Selling Property
A Stacks/The Law Firm conveyancer can assist you with all aspects of the selling process, including the sale of residential, rural, strata property or a block of land.
In order to ensure the selling process is smooth, there are a number of steps you need to go through.
Contract Preparation
First of all you need to have a Contract of Sale. We will give you a Disclosure Statement to complete, which gives us the information we need to draft the Contract for you. We’ll organise the statutory searches that need to be done and attach them to the contract.
If you decide to use a real estate agent to sell the property for you, we will give them the contract, at which point the sales & marketing process can begin. It is not necessary to have a real estate agent, but it does often help a matter to progress more smoothly if there is one involved.
Once there are prospective buyers, we will answer any legal questions they have (usually via their solicitor) about the property. They may have reports and inspections done on the property, which are sometimes followed by requests for amendments to the contract, which we will negotiate for you.Normally the buyer will need to pay a 10% deposit of the purchase price to your real estate agent before they are committed to buy the property.
Property Exchange
Once the buyer is happy to proceed with the purchase, we will exchange contracts. The two contracts (one signed by you and the other signed by the buyer) are compared to make sure they are the same. Then the property is off the market!
A 5-day cooling-off period follows the contract exchange. This gives the buyer a chance to change their mind. If they decide not to go ahead with the purchase, you retain 0.25% of the deposit they paid. They receive the balance and can walk away from the sale. At this time you will need to let your lender (if relevant) know that you have sold your property and give them a signed discharge authority.
Section 66W Certificate
You may decide you want the cooling off period to be waived. The buyer’s Conveyancer will then have to sign a document called a Section 66W Certificate, which basically means they have explained to the buyer that there is no cooling off period.
Settlement
This is the day the buyer becomes the actual owner of the property or land. We will attend the settlement and make sure the balance of the money owing is received. And the sale is complete.
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