When you buy a house or unit and have Bellco Law manage the conveyance, we will:

• Review the contract to advise of your obligations and rights. If you engage us before, we will review and provide advice on the contract and prudent changes to make to further strengthen your rights and obligations.
• Identify and notify you of key dates and raise any issues in the contract.
• Discuss searches with you, and conduct searches into the property to ensure there are no issues with title or the seller.
• Liaise with your bank and the other party’s legal representative.
• Keep you informed throughout
• Calculate the final settlement adjusted figure to be paid
• Arrange settlement to occur.

In a legal context, and in standard contracts, ‘time is of the essence’ is a statement that requires parties to complete their obligations on time. In other words, it means that timing is material to performance. Standard contracts include “time is of essence” by default.

For conditions in a standard contract, such as payment of the deposit, notification of finance or notification of building and pest, it means that these (or other conditions) are required to be complied with by 5pm on the due date.

A ‘off the plan’ contract is a type of contract parties enter into when a parcel of land or a lot in a unit scheme has not yet been established. Commonly these are between buyers and developers for projects yet to be built.

Off the plan contracts are commonly bespoke contracts and differ from project to project and developer to developer. There are certain statutory requirements that govern ‘off the plan’ contracts however these are quite different to the statutory requirements that govern standard contract.

Careful consideration and review of ‘off the plan’ contracts is required before executing.

It is a statutory provided right of 5 business days in standard contracts for buying homes (residential conveyancing). This means if you’re not totally happy, you can cancel the contract during this time.

Certain instances can apply though where the cooling off period does not apply. It can also be shortened by agreement.

In standard contracts for buying homes (residential conveyancing) risk in a property will ‘transfer’ to the buyer immediately after the contract date. This means that a buyer needs to organise insurance for the property straight away even though the property may still be subject to conditions and not settled.

A buyer’s risk to the property is mainly related to major events out of the control of the seller, such as fire, hail, storms, acts out of the control of the seller etc.

Notwithstanding the ‘transfer’ of risk in a property to a buyer, a seller still has contractual responsibility and obligations to take reasonable care of the property until settlement.

Transfer duty (or stamp duty) is a tax that is paid to the Government upon a transfer of ownership of a property. It is payable by a buyer of a property and the amount to be paid is dependent upon the status and intention of the buyer and the price of the property.

Bellco Law can assist in determining the amount of transfer duty to be paid and any applicable concessions or exemptions.

In standard contracts for buying homes, insurance should be taken out by a buyer straightaway and despite any contract still being subject to conditions. Commonly, and as part of any finance application by a buyer, a bank will require a copy of a insurance policy for the full replacement value of the property.

This is a form that confirms that your pool complies with the pool safety standard at the time it was checked by a pool safety inspector. Pool safety certificates are valid for either 1 year (for shared pools) and 2 years (for non-shared pools).

Pool safety certificates are required when someone is selling a property, buying a property or renting (leasing) a property.

Also commonly referred to as guarantor advice certificate or legal advice certificate, a independent legal advice certificate is often required by a Bank / Lender to confirm the borrower  or guarantor to the loan has received independent legal advice and has understood the potential liabilities and risks involved.