FAQ
Answering all your conveyancing questions
in words that actually make sense
What is conveyancing?
Conveyancing is the legal transfer of ownership from one party to another. It is a complex process, with many moving parts. From before signing a contract of sale, right through to the settlement (and beyond), it is soo important to choose a law firm that will look after you, communicate to keep you up to date, and be by your side throughout the entire process.
It can be overwhelming, which is why you must do your research and pick a conveyancing team that has a five star reputation. Furthermore, buying or selling a home is often the biggest transaction someone will deal with in their life – making it all the more important to choose an experienced conveyancing firm that’s on your team!
Whilst technically you can represent yourself when buying or selling property in Queensland, we would never recommend someone attempt this – instead invest in choosing a trusted conveyancing team to protect you and guide you.
What does a conveyancer do?
In Queensland, a conveyancer represents either the buyer or the seller in a property transaction. There are many tasks that occur as part of the conveyancing process. Some of the main tasks include:
– Checking over the contract before signing the contract and negotiating special conditions and timeframes.
– Diarising critical dates and educating clients on what each milestone date means, what the legal implications are, and ensuring their clients rights are protected along the way.
– Communicating with the real estate agents throughout the entire transaction and keeping the agent up to date
– Liaising with the banks to either help release the mortgage for a sale, or arrange settlement funds for a purchase.
– Helping to navigate building & pest (if applicable) – helping the clients understand their legal obligations and educating and advising around the law for this condition. Also assisting with negotiations if building & pest issues occur.
– Preparing the transfer of land legal documentation that will be transacted as a part of the settlement.
– Ensuring the owner is advised regarding any tenants in the property – explaining the legalities of whether a tenant needs to be out of the property, timeframes etc.
– Attending to the removal of any caveats, mortgages etc – ensuring the Title is free of any encumbrances.
– Ordering searches – with council, the water company, body corporate, land tax and any other relevant searches for the property.
– Stamping the contract – advising and actioning the payment of transfer duty owing the QLD Government.
– Preparing the settlement statement – this is the adjustments for settlement for rates, water, land tax, body corporate, purchase price, deposits paid, etc to land on an exact figure that will be used to settle the property.
– Ensuring after settlement, all relevant authorities are contacted and any tasks finalised – i.e council rates, water authority bills paid, body corporate levies, land tax, etc.
As you can see, there is a lot of things happening here. This is why its soo important to pick a good conveyancer! Missing a deadline (by even one minute) could cost you your deposit, the deal falling over, and even getting sued for any losses suffered!
What is a Buyers Agent?
A buyer’s agent, like the name suggests, is an agent (representative) that works exclusively for the buyer. Buyers agents advocate for their clients, and help them to take away the stress of searching for properties, attending open homes, and then negotiating to secure a property to buy. A common problem that a buyers agent solves is eliminating the buyer needing to attend open home after open home weekend after weekend, without being able to secure a property.
Often, time poor individuals or those not confident to negotiate with a sellers agent will engage a buyers agent to help them find and secure a property. The buyers agent will advocate on your behalf to get you a competitive price for the property, and ensure it is a good fit for your needs/budget.
Good buyers agents often have a large network of sellers agents that they speak with to find properties that are “off market” (not yet advertised to the public), and are usually suburb or area specialists.
It is also becoming increasingly popular for first home buyers to engage a buyers agent – to obtain guidance and support throughout their buying journey.
What does a buyers agent cost?
There are usually several ways a buyers agent gets paid. Engaged by the buyer, a buyers agent is usually paid on either: a percentage of the purchase price, or a fixed fee.
It is common for a buyers agent to request an upfront deposit, and until they get paid, they do not commence work. Once paid the deposit, they will get a brief on what their client is looking for, and begin research to find a property.
Traditionally buyers agents get paid upon the contract becoming unconditional.
Can you give me advice on my Building and Pest Report?
Conveyancers in Queensland will definitely help their clients with the legalities of how to navigate the Building & Pest condition of a contract, as it is part of their role to educate and represent the client throughout the entire conveyance.
Often clients will find that after receiving their Building & Pest report, there are issues highlighted in the report that the inspector has uncovered. We are not experts in the actual Building or Pest inspection – that is why you engage and pay for a qualified inspector.
We always suggest clients to go back to their inspector to understand the costs/impact/severity of any issues that are uncovered, and then of course we will assist to help you negotiate and ensure you are protected legally!
Can I come to your office and speak to someone in person?
Absolutely. We have three office locations – Spring Hill in the Brisbane CBD, Manly on Brisbane’s Bayside, and Bundall on the Gold Coast. All sites have parking available, and we encourage any clients that wish to come in for a face-to-face meeting to book in to one of our offices (whichever is most convenient) to come and get support.
We do not charge any extra for attending the office, and all of our offices have qualified witnesses that can assist with documentation signing and witnessing. In fact, we do not bill any extra for additional emails or phone calls – making our pricing competitive and giving our clients the peace of mind that they will not be charged extra to speak with us or ask any extra questions.
What is REIQ?
REIQ stands for Real Estate Institution of Queensland, and is Queensland’s peak real estate governing body (for over 100 years). The REIQ has standardised contracts for the purchase and sale of property in Queensland, and is the most common contracts that is seen for property transactions across the state.
The REIQ offers memberships, where members (usually Queensland real estate agents) gain access to training, advocacy and advice. The REIQ works to improve the property industry and works to advocate government policy reform.
The REIQ has a member & client base of almost 30,000 property professionals. This includes: principal licensees, salespeople, property managers, auctioneers, business brokers, buyers’ agents, residential complex managers, & commercial and industrial agents in Queensland.
Fun fact: the QLD real estate sector collectively directly employs over 46,000 people – which is the State’s second largest sector!
When do I need to insure the property?
For buyers, on a standard REIQ Contract, the property becomes at the risk of the buyers from 5.00pm on the next business day after contract has been signed.
Therefore, it is important that a buyer quickly insures the property, to make sure their interests are protected. We advise our clients immediately to obtain insurance over the property, to protect their interests. Some insurers will allow a 30 day cover note, allowing you to amend/cancel the policy without penalty.
When selling, despite the purchaser’s legal obligation to have the property insured, we always suggest all of our clients maintain insurance over the property. Until the conveyance is complete, it is still the vendor’s asset, and it should be
protected until settlement is complete. For the sake of an extra 30 days of payment of an insurance policy, you can he the peace of mind that your asset is protected.
Note that for non-REIQ contracts, the insurance clauses are usually bespoke – and should be checked every time to make sure you are protected and not at risk
