Queensland FAQ – Seller (June 2016)

Lets just say it as it is. Selling a house or apartment is stressful. For most of us, we do it so infrequently that the process is both foreign and daunting, not to mention the significant amount of $$$ that are involved. As a seller in Victoria however, you are are in the driving seat of the transaction because you or your personal legal representative (conveyancer or lawyer) draft the contracts and disclosure documents that set the foundation for the sale. What you want from those documents is a certainty that once a purchaser has signed the document and the requisite cooling off period has passed that the contract is BINDING on both parties ensuring settlement goes ahead. This allows you to move forward with confidence in any subsequent transaction you want to enter into.

This certainty post signing and up until settlement, entirely rests on the manner in which the contract is drafted by your representative. Often in an attempt to cut prices, poor decisions are made on your behalf un be known to you that likely compromise that certainty. At think, this is absolutely not OK. Our commitment is, we draft contracts that are binding so as to bring to our clients the confidence to invest in the marketing of their property to secure themselves a purchaser and to have confidence that the transaction will proceed through settlement. Thats our minimum standard.

To help you through the process, set out below are a series of commonly asked questions that relate both to processes and terminology needed by the seller in the sales process. I hope they help equip you to become a more knowledgable seller and to actively make decisions in the process to protect yourself and your family.

1. What is a Vendor Statement?

   a. A Vendor Statement is a document that provides details of the property for example a copy of the title and plan, rates certificates and connection of utilities. It is also commonly known as a Section 32 Statement and this must be provided to prospective purchasers prior to signing the Contract. At Think Conveyancing, we order a full set of certificates so that full disclosure is made in the Statement to prospective purchasers. It is best to have this prepared and available early in the sale process so your selling agent can provide this document to the prospective purchasers to look at.

2. How does my bank know that I have sold my property?

   a. After you have signed a Contract to sell your property, we will prepare and send you a discharge authority for you to sign and complete. Once we have received the signed discharge authority from you, we will send it to your bank so they can start the discharge process and start preparing for settlement. We will liaise with your bank leading up to settlement and this includes finding out how much is required to discharge your mortgage.

3. I would like to use the deposit to purchase another property, can it be released to me earlier than settlement?

   a. We can request for the deposit to be released to you by serving a Section 27 notice on the Purchaser’s solicitor/conveyancer. Normally if you have a mortgage on your property, we will need a letter from your bank detailing the current amount outstanding on the loan and other details about the mortgage. We can liaise with your bank to obtain this information. If the amount currently outstanding is less than 80% and there is a letter from your bank supporting the Section 27 Statement, then the Purchaser would normally return the signed Section 27 Statement to our office within 28 days of receiving the notice. They have 28 days from the day of receiving the notice to either agree or disagree to the release of the deposit. If the correct information is provided, they usually have no reason to reject the release of the deposit. The signed statement is then forwarded to your agent, to authorise them to release the deposit to you. If the 28 days lapse, and no acknowledgement or rejection is received from the Purchaser’s solicitor/conveyancer, we can ask the agent to release the deposit to you in those circumstances.

4. I have received a rates notice and it is due a week before the settlement. Should I pay this rates notice?

   a. We recommend that where you have received a rates notice a week or so before the settlement date that you provide a copy of that notice to our office. If you have paid the notice, please let us know so we can verify with the authority that payment has been received and that there are no additional monies being paid to that authority at settlement.

5. What happens on the day of settlement?

   a. Please ensure that the house is clean and tidy and in a similar condition to what it was like on the day of sale. You need to deliver a set of keys to the agent so the Purchaser can collect them after settlement and leave all spare keys and manuals for any fixtures such as dishwasher, oven on the kitchen bench for the Purchaser to find.

If you are in need of a team of conveyancers and lawyers who are committed to your best interest and to making the process of selling easier, feel free to reach out to our Customer Concierge Team on 1300 932 738. They are available to answer any questions you may have and to help you with any next steps you may require assistance with.