Samantha Martin
19 Oct 12
There are many things to consider when selling your home or investment property. We have prepared a series of videos with the types of specialists you will need to use when selling your property. In this video, we talk with Josh Bignell, a partner at RMB Lawyers, experts in property conveyancing. RMB is the oldest legal firm in the Illawarra, and help in excess of 1,000 people each year with their property transactions.
Perry: Welcome Josh.
Josh: Thank you, Perry.
Perry: Josh, what are the important legal considerations you need to take in account if you’re selling a home?
Josh: The three most important things that we have in selling a property are preparing the contract for the estate agent, considering the vendor disclosure obligations under the act and then also thinking about logistic issues that every vendor faces in selling their home.
Perry: Okay… so, why is the contract so important?
Josh: Well the contract is crucial. The estate agent cannot start marketing and showing people through the property until the contract is there in the estate agent’s office. The contract under the act talks about a number of vendor disclosure items, which every seller must give to a prospective purchaser.
Perry: Okay. Josh, with regard to the contract, what is needed to set up that contract or create the contract?
Josh: It can be as quick as a 5 minute phone conversation with us over the phone in gathering some instructions and then preparing the contract and having that to the estate agent within 24 hours.
Perry: Okay. Now you mentioned disclosures, what are disclosures?
Josh: The disclosures under the act are very specific. They talk about there being a need for a contract which has mandatory disclosures in there talking about the title of the property, information from council, and then Sydney Water. But the second part of the Act then goes on to say what is the vendor aware of with the property, with a number of issues that us lawyers will never be aware of until we have the discussion with the actual seller. Those disclosures can range from legal issues with neighbors, problems with fencing, tree issues, and issues with council. The most common one that we see though is improvements added to the property without council consent, whether it be a pool, pergola, some sort of awning which require consent from council. If we disclose that in a contract, then the vendor complies with the act. If they don’t, then they could be sued by the purchaser at a later stage.
Perry: Okay, so it is very important that they disclose everything about that property.
Josh: It’s crucial
Perry: You mentioned logistics, what are the logistics in selling a home?
Josh: The primary one is getting the contract from the point where the offer has been accepted to the point of exchange, the contract is being signed and formalized. From there, we have got probably a 6 week process when we run through a number of logistic issues such as when do we settle, pay money back to the bank and most importantly having money transferred and paid into the seller’s bank account.
Perry: Thank you Josh, thank you for sharing your expertise today.
So the important things you need to consider if you’re selling a home is making sure you have a contract prepared, making sure that everything about your property is disclosed, and then understanding what is going to occur in the actual sale of the home from exchanging or signing of the contract through to settlement.
Perry: Thank you, Josh.
Josh: Thank you, Perry.
Thanks for watching this video. Another in the series to help you with your property decision. My name is Perry Beebe, and we’ll talk again soon.