What it is, and where we’re up to
Nobody explains this part, so we will.
Conveyancing is the legal work that moves a property out of one name and into yours. We have announced our own and it isn’t running, so the useful thing this page can do is tell you what the work actually is.
You should never sign something you can’t explain back to me in your own words.
What a conveyancer actually does
Between the day you sign and the day you get the keys, somebody has to read the contract properly and order the searches that tell you what the council and the water authority know about the place. They check the seller owns what they say they own, work out who owes what for rates on the settlement date, and lodge the transfer so the title ends up in your name.
That is conveyancing. It is not exciting and it is not optional, and the reason first home buyers find it nerve-racking is that nearly all of it happens out of sight while you wait. Ask for the searches to be sent to you as they come back, and ask what each one says.
The short version
- Our own conveyancing
- Announced, not yet open
- What this page is
- An explanation, not a service
- Languages
- Hazargi, English and Urdu
- Who to call
- Mehr on 0474 189 561
What happens between signing and keys
Roughly this order, whoever ends up doing the work.
Before you sign
The contract gets read
Ideally by someone acting for you and not for the seller. Special conditions are where the surprises live. In Victoria the seller also has to give you a statement about the property before you sign, and it is worth reading with someone who knows what tends to be missing from one.
Once it’s signed
The searches go out
Certificates from the council, the water authority, the land titles office and others depending on the property. They come back with things you would never have thought to ask about: an easement running across the back, rates left unpaid, an owners corporation with rules of its own.
Before settlement
The numbers get adjusted
Rates, water and any owners corporation fee get split between you and the seller against the settlement date, so you pay from the day it is yours and not before. You will be sent a statement showing that arithmetic. Read it, and ask if a line does not make sense.
On the day
Settlement happens without you
It is done electronically between the lawyers and the banks. Money moves, the title transfers, and somebody rings to say you can collect the keys. Most people are at work when it happens, which is a strange way to become an owner.
The questions people actually ask
Do I have to use a conveyancer?
Somebody has to do this work. It can be a conveyancer or a solicitor, and it should be someone acting for you rather than for the person selling.
Can you do mine?
Not yet. We have announced it and it is not operating. What we can do today is sit with the contract, translate what it says and mark the parts you should be putting to your conveyancer.
What is a cooling off period?
In Victoria a private sale usually comes with a short window after signing when a buyer can pull out, and there is a cost to using it. Auctions are the main exception. Ask about it before you sign, not after.
When should I sort this out?
Before you sign, not after. If you are looking now, choose your conveyancer now, so that when a contract lands you are not picking one in a hurry on a Sunday night.
More in what we do
Including the parts that are running today, which is most of them.
Bring us the contract.
It does not matter who is doing the conveyancing. We will sit down and go through the contract with you, in the language you would rather read it in.
Call Mehr on 0474 189 561