Buying or selling a home can feel overwhelming at times, especially if you’re a first home buyer. To help ease that feeling and make the process easier for you here are 12 common conveyancing terms you may hear your conveyancer or solicitor use. But always remember, if you’re working with a conveyancer and are not sure on something being communicated to you, ask!
1. Conveyancing
The legal process of transferring a property from one party, the vendor, to another party, the purchaser.
2. Conveyancer
A specially qualified and licensed professional who handles the transferring of property from one party to another.
3. Caveat
There are instances where a third party may have a legal interest in, or rights over, a property. In this case the third party can lodge a document with Land Use Victoria and after it’s been registered a caveat note will be added to the title. This caveat note flags to prospective buyers that there is a third party that may have rights on the property.
4. Certificate of Title
This is a legal document issued by the State Government that outlines information on the property and its ownership (such as lot and plan number, names of the owners, confirmation on any easements, caveats or covenants, etc).
5. Covenant
This is a written agreement between the vendor/seller and the purchaser and restricts what the land being purchased can be used for.
6. Disbursements
These are miscellaneous costs incurred on your behalf by your conveyancer, costs that are not part of the fee you are paying for their services. It covers things such as title searches, council fees, etc.
7. Easement
This is a designated section of land that someone else (other than the seller and purchaser) has the right to access and use for a specific purpose. For example, councils or State Government having the right to access the designated section of land for the installation, replacement or maintenance of pipes, sewage, gas, data cables, etc.
8. PEXA
One of Australia’s online conveyancing settlement platforms.
9. Section 32
This is a mandatory legal document provided by the vendor/seller when selling a home. It contains all information about the property and must disclose information that may affect the value of the property being sold and that may impact the buyer’s decisions. It is also known as a Vendors Statement.
10. Section 27
This allows the early release of the deposit funds to the seller/vendor. A Section 27 request can be accepted or rejected by the purchaser.
11. Settlement
This is the date when the exchange of money and property transfer occurs.
12. Stamp Duty
Stamp duty is a State Government tax that the Purchaser of a property must pay and is a cost on top of the purchase price of the property. The amount of stamp duty a purchaser pays depends on the price of the property being purchased/transferred. It also varies from State to State.
If you’re buying or selling a property it’s important to get help from experts, like CKL Lawyers.
Source: CKL Lawyers