Conveyancing

For many people buying and selling your home is the most significant financial transaction that they will enter into. At Harris & Company, we have experienced property lawyers who are able to make this major life event as smooth and stress free as possible. Of course, we don’t just act for people buying and selling their homes. We also act for investors, as independent solicitors in family law matters where real estate needs to be sold and for retirees looking at entering a retirement village.

We can help you with

• Buying and selling your home.
• Buying and selling investment properties.
• Stamp duty grants, concessions and exemptions.
• Buying off the plan.
• House and land packages.
• Retirement Living.
• Selling your property in a group sale with adjoining owners.
• Company title.
• Strata Title.
• Rural conveyancing & Crown Lands.
• Advising you on mortgage documentation if required.
• Old System, Qualified and Limited title.

Buying and selling

 – Selling Property

When you decide to sell your property you need a “team” of professionals who can work together effortlessly to achieve your goals.

The first member of your “team” is usually made up of an experienced agent, who has a detailed knowledge of the area in which the property and who has a track record of meeting and exceeding client expectations.  The second member of your “team” is an experienced solicitor who can quickly and easily identify all relevant issues and put in place measures to protect you and make the selling process seamless and effortless.

What to do once you have decided to sell your property and you have decided on a selling agent:-

Contract preparation and marketing phase

• You provide us with instructions to prepare a contract for sale of your property. The agent cannot offer the property for sale until they have a proposed form of contract for sale
• We will order all the searches required to be included in the contract for sale and prepare the contract for sale based on your instructions.
• We will provide the contract to your real estate agent so that they can commence marketing the property for sale.
• We will respond to any legal inquiries received from prospective purchasers or their solicitors
• We will negotiate any amendments requested by prospective purchasers or their solicitors in relation to the contract for sale
• We will organise for you to sign the contract and for an exchange of contracts after your agent has negotiated the terms of sale of the property. Sometimes the agent will arrange for contracts to exchange.

After Exchange and Settlement

• You should let your lender know that you have sold the property and arrange to complete, sign and return to the lender the lender’s form of discharge authority.
• We will assist you with preparing replies to the purchaser’s requisitions on title.
• We will arrange for you to sign the transfer in readiness for settlement.
• We will co-ordinate settlement with your discharging lender and the purchaser’s solicitor.
• We will finalise settlement figures and the calculation of the usual settlement adjustments as well as obtain a payout amount from your lender.
• We will attend at settlement and collect the settlement money, deliver the payout amount to your lender and deliver the certificate of title and transfer to the purchaser’s solicitor.
• After settlement we will report to you regarding the settlement
• We will notify the agent that settlement has taken place.

– Purchasing Property

Whether you are buying your first home, upsizing, downsizing or buying an investment property Harris & Company can help you through the buying process.  We have a team of experienced solicitors who will provide you with useful advice through the entire process.

What you need to know about the buying process:-

Before you exchange contracts with the vendor

• Speak to your lender and work out how much you can borrow and what you can pay for a property.
• Ask your lender for a loan pre-approval. This pre-approval will usually be conditional on two things.

1. That the lender is satisfied with the value of the property you decide to buy.

2. That your situation has not changed since the pre-approval was given.

• Once you have found your property and negotiated the price contact Harris & Company so we can arrange to review the contract for you and negotiate any amendments.
• Let your lender know that you have found a property and ask for an unconditional loan approval.
• Organise a pest and building report (if you’re a buying a house) or a strata report (if you’re buying a unit, apartment, villa or townhouse). We can assist you with this if you need.
• Once you are ready to proceed you will need to organise the deposit, which is paid on exchange, and sign the contract. We will guide you through this process and arrange for contracts to be exchanged.

After you exchange of Contracts

• Arrange to sign the loan and mortgage documents with your lender.
• We will help you satisfy the requirements of your lender.
• If you are a first home buyer you may be eligible for the First Home Owners Grant. Check your eligibility here: osr.nsw.gov.au
• We can help you complete and submit your application for the First Home Grant if you are eligible.
• We will order and check remaining searches and let you know if your lender requires any additional searches.
• We will liaise with you prior to the settlement date to arrange for you to let us have funds for the payment of stamp duty and the balance of the settlement monies (i.e the difference between the sale price (plus all usual settlement adjustments and less the deposit already paid) and the amount being provided by your lender.
• We will arrange for the Contract and transfer to be stamped in readiness for settlement.
• We will liaise with your lender and the vendor’s solicitor or conveyance to co-ordinate settlement. This includes the preparation of settlement figures and the calculation of all usual settlement adjustments.
• Arrange a final inspection of the property with the real estate agent for the day of settlement.

Settling your property purchase

• Organise with the agent to collect the keys and any alarm codes to your new property.
• We will attend at settlement and deliver to the vendor’s solicitor the settlement money. In return, we will receive the certificate of title and signed transfer.
• We will let you and the real estate agent know that settlement has taken place

After settlement

• If you did not required a loan (which is secured by a mortgage) to purchase the property, we will lodge the Transfer and Notice of Sale with the NSW Land Registry Services and then send you your Title Deed once registered (you will need to pay a registration fee to the Department of Lands). If you did require a loan, your financing bank will arrange for the Transfer and their mortgage to be registered and they will continue to hold your Title Deed until the loan is repaid.
• We will send you a letter reporting on the settlement.
• We will arrange to forward payments of council rates, water rates and strata levies (if appropriate) to the relevant authority.

The entire process normally  takes just 4–6 weeks.

If you’d like to know more, please contact Alexandra Tzavellas either by email atzavellas@harrisco.com.au            or Telephone; (02) 9261 8533