When you are starting to think about buying or selling your home, conveyancing might not be top of mind, but it is a critical step in the process. Choosing the right conveyancer can help enormously in taking the stress out of the legal side of property transactions. The most essential factors of how to choose a conveyancer are finding a conveyancer you can trust, who has the expertise to do what you need, and who has experience in the region your transaction takes place. This article will give you insight into how to assess these factors and pick the right conveyancer for your transaction.
What does a conveyancer do?
A property conveyancer handles all aspects of your transaction from a legal standpoint, facilitating a smooth transfer of ownership between buyer and seller. They also help you to understand the legal aspects of the transaction more clearly, allowing you to be fully informed throughout the process.
Facilitating the transaction
The primary role of a conveyancer is to work with the other party’s conveyancer to negotiate the contract and facilitate a smooth settlement period ending with the property being transferred from the seller to the buyer’s ownership legally.
There are several legal tasks that conveyancers will perform in the background as well as prompting and advising you on anything you need to do and the timeframe you need to do it to ensure that things move forward smoothly and without fuss.
Your conveyancer is also your legal representation, so they will be responsible for negotiating any special conditions into the contract on your behalf, and reviewing any special conditions put forward by the other party. In this vein, it is critical that your conveyancer is thoroughly informed about you, your plans for the property, any restrictions you are working with, and your expectations for the process so that they can bring that to the table.
Legal support with documents, contracts, and disclosures
In property transactions, there are a huge number of legal documents that you will need to understand. For buyers in particular, a lot of the documents that you will be presented with are for the purpose of increasing transparency and making sure that you are fully informed of all the potential challenges that will come with the home you are buying. Things like environmental disclosures, that outline natural disaster risks, and property disclosures that cover easements and potential government restrictions on your property.
Without the training, expertise, and time to go through the legal documents that will be provided in detail, it’s all too easy to miss important details which undermines the transparency that they are intended to provide and could lead you to pursue a property that actually is not a great fit for you, or that has issues that you were not aware of.
A great conveyancer will be critical in this process, as we can review provided documents and discuss with you anything that could be important, allowing you to have access to everything you need to make an informed decision.
For sellers as well, you are the ones required to provide this information which means pulling documents from government databases, liaising with local councils, and ensuring that the wording is legally precise and clear. Conveyancers will take this on as part of their role in the transition, so you can be assured that you are providing all the information you are required.
How do you choose the right conveyancer?
Because conveyancing is such a critical part of buying or selling a home, choosing the right conveyancer is going to have a huge impact on you. The right conveyancer will be able to expertly navigate the process, provide you with all the information you need, and make sure that everything goes smoothly and without unnecessary stress on you.
Choosing a conveyancer you can build trust with
Your conveyancer is your legal representative throughout this process, and they are also the filter through which a lot of legal information comes to you so trust is essential. Without a huge amount of time to decide, here are a few shorthand ways to ensure that trust is there right from the start:
Check reviews
Seeing great reviews for a conveyancer will help give you the social proof you need to put your trust in the right place. If there are a large number of reviews, that should help as well because it shows consistency. One final consideration is to read the reviews and see what past clients wanted to emphasise. It might be a great process, specific people, or above-and-beyond services, and all of these give an insight into what you can expect as a client.
Chat with a conveyancer before signing on
Finding a property conveyancing service that ticks all the boxes on paper can sometimes be different than actually working with them. Picking up the phone or writing an email beforehand can be a valuable way to sense check that everyone’s expectations are aligned right from the start and that you know who you are signing up with.
Choosing a conveyancer with the right expertise
With property transactions, experience counts for a lot. Whether it’s the type of property or the location, knowing the right steps to take and the unique challenges that come with transactions will help in creating a smooth and stress-free transaction.
Experience with the transaction type
Every type of property, from standalone homes to apartments and townhouses, off-the-plan builds, vacant land, and more, has its own unique legal quirks and specific standards. When you are choosing your conveyancer, you may not yet know exactly the type of transaction that you will be pursuing if you are a buyer but it is worth discussing the options that you are considering with your conveyancer to ensure that they have the right expertise to handle whatever property you end up pursuing.
Experience in the region
Conveyancing differs across Australia quite significantly. For example, conveyancing is different from Queensland to New South Wales in that contracts in Queensland become binding upon signing, while in New South Wales they only become binding after formal exchange. With the most major of these is the differences in qualification requirements across states. Picking a local conveyancer will ensure that you have someone with the right qualifications to complete your transaction.
Additionally, many city and regional councils have their own specific rules and requirements for conveyancing, as well as different conventions for things like environmental disclosures for areas that are more prone to things like flooding and bushfires. Finding local conveyancing services who are familiar with the particulars of conveyancing in your area will help things go smoother.
Choosing a conveyancer that fits your budget
The other major consideration for choosing the right conveyancer is finding out how much does a conveyancer cost, to discover what meets your needs at the right price. There are a couple of key things to look out for when comparing prices.
Pricing structures
Conveyancing can be priced in a few different ways but the most common two that you’re likely to see are hourly rate conveyancing and fixed fee conveyancing.
Hourly rate means that you pay for the hours that your conveyancers work on your property settlement, and it can be unclear until the transaction concludes what the final price will be. It also means that prices can balloon out with more complicated transactions.
Fixed-fee conveyancing means that the price is agreed upon upfront. This model provides a greater level of transparency during a time that for many people already has a lot of extra costs coming your way. With fixed-fee conveyancing, you can request a quote upfront with all the inclusions that your transaction will require, so you can compare prices accurately and make sure that you are getting everything you need for a price that you’re happy with.
Additional services
Part of assessing the price is assessing what comes included in that price, and what additional services you might need for your transaction. Things like a contract review and supplementary legal advice for wills and guarantors can be very handy, especially if they can be done by a firm that is already familiar with you and your property transaction.
