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Using your lawyer

We advise all purchasers to use their lawyer when buying real estate.

While estate agents, "buyer's agents", conveyancers, and a variety of others may offer advice, only the lawyer is qualified and licensed to offer true representation and legal advice to purchasers of real estate.

	Are lawyers expensive?
	Pre-contract advice
	Preparing your offer
	Handling a counter-offer
	Conveyancing
	After the settlement

Buying and selling with Lawyers Real Estate

Are lawyers expensive?

A loss-prevention strategy

If a lawyer charges a purchaser $800, but goes on to save them $1,000's, the purchaser will regard the $800 legal fee a good investment. The problem is that it can be difficult to quantify the savings attributable to the use of a lawyer. Look at it this way, we know that advising children to "look to the left, then look to the right" before crossing the road saves lives, but we can't really quantify the actual number of lives saved.

Fixing problems is costly

It is just not worth forgoing good legal advice, because when something goes wrong in a legal transaction the costs associated in rectifying it will always far exceed the costs of preventative advice.

Don't compare with conveyancers

Many purchasers make the mistake of comparing the cost of a lawyer with the cost of a conveyancer. Given that conveyancers are strictly limited as to the extent of the legal assistance they can offer, there is simply no comparison at all. It is more a matter of either paying for legal assistance, or paying for clerical assistance with a partly legal component.

Using a lawyer is good for everyone

We recommend that all purchasers of property should enlist the services of a lawyer for two reasons:

	We are able to fulfil our ethical responsibility to the purchaser by ensuring that the purchaser is well advised and protected; and
	We are able to fulfil our responsibility to our vendor client by ensuring that the purchaser is well-informed and therefore less likely to have a "change of heart" later.

In other words, keeping the purchaser happy is good for the purchaser, good for the vendor, and good for business.

Pre-contract advice

Most purchasers have questions that relate to the meaning and effect of the contract, and it is important that these are answered BEFORE the contract is signed. Also important, are matters that the purchaser may not be aware of. Obviously, it is impossible for a purchaser to ask questions about matters that they are not aware of.

It is the role of the lawyer, not only to answer the questions a purchaser asks, but also to anticipate the issues that are likely to arise in a particular transaction, and to provide the purchaser with information and advice about these.

By showing the section 32 vendor's statement and the contract to a qualified lawyer, a purchaser is able to find out more about what appears in these documents, and to discover what should be in them but is not.

Preparing the offer

In order to make a formal offer, a purchaser will be required to complete a contract of sale, and submit it to the vendor for acceptance. If the vendor accepts the offer, a binding contract results. It is in the purchaser's best interests to ensure that the offer is properly prepared, and takes into account the purchaser's specific needs and circumstances.

The purchaser's lawyer will check the section 32 vendor's statement, and determine whether there are any factors that require special consideration. The purchaser's lawyer will then ensure that special conditions are inserted into the contract to protect the purchaser.

Sometimes existing terms and conditions in a contract may not suit a purchaser, and these may have to be negotiated on the purchaser's behalf. The purchaser's lawyer will take care to ensure that the negotiations are conducted in such a way as the maximise the likelihood of the purchaser's offer remaining acceptable to the vendor, while affording protection for the purchaser.

Handling a counter-offer

Those who have bought or sold real estate in the past will have noticed that estate agents often prepare and execute the contract of sale. This procedure is quite improper, as an estate agent acts for the vendor, and a conflict of interest arises. There is also a conflict of interest when the lawyer who acts for the vendor is asked to complete the contract on behalf of a purchaser.

While it is not difficult for a purchaser to complete the contract and to submit it as a formal offer, all purchasers are strongly advised to obtain independent legal advice, and to have their lawyer assist them in this task.

Conveyancing

The offer is submitted by delivering the completed contract of sale to our office. A purchaser can do this by:

	Delivering it to our office in person;
	Sending it to us by post, email or fax; or
	Having their lawyer send it to us by post, email or fax.

After the settlement

We do not require payment of the deposit at the time an offer is submitted. The obligation to pay a deposit only arises when an offer is accepted, resulting in a binding contract.

When a purchaser's lawyer assists in the completion of the purchaser's offer, consideration will be given to the amount of the deposit payable (usually 10% of the purchase price), and the time it will take to obtain and pay the deposit.

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