What is Conveyancing?
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General

You can consider conveyancing most generally to be process involved in the transfer of title of property to another person if you are selling or from another person if you are buying.

In most cases, your conveyance will start from the time you enter into your contract. It continues through the duration of the contract as various conditions such as finance approval and building inspections are satisfied, leading to settlement where important legal documents are exchanged along, of course with the payment of the purchase price.

Settlement is not the end of the process however. Shortly following settlement the registration of the transfer of the property takes place at the Land Titles Office which gives you your legal title to the property. The conveyancing process concludes upon the successful registration of the transfer of ownership of the property.

There can also be terms in your contract which may require you or other parties to perform certain obligations even after settlement this could include things such as special conditions requiring the completion of repairs to the property. In some cases, such as where any of the parties are determined not to comply with obligations that they may have following settlement, it may be necessary to enforce your rights through the court system.

About Title to Your Property

In Queensland the Torrens system of land title provides for the recording of all interests in land in a central register maintained by the government. In Queensland this is done by the Land Titles Office. In some other jurisdictions, there is no central register, and Certificates of Title are still required to evidence ownership of property. For Queensland properties there is no need to obtain a Certificate of Title – the record of ownership on the Land Title Register generally sufficient to prove ownership. For properties that have not been sold for many years, a Certificate of Title may still exist and this must be presented to be cancelled following a Transfer of the property.

Searches

Searches are performed to assist a buyer to evaluate their purchase and to provide peace of mind that the property is not subject to any current or known future plans or licences issued by government, or affected by inclusion on the registers such as heritage listing or environmental management. Searches will also determine whether there are any encumbrances over the title of the property that need to be addressed prior to settlement. Some types of encumbrances over the title are mortgages, easements, covenants, caveats and writs. If any of these are recorded against the title of a property you plan to buy or sell, we will inform you of your rights and obligations.

After a contract has been signed, the parties to the contract have certain rights in relation to search results. Without the inclusion of additional special conditions, a buyer may not have any additional rights in relation to adverse search results.

Monitoring the Progress of Your Contract

There are usually several key dates related to your rights under the contract and under other laws during the time between when you sign a contract and settlement. These dates will normally include:

• the end of the “cooling off period” - the period of time during which a buyer can terminate your contract without needing to relay on a term of the contract and with a limited potential for the seller to charge a penalty;
• the finance approval date – the date by which a buyer must advise the seller that finance approval has been obtained;
• the building inspection date – the date by which a buyer must indicate to the seller their satisfaction or otherwise with the inspections they have obtained. Buyers should always arrange for a licenced building inspector to perform an inspection as quickly as possible to ensure that this can be done by the date required by the contract.

It is possible for some of these dates to be changed by agreement between the parties, however it is important to realise that in some cases it may not be possible to reach such agreements.

Settlement Price Adjustments

The time during which you will own a property that you are buying or selling will almost always span a the accounting period for authorities and organisations with the right to charge fees to the owners of the property. This commonly includes fees such as local government rates, state government levies or taxes (such as land tax) and body corporate fees for units. Part of the conveyancing process involves making relevant adjustments in the purchase price to account for each party's share of these fees.

Other adjustments that will sometimes be made include rental adjustments and fees for the release of existing mortgages.

Settlement

Settlement day is the day during which the representatives of the parties, including any financiers which are involved meet at a prearranged time to exchange documents. Settlement is a time when final checks on the documents (including the cheques presented in payment) are performed to ensure accuracy and completeness.

Post-Settlement Notifications and Registrations

Following settlement, the relevant authorities are notified of the change in ownership of the property. This is also the time when the Transfer documents are lodged with the Land Titles Office to officially record the change in legal ownership of the property. This lodgement of Transfer documents is usually performed by the financial institution that is advancing funds to the purchaser.

Guide To Purchasing / Selling

Conveyancing is not a matter of sending a contract to us and waiting to move in or out. We can take care of much of the detail however we can only act under your instruction and there are some tasks which you will need attend to personally. Please see our guides to purchasing and selling for more information about how we work with you to complete your transaction.