FAQs

No. Our communications with you and all other persons involved in the transaction are conducted by phone and on-line.

When you engage us, we’ll book a video conference with you and go through questions about your property and your contract requirements. This conference will take about 45 minutes.

We’ll then quickly provide you with a written report, and a draft contract incorporating terms tailored to your circumstances.

We are required by law to attach certain documents to your contract, and always ensure that these are attached.

Our contract terms are otherwise intentionally simple and market standard.

You will benefit from a clear contract statement of seller and buyer rights and obligations, drafted to manage your risks and requirements in fair and reasonable terms.

We avoid overly complicated contract terms that could result in unnecessary time wasting negotiations with buyers and their lawyers.

Usual requirements under a sale contract generally include that:

• the buyer will on the contract date pay a deposit of 10% of the purchase price to a nominated trust account;
• a settlement date is agreed, commonly 42 days after the contract date;
• the buyer pays the balance of the purchase price on settlement, when title to the property is transferred;
• the buyer accepts the property in its current condition;
• the buyer agrees to an appropriate financial adjustment on the settlement date of council rates, water rates, land tax and any strata levies.

If your home has a swimming pool, safety laws require that the pool has to be registered with and inspected by your local council. The council will issue an occupation certificate or certificate of compliance if the pool satisfies safety regulations, and will issue a non-compliance certificate noting defects if the pool does not satisfy those regulations.

If you are selling a home with a swimming pool, the law requires that your contract attach a copy of the occupation certificate, certificate of compliance or certificate of non-compliance.

A certificate is not required to be attached if your property is a strata lot (in a block of more than 2 lots) and the pool is common property.

In certain circumstances the law requires that your contract attach copies of authority or insurance documents if residential building work has been carried out on your property.

We will ask you whether such work has been carried out and advise what (if any) documents in relation to that work must be attached to the contract.

If your property is leased to a tenant, we’ll ask all relevant details to ensure either that the tenant has vacated before settlement or (if the buyer lease is to continue after settlement) that the tenant has no further claims against you after settlement.

To manage risk and satisfy government requirements, you will sometimes need a pest and building report, survey report or swimming pool certificate.

We’ll help you find an experienced person to perform the required the report or certificate work.

We are used to dealing with one or more deceased sellers.

Normally, we’ll need a copy of probate or letters of administration.

If you don’t have these yet, no problem. We will help you through the process quickly.

We are required by law to identify each seller individually via a very formal process called verification of identity (VOI). Through this process we must view faces and confirm addresses with seller photo identification and other documents.

We can do this by video conference but, if that isn’t possible, we’ll provide you with information on how to obtain the required VOI from one of our identity agents.

A cooling off period of 5 to 10 days after the contract date applies for the sale of residential property in New South Wales. A buyer may rescind the contract without any reason during this period.

The cooling off right is waived if the buyer’s lawyer provides a “cooling off certificate” (also known as a section 66W certificate).

The cooling off right also doesn’t apply if the property is sold:

• by public auction,
• on the day it was offered for sale by public auction but passed in, or
• pursuant to the exercise of a valid option to purchase.

Your contract documents will be issued and signed online

So the contract can be reviewed or signed by you and the buyer anytime and anywhere.

Once the contract is finalised, we manage the online signature process via the DocuSign program which guarantees that the contract cannot be (accidentally or deliberately) altered before or after it is signed by you or the buyer.

Settlement of all sales in NSW occur via an online system called PEXA.

This system provides you the benefit of same-day receipt of sale proceeds.

We’ll need your written authority to operate this system on your behalf.

We offer a fixed fee conveyancing fee quote during your free initial consultation.

When we give this quote, you’re under no obligation to use us. But if you choose to use us then 50% of the fee is paid upfront, using a credit card or debit card.

The other 50% is paid on settlement, from settlement proceeds. You’ll pay this only if your property is sold.

In addition to our fees, there are third party charges (which we call “disbursements”) because:

• the government requires you to include certain land title documents and authority certificates in your sale contract,
• a buyer expects us to use the Law Society copyright printed sale conditions,
• we are obliged by law to have your identity verified in accordance with strict rules, and to conduct a company search if the property owner is a company, and
• when we get to settlement of your sale, authorities and banks impose charges on the processes of property transfer and registration

We will confirm the third party charges when we ascertain them. But to give you a rough idea in advance:

• for authority and Law Society certificates and documents, suppliers charge on average $300 – $400 for a house and $400 – $500 for an apartment,
• verification of identity service providers charge between $10 (if verification can be conducted online) and $100 (if the verification must be attended personally),
• if you own your home in a company name, company searches cost about $50, and
• property transfer and registration costs currently average about $300.