Is a Conveyancer necessary?

firstbuild90 · Jul 16, 2016 12:17 pm

We are signing a land contract in a few days and have been debating whether or not to have a conveyancer look it over. We have been referred to one that's apparently really thorough. There's a fixed fee of $650. We are already tight on the budget for our house and land and don't want to spend $650 if it's not necessary. Since we are FHB we're unsure whether or not to fork out the money for one.......

My partner and I have both looked over the contract several times and found some things that are questionable and will discuss it with the land developer before signing. Ultimately if we don't sign the contract someone else will.....

Edit to add: We have went with the conveyancers services. Thanks everyone for your advice!

I didn't know they offer so much more. Initially I thought we were paying $650 to have someone just look over the contract.

Sammy74 · Jul 16, 2016 11:34 pm

I think it's important to have a conveyancer as they will work out all the legalities for you. As well as read over the contracts before you sign.

SileNceR · Jul 16, 2016 11:51 pm

A conveyancer makes the whole process much easier. Worth the money IMO and ours was dearer than $650.

jas0nt · Jul 17, 2016 2:27 am

Depends, are you willing to accept all the risk if things go sour? If not then the price of a conveyancer is peanuts for peace of mind.

charlibear · Jul 17, 2016 9:22 am

For peace of mind I was happy to pay for my conveyancer, I also didn't have the time to do my own and would have overlooked something for sure. Also my conveyancer was double what you are going to pay so I think that is a pretty good price your paying if you choose to do so.

GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
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whitefresh · Jul 17, 2016 9:49 am

$650 is cheap, we paid over $900

Sizz_G39 · Jul 17, 2016 10:09 am

I'd strongly recommend having a conveyancer .... I was initially a bit sceptical as well but glad a went with it .. They do a lot more than just review contract , organise all legal documents, organise ID check , apply duty concessions etc ..None of which I was aware ... Getting one of this wrong might mean a lot of issues later ... U might still be able to get ur contract reviewed if u have a few days .. Certain developers contracts are pretty standard so the conveyances know what they are looking for.

Glendale 39 build
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Dreambuild12 · Jul 17, 2016 10:33 am

Just pay the money. In the grand scheme of things $650 is nothing. You will have reassurance that everything is correct and you would be surprised with the amount of questions you will need them to answer.

When the build starts you may be on a tight budget, however you are going to need to have some type of contingency fund as things are going to pop up that cost a lot more than $650.

JayaJaya · Jul 17, 2016 10:50 am

Short answer is no - qualifier is that you have to then be responsible and do all the searches and everything yourself.
You really need to be familiar with all the requirements, do all the calculations on days in the year of ownership for Emergency services levy, and any other services charged to the land.
Then there is all the chasing around, payments of land title register etc. If you pay a conveyancer, you give them one cheque and they disburse all payments on your behalf.

Quite frankly, depending on where you are, your time and petrol money can easily take up a third of what you pay a conveyancer... then it doesn't look so bad dollar wise, really, and you are guaranteed that all legal obligations have been met.

A good conveyancer also throws in good advice, checks for anything 'unusual', in your contract, and will happily advise or help in any other small sundry matter, like confusions in billing that can happen with lot numbers etc.

We have used the same conveyancers four/five times now, and I wouldn't trade them for mounds of gold. They have saved me more than I've spent on them.

Megera · Jul 17, 2016 2:03 pm

I agree with everyone else, a conveyancer is worth the price (ours was also around $650).
Money was tight for us too but as far as we were concerned it wasn't an optional extra (ditto with the private inspector).

aloenyx · Jul 17, 2016 7:08 pm

As a FHB I wouldn't be without one. It's not so much the signing contract stage where I found them useful, but at settlement time. My settlement went off without a hitch thanks to my conveyancer and broker. $650 is cheap, my total conveyancing costs were about $1400. $246 upfront and the balance at settlement.

shellby · Jul 17, 2016 7:49 pm

I did my own for buying my own block of land. The cheapest I could get in town was $1,400 and like you I was on a budget. I used a online DIY software type thing called - Quicklaw - once I paid for the software which takes you step by step what you need to do, what searches etc to do and how to do the calculations and then paid for searches and outsourced my stamping so it would be done quickly it cost me about $350.

I'm now using it again to do my own conveyancing for the sale of my home and again its been great and pulls up issues to look for and other bits. Again its going to cost me about $350 as I needed to get searches etc done again for the sale contract.

They also have providers for different parts if you can't do it yourself so you can outsource the lot if you get stuck and they will pay the $139 you paid for the service towards a conveyancer or just pay for services you need. I needed my transfer stamped within a week and if I did it myself it would take a month, so I paid the extra and had it done within a week with a solicitor in Sydney who provided the stamping services for the software, was worth it.

BTW I have no connections to this company etc just a very happy customer who used the service.

mzjska · Jul 17, 2016 8:56 pm

What state are you in firstbuild90?

Craigasaurus · Jul 17, 2016 9:02 pm

We are fhb and spent about $2g on legals. Worth it though. We hadn't budgeted quite that much but after having a settlement go sour and trying to get shafted by an agent we wouldn't go without one.

firstbuild90 · Jul 18, 2016 12:48 pm

mzjska

What state are you in firstbuild90?

VIC

Bobbin · Jul 18, 2016 3:05 pm

I'm a lawyer and I would still use one!

Too many things can go wrong with the paperwork and if you use a conveyancer you have someone to blame if it does!

Charley · Jul 18, 2016 10:08 pm

I used a solicitor, wouldnt risk it and he actually found a couple of errors one being the land size!

JayaJaya · Jul 27, 2016 10:46 pm

Wow, Shellby, that's way over the top $1400 - sheesh! I would have done it myself, too. I paid our conveyancer $600, back in 2004 , and this year I paid them $750. I'm in an Adelaide suburb, though. I guess they have you over a barrel in the 'country' areas.
Can you always be sure that that software is up to date for your state, though? Obviously some things don't change.
Our conveyancers advice on unusual clauses, timing, insurances, billing and what all have been invaluable though.
I've even rung them out of the blue with no business on hand, just for advice and they are sooo helpful - no extra charge, either.
You don't get years of knowledge like that when you do it - you never know when something d©dgy or unusual will crop up. And your conveyancer is insured against mistakes etc.
Having said that, there's no real reason why you can't - it's just peace of mind.

Beazley77 · Jul 27, 2016 10:54 pm

Just because you're in a rural area doesn't mean it can't all be done by email and post. I don't even see my conveyancer when I buy

arcachon · Jul 27, 2016 11:10 pm

So if you do it yourself it still costs around $350? I reckon if your spending many hundred $k on a house then go the extra $300 for an expert to handle the legal help on the process.