Buying Property in Victoria
Property conveyancing services are essential for anyone who wants to buy a property. Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring the ownership of a property from the seller to the buyer. It involves various steps such as conducting searches, preparing contracts, exchanging documents, paying fees and taxes, and registering the title. A conveyancer is a professional who can handle all these aspects of the transaction and ensure that everything goes smoothly and legally. A conveyancer can also advise you on any issues or risks that may arise during the process and help you protect your interests and rights as a buyer.
Private Sale
In Victoria, offers to buy property are usually made by purchasers signing a contract of sale. If the vendor accepts your offer, they will co-sign sign the contract and then the property is sold and the contract is binding.
We recommend you write into the contract a date by which your offer will lapse (usually 3 days) and after this expiration date has passed, do not make an offer on another property until you have written confirmation from the real estate agent as to whether your offer has been accepted or not.
The settlement date is negotiable between you and the vendor, but is usually 4, 6 or 12 weeks.
If you are borrowing money for your purchase, make sure that:
- You don't sign a contract until you have you finance pre-approval.
- You get the agent to tick the loan box and complete the “Loan” section of the contract, which is usually located on page 4 or 5 of the contract.
- The bank, the loan amount, and the approval date are inserted, and the loan “approval date” needs to be at least 2 weeks from the date you make your offer.
- The offer amount (how much you are offering to pay for the property) and the deposit due date are also written in the contract.
The deposit due date should match the “approval date"
because purchasers shouldn’t pay their deposit until their loan has been formally approved.
Vendor Statement or section 32 is a vendor statement that discloses information about the property, such as title, zoning, rates, easements, and any other relevant matters. To obtain these documents, you need to contact a conveyancer or a solicitor who can prepare them for you and advise you on your rights and obligations. You should always review these documents carefully before signing them and seek professional advice if you have any questions or concerns.
What Do I Need To Do To Obtain Contract Of Sale And Section 32?
To complete your sale, we require some information and documents from you. Please follow the link below to access the instructions and upload the required files. Before you begin the form, we suggest you prepare the necessary documentation from the list below.
Documents Required
- Lease Agreement – If the house is currently tenanted, please upload the copy of current rental agreement.
- If the building/house is less than 7 years old - Building Permit, Occupancy Permit and Builders Warranty Insurance
- If selling off the plan (House Under Construction) - Building Permit, Builders Warranty Insurance, Inclusion List (If off the plan sale) and Drawings (if off the plan sale)
- If any building works been completed on the property in the previous 7 years, This includes extensions, renovations, garages, pergolas, verandas, decking etc. We will require copies of any Building Permits and relevant Insurance
- Owners Corporation – If the property is affected by Owners Corporation, please upload the copy of a recent invoice/bill from the Owners Corporation.
- If any Notice has been served recently effecting the land (e.g fencing notice, road widening, road works), please upload copy of notice.
Auction Sale
Auction sale contracts do not have a 3-day cooling off period and are not usually subject to any conditions such as finance or building & pest report clauses, so it's important to have your finance pre-approval and do all of your property and contract checks before the auction takes place.
A combined building and pest report can usually be obtained for around $600 near.
You can get these reports done before the auction, but only with the approval of the vendor and usually at your own expense.
We can review any contract for you before you sign, and let you know if there are any issues with the contract or the property.
Finance Clause Date
When you are buying property and have the ability to request that the contract is altered to include a finance clause date, this can protect you by allowing you to terminate the contract if your finance is not formally approved for some reason. Because finance pre-approval does not guarantee finance formal approval.
The finance clause date is usually 2 or 3 weeks after the contract date. This usually allows for enough time for your bank to formally approve your loan. A one-week extension is usually applied for if the bank is not ready by this finance clause date.
But
To terminate a contract under the finance clause, a number of conditions need to have to be met. Such as applying for finance straight away, and getting a letter of finance decline from a banking institution.
To receive a 1 or 2 week finance clause extension, the vendor must approve the request.
Finance clause extensions are nearly always granted as the vendor does not want to force the purchaser to terminate the contract because their finance has not yet been formally approved.
* Important
We will monitor this important date for you and make sure it does not pass without either receiving your formal finance approval, or obtaining a finance clause extension.
Building and Pest Report
Another thing to consider when buying property in Victoria is if you want to request that the contract includes a building & pest report clause.
These reports will give you a detailed report on the state of the property and can highlight issues such as significate building defects, rising damp, movement in walls, safety hazards, and pest or termite infestations.
But
To be able to terminate a contract under this clause, the report would need identify a major structural defect in the property and include this wording somewhere in the report.
* Important
Even if these reports don’t identify a major structural defect in the property, they still provide you with a very clear picture of the state of the property and present the opportunity to negotiate for the repair of some, or all, of the reported issues.
Other Reports
If you haven't signed a contract yet, here are some other reports with links that you can use to get more information on the property you are interested in:
VicRoads Report Whether VicRoads (The Roads Corporation) has any approved proposals for works requiring the purchase or compulsory acquisition of land.
Property Planning Report This free service provides quick and easy access to both property and planning information.
Statement of Adjustments
When buying property, the statement of adjustments is usually prepared by the purchasers conveyancer and sent to the sellers (vendors) conveyancer about a week before settlement.
It includes all the financial charges on the land, such as the water & land rates, owners corporation fees, land tax & lease payments, and adjusts on these figures so that it works out perfectly fair for both parties at the day of settlement.
