules in place and seek expert help, I would find myself in serious trouble. I got in touch with a great law firm who helped me to understand exactly what I needed to know. I decided to start this blog to help other business owners.
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Buying or Selling a Property? 2 Key Things You Need to Know About Conveyancing
Daniel Young
When you are buying or selling a property such as a house, it is usually advisable to seek conveyancing services. Conveyancing is the legal process involved in transferring a property's ownership from one party to another. Among other benefits, conveyancing serves to make your purchase or sale of the property legally valid. While it's not a legal requirement in any property sale or purchase, it pays off to consider conveyancing whenever you are buying or selling your property. The transfer of ownership of a property often involves several stages and the process can be quite protracted. Therefore, to get through these stages, you need conveyancing services. Conveyancing can be done by a solicitor or conveyancer. If you have never used conveyancing services before, here are two major things you need to know about the process.
Costs
Knowing the cost of something is always crucial for budgetary concerns. With conveyancing, the costs are determined by the basic fee and disbursements. The basic fee will cover the time of the conveyancer or solicitor offering his or her services. Basic fees vary depending on the type of property you are buying or selling and the fee-calculation method used. First, your basic fee can be fairly high if you are selling or buying a leasehold rather than a freehold property. This is simply because transferring ownership of a leasehold property tends to involve more paperwork. If you are buying a new build, shared ownership, or buy to let (when your sole intention of buying the property is to rent it out) property, the basic fee may also be slightly higher than the normal.
A fixed-fee is what many solicitors or conveyancers may charge you. Others may charge an hourly rate but you need to be careful about this option because any irregularities in the conveyancing process can increase the costs. The last option, which is the most cost-effective, is the sliding scale method. With this option, solicitors or conveyancers will charge you based on the market selling or buying price of the property.
A solicitor or conveyancer will pass any costs they incur to you. These costs are collectively known as disbursements. Some of the common disbursements include bankruptcy searches, land registration fees, local authority searches, mortgage handling fees, and environmental searches. It's important that you find out from your conveyancer all the disbursements you will be liable for.
Exchange of Contracts
Exchanging contracts is a significant stage in the conveyancing process because once you exchange your contracts, which is often done on your behalf by your solicitor or conveyancer, it means you are in a legally binding contract to sell or buy the property. It is important to understand what this actually means. Once you exchange the contracts, you are legally required to complete the purchase. If you don't, you risk losing your deposit. If you are the seller, you have to complete the sale as well or the buyer could sue you. Last, make sure you agree on the price of the property before exchanging the contracts because any other offer won't be legally acceptable at this point.
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