If you are buying or selling a property in Queensland, it is highly recommended you engage the services of a Conveyancer. But why do you need one and what do they do? An experienced conveyancer will make the whole process as smooth as possible for you to ensure that the legal transfer of ownership is completed (correctly!) in a timely manner. The right conveyancer will save you headaches, money, and heaps of time. 

Save you headaches

Odds are, you aren’t experienced with the law and let’s face it, legal speak can be difficult to understand. This is one reason you need a conveyancer. When it comes to buying or selling a property, your conveyancer is engaged to act on your behalf and in your best interests, to make sure all the legal requirements are met to transfer ownership of the property. At LWA Solicitors, our team will ensure that you are aware of your legal rights and responsibilities throughout the whole process. This can avoid a myriad of legal headaches and streamline the transaction process for you. 

Save you money

When you are buying or selling property, the real estate agent is usually the one who draws up the contract. In Queensland, standardised REIQ contracts that are commonly used. It is important to note that the real estate agent acts for the seller, so they are working in the seller’s best interests not the buyers. 

Whether you are buying or selling, it is advantageous to get an experienced conveyancer to read over the contract prior to signing. At LWA Solicitors, we will peruse the contract for you prior to signing at no additional cost*. This way, you can be sure there are no nasty clauses, terms or special conditions hidden in the fine print that could potentially cost you money down the track. 

Additionally, you may require additional terms or special conditions that are more favourable, to be inserted into the contract. 

Transferring ownership is a legal process and there are government registration fees involved. All documentation must be completed correctly and lodged accordingly, if there are any errors or omissions the paperwork will need to be amended and re-lodged with the Land Titles Office. Mistakes can be very costly in this regard; hence an experienced conveyancer can save you money. 

Make sure you become the legal owner

The next reason you need a conveyancer is to make sure you become the legal owner of the property you just paid for! Your conveyancer will ensure you the legal owner of the property upon settlement and that all the relevant organisations are notified of the change (i.e., government departments, local councils, body corporates, rental agents, are notified of the change of ownership.

Save you time

Your conveyancer will check for any easements, caveats, or covenants over the property. Why is this important? Let’s say you wanted to build a shed on your property. You do the right thing and apply for a permit from the council only to find out that you aren’t allowed to build that shed because there is an easement that prevents you from building over pipes that the council may need access to. In the meantime, you’ve wasted hours of planning and filling out forms that could have been avoided, had you known about the easement in advance. 

Working with an experienced conveyancer at the time of purchase will ensure you are aware of these things before you sign on the dotted line and can avoid wasted time in the future. In addition, your conveyancer deals with many property purchases each week and knows exactly what to look for and where to look so it takes them a lot less time than it might take you to do all the appropriate searches.

Conclusion

Unless you are experienced with the transfer of property in Queensland and are willing to spend hours liaising with government departments, solicitors, councils, financial institutions, etc., you will probably require the services of a conveyancer. 

Book your FREE Conveyancing Call now to discuss your needs.

*Straight-forward residential Purchase/Sale contracts only