Australians have a love affair with real estate.
When you are undertaking one of the biggest financial commitments of your life, you will inevitably have to elect between a lawyer or a conveyancer to act on your conveyance.
But what is the difference between a lawyer and conveyancer?
Conveyancing is the legal work involved in preparing the sales contract, mortgage and other related documents according to NSW Fair Trading. We like to express it in terms of the transfer of legal title to real property from one person to another, including the discharge or registration of a mortgage.
A conveyancer can help you navigate through a complex system of examining the contract for sale, exchanging the contract for sale, arranging payment of stamp duty, checking if there are outstanding arrears or land tax obligations, checking if swimming pool compliance documentation is needed, finding out if any government authority has a vested interest in the land, calculating adjustments for council and water rates, overseeing the change of title with Land Registry Services, completing any final checks prior to settlement and attending settlement.
Conveyancing can also be done by a lawyer.
In both cases, they are about the same price. Usually, both lawyers and conveyancers can offer you a fixed fee to act on the transaction.
But what really is the point of difference a lawyer can offer you that a conveyancer can’t.
While conveyancers and lawyers are equally qualified to do conveyancing, lawyers usually have a more comprehensive and nuanced knowledge of property law.
Furthermore, lawyers can give you legal advice about other matters that aren’t directly related to the conveyance. We can advise whether the conveyance affects your will or estate planning, we can advise on a lease if the property is being sold or purchased subject to an existing tenancy and we can also advise on some tax implications to name just a few things.
Contact the team at Conditsis Lawyers to demystify the conveyancing process.
