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Buying a Property

There are two main ways of buying property in Victoria; By Private Sale or by Auction. The result is the same for both however each has important differences that you need to be aware of:

Private Sale

A Private Sale Contract is what you sign when you have made an offer on a property and that offer has been accepted by the Vendor (Seller). With a Private Sale you are allowed a “cooling off” period of 3 business days after you sign to consider the purchase and seek legal advice. With a Private Sale you may be able to negotiate amendments to the Contract before you sign.

Auction

With an Auction there are auction rules that apply, there is no “cooling off” period and you will have very little opportunity to negotiate any changes to the Contract of Sale.

And an important note is that if you buy 3 days before, or at an auction or 3 days after, the cooling off period does not apply.

The Signing Process

You as the Purchaser will make the offer through an agent or sometimes directly to the Vendor. An Agent will get you to fill in your details and the amount of your offer and then sign the Contract of Sale as Purchaser first and generally pay a deposit.
The deposit is generally paid to the Real Estate Agency and held in trust.
The contract then goes to the Vendor who will either accept or reject the offer. (If the offer is not accepted you will get most of your deposit refunded). If the offer is accepted the Vendor will sign the Contract and the Contract of Sale then is complete and becomes a legally binding document.

Remember that for a private sale you have a cooling off period of 3 clear business days.

First Choice Conveyancing offers Contract Reviews for any purchases. Just email the contract to us and we can provide you with the costs involved and you will generally get the written review back the same day.

From the Vendor’s Statement provided with the Contract of Sale we check for mortgages, easements, caveats and covenants.

We will not agree to settle the purchase until we are satisfied that any mortgages and caveats will be removed and you will get “clear” title at settlement.

We work with your Lender to make sure that that the funds required to complete the purchase and all the necessary documents will be available for settlement.

If there are any issues with the Contract of Sale or Vendor’s Statement we will deal with the Vendor’s conveyancer.
Easements are encumbrances on title that restrict your use of the property, like drainage easements or rights of way.
A Covenant on title may restrict development of the land. For example a covenant that permits only one dwelling on the land.

Settling Your Purchase

The settlement process is where the property ownership actually passes to you.

As the settlement date approaches we will prepare a Statement of Adjustments and coordinate matters with the Vendor’s conveyancer or lawyer and obtain a list of cheque details which we will then provide to your bank. We will prepare a Statement of adjustments based on the final account details from the local council, water authority and owners corporation (if applicable) and then confirm settlement arrangements. We advise you of the bank cheques required at settlement.

On settlement day we attend the settlement and hand over the balance of the purchase price in the form of bank cheques that you or your Lender has provided and make all the documentation is in order. If a lender is involved they will take possession of the Certificate of Title and the Transfer of Land.

The Lender will register the Mortgage, lodge the Transfer of Land and pay Stamp Duty at the State Revenue Office at the same time out of the loan funds.

Once settlement occurs and you are the legal owner of the property we will confirm settlement with the Real Estate Agent who will release the keys of the property to you. We will also send out a Notice of Acquisition advising the local council and water authority of the purchase.

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