Buying A Residential Property
Residential Flat Rate
$495-Buying including VOI
*plus any Form 1 costs if required
Three Step Process
Step 1: When you are buying a property contact your real estate agent, tell them that you will be using Ezy-As Conveyancing as your conveyancer. Give them our phone number and email address. The agent will forward a copy of the contract, searches and a story sheet with the important information such as contact details for all involved parties.
If it is a private sale (and so no real estate agent involved), go to step 2 or refer to the private sale page.
Step 2: Complete the Authority to Act (FORM for vendor (seller); FORM for purchaser (buyer). Additional information will be needed if it is a private sale.
Step 3: We will draft the memorandum of transfer and other papers. Sign the documentation in front of an authorised witness. See Verification of Identity.
The specific conveyancing services Ezy-As provides include:
- Reviewing the contract before you sign,
- Searching the certificate of title to ensure proper ownership,
- Searching with government departments and local authorities for anything affecting the property,
- Advising on the statutory disclosure statement (referred to as a Form 1),
- Compliance with all special conditions and time limits,
- The preparation, certification and stamping of documentation,
- Liaising with your proposed lenders and financiers,
- Calculation of adjustments of rates and taxes,
- Preparation of settlement statements,
- Properly accounting for all monies expended or held in trust; and
- Attendance at settlement on your behalf.
Use the Button to see a detailed description of the Ezy-As Dervices
- Take initial instructions from Purchaser and advise Purchaser to get insurance cover immediately
- Send letter of engagement to client to sign and on return, formally open matter and set up file
- Carefully peruse the contract, Form 1 and any ancillary documents
- Ensure purchaser is getting the correct property – e.g. client signed plan for land or community/strata property
- Obtain appropriate statutory searches. Check contract and Form 1 against searches. Get instructions if appropriate
- Diarise date conditions due and settlement date
- Ascertain if Property to be owner occupied or for investment purposes
- Consider if client needs GST or other tax, legal or professional advice and obtain instructions
- Ascertain if there are any stamp duty concessions available to client
- Ascertain if Purchaser is a first home buyer
- Ascertain the manner in which joint Purchasers are to hold the Property
- Confirm conditions of contract are fulfilled by parties by the due dates
- Ensure that any encumbrance on the title is dealt with appropriately & get purchaser sign off that they understand
- Confirm finance arrangements with Purchaser and deal accordingly with Lender
- Obtain ACN from ASIC for any corporation
- Prepare Transfer and any other required documents (eg Applications)
- Send copy of Transfer to lender for preparation of Mortgage documents
- Arrange for Purchaser to sign Transfer
- Do trust account reconciliation calculations
- Send settlement statement to Purchaser requesting balance of funds
- Receive funds from Purchaser and bank into trust account
- Receive cheque details from Vendor’s Conveyancer
- Send Transfer to Vendor’s Conveyancer so they can prepare Page 2 of the Transfer
- Confirm amount to be provided by Lender at settlement
- Advise Purchaser to liaise with Agent to arrange collection of keys after settlement
- Advise Purchaser to arrange for utilities and telephone to be put in Purchaser\\\\\\\’s name
- Order SA Water special meter reading certificate
- Adjust rates and taxes and any community or strata levy
- Prepare Purchaser\\\\\\\’s settlement statement
- Calculate cheques required for settlement
- Advise cheque details to Lender
- Book settlement with Vendor’s Conveyancer and Lender
- Stamp and certify Transfer
- Draw bank cheques from trust account (if required) for settlement
- Check search Certificate of Title immediately before settlement if a Lender is not involved
- Attend and complete settlement at Lands Titles Office
- Advise Purchaser by telephone of completion of settlement
- Confirm settlement has taken place with the Purchaser
- Confirm Vendor’s Conveyancer has paid rates and taxes unpaid at settlement
- Do trust account journal entries and reconcile
- Prepare final account for fees & trust account statement and send to client if there are any changes required to the original settlement statement
- Check search Certificate of Title to confirm registration of Transfer
Form 1 Property Details
Section 7 Statement (Form 1): This is a formal statement by the vendor about certain details relating to the property under the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994.
opinion for the purchaser(s) to reimburse the Vendor or pay for their own additional searches.A cooling off right is linked to the time of service.
Consulting a Ezy-As about the contents of the statement will ensure that you are aware of various details affecting the property.
Special Conditions: Ezy-As will offer independent advice on special conditions that should be included in the Contract for your protection (e.g. subject to finance condition so that you don’t need to proceed if you don’t get approval for the required loan ).
If you consult Ezy-As before you sign the Contract or lose any cooling off rights, you will be guided through the process and informed about what you can expect.
Cooling Off
Most purchasers have a statutory right to terminate a Contract cool off).
A purchaser exercising that right must give written notice of the Cooling off to the vendor (seller) within two clear business days after the later of both:
- receiving a complete and accurate Form 1
- entering into the Contract.
Not all buyers of property have the right to cool off. There is no cooling off right if:
- the buyer has waived the right by getting independent legal advice and has a certificate from the legal practitioner to that effect,
- the buyer has bid at auction and was successful or purchased later that day,
- the buyer is a company,
- in certain circumstances where the sale involves a tender or option to purchase
- the buyer is buying a business as well as the property
Form 1 must be available for inspection at the agents office at least 3 business days before the auction and at the place of auction at least 30 minutes before the auction starts.
The buyer is bound by the Contract from the time that your offer is accepted.
Unless you legally cool off, you are must try to fulfill the special conditions and finalise the settlement. There are financial consequences for you (including default interest and even loss of deposit and payment of the difference in price on resale) if you fail to comply with the terms of the Contract.
Insurance
The property is at your risk from the time of completing the contract, so you should insure the property as soon as possible.
Your lender will require a copy of the insurers Certificate of Currency with the lenders interest noted before providing funds to settle.
Title Insurance: For a single premium, Title insurance protects against claims for various unknown and disclosed risks that threaten ownership and use (including structures) of the property until its resale.
Building & Pest inspections
Building, pest or other inspections should be undertaken and completed as soon as possible. This should be done before or during the cooling off period; if it may not happen within that time, you should make the Contract subject to a satisfactory inspection report.
Conveyancing Costs
Costs may vary depending on the nature of your purchase and if any special matters need to be attended to but Ezy-As offers a fixed price for all standard buyers contracts
Your lender will require a copy of the insurers Certificate of Currency with the lenders interest noted before providing funds to settle.
Title Insurance: For a single premium, Title insurance protects against claims for various unknown and disclosed risks that threaten ownership and use (including structures) of the property until its resale.
Fees include:
- Stamp duty
- Government search fees – A SA Government Property Interest Report (PIR) and Local Council search are required for each property purchased.
For the purchase of a Strata or Community Title there are additional search costs involved.
Ezy-As will pass on the disbursements associated with the transaction e.g.
- LTO lodgement fees,
- search fees,
- SA Water meter readings,
- bank cheque fees,
- extra searches as required,
- couriers
More Complex Conveyancing Transactions
The fixed rates above are for standard residential transactions. If it is not then there may be additional fees which Ezy-As will advise upfront.
Settlement Statement
Ezy-As will provide you with a settlement statement prior to settlement listing all fees, rate adjustments, incoming moneys and deposits paid so you know exactly how much is payable on the settlement day.