At Sydney Law & Property we understand that buying or selling property is perhaps one of the most stressful yet exciting financial decisions. That’s why our competitive conveyancing fees are fixed to give you peace of mind whilst undertaking one of your biggest financial transactions.

BUYING A PROPERTY

During the transaction, we will look after your interests, we will either make or recommend all the necessary enquiries about the property and advise you and see to the transfer of ownership to you.

It usually takes 42 days after the date contracts are exchanged to complete the contract by handing over the money and taking possession of the property.

Before you sign the contract you need to make sure that your finance is approved and that you are aware of the condition of the property and are happy with the property that you intend to purchase.

Prior to exchange or during the cooling off period a number of searches need to be undertaken to ensure no government department or local authority has any claim against the land and that all rates and taxes have been paid. Our usual searches include:

• Council and Water Rates;

• RMS to ensure it has no proposals for acquisition of land or proposals to realign an existing road or require such land for a toll way;

• Department of Education and Communities inquiry to ensure it has no proposals to acquire the whole or part of the land;

• Rail Corporation NSW inquiry to ensure that it has no proposal for acquisition of the whole or any part of the land or an interest in the land;

• Endeavour Energy to ensure that there are no exisiting rights or interest in the land or approved proposals which would affect title to the land;

• Transgrid inquiry to ensure that there are no existing rights or interests in the land or any Transgrid Board approved proposals which would affect title to land; and

• Land tax to ensure that there is no outstanding land tax owing on the land prior to settlement, otherwise you as the new legal owner of the property would become liable to pay.

Before purchasing a property on which a swimming pool is situated, a purchaser is strongly advised to ensure that the swimming pool complies with the requirements of the Swimming Pools Act 1992.

SELLING A PROPERTY

Before you can advertise your property for sale, a Contract for Sale of Land with the prescribed documents must be prepared and be available for inspection by prospective purchasers. Once we have prepared the Contract we will forward it to the agent to commence marketing the property and we will also forward a draft copy to you.

The Contract for sale for a Torrens title property must include the following documents:

• A section 149 certificate (unless the land is not within a local government area) for the lot;

• A diagram for the land from a recognised sewerage authority (if available from the authority in the ordinary course of administration) that purports to show the location of the authority’s sewer in relation to the land;

• (a) a property certificate, and

(b) a copy of a plan for the land;

• Copies of all deeds, dealings and other instruments lodged or registered that are shown on the property certificate for the lot;

• If the contract relates to land on which there is situated a swimming pool, a copy of one of the following in respect of the swimming pool:

(a) a valid certificate of compliance, or

(b) a relevant occupation certificate, or

(c) a valid certificate of non-compliance.

An owner of a property on which a swimming pool is situated must ensure that the pool complies with the requirements of the Swimming Pools Act 1992 . Penalties apply.

Once a buyer is found and the buyer’s offer meets your requirements a holding deposit is taken. We will then complete the contract and any additional special conditions (for example, you may require that the contract is completed prior to the standard 42 days), have the parties sign and exchange contracts and ensure the deposit has been paid.