Property Settlement Phase Can’t Be Overlooked
So you have made your choice! Does not matter whether it is your dream home or another feather in your property portfolio, a property purchase should not be deemed complete till the point of settlement. I am a buyer’s agent and I know my position in the real estate world (quite proud of it, too) but settlement requires a conveyancer, above and beyond any other professional.
What does property settlement entail?
So many property deals go kaput and are caught in courthouse dramas just because the buyer failed to land in with his/her conveyancer. So what is it that settlement entails and why it can become a legal wordplay for you? Let us find out.
When title deed exchanges hands, the legal as well as equitable rights to a property are transferred to you. But the contract of sale can be laced with certain peculiarities which only the conveyancer is in a position to understand.
Why you need a conveyancer on your side?
What if there is an easement on your prospective property or that it encroaches on its neighbour’s turf? What if the pre-settlement inspection reveals certain drawbacks of the property which are not mentioned in the contract (leaking roof or rotten timber in the walls, for instance)? Who can find such anomalies for you but a property conveyancer?
It is this guy who politely forces the vendor to redraw the contract citing the implications of such property lapses clearly. Also, it is the conveyancer who helps you through the legal maze and annuls a contract that’s not respected by the vendor.
Financial representative’s role is crucial, too
In fact, the settlement process also requires vigil from your financial representative. Let me tell you in very short the case of one of my acquaintances. Now this guy bought his property using a seller’s mortgage. He paid all his mortgage instalments to the seller in time but the seller did not push it to the bank many a times. In bank’s eyes this was clearly a default (about which my acquaintance was complete unaware).
Flashforward ten years- The bank denied passing the title deed to my acquaintance though the property was registered in his name. Why? Simply because the bank hadn’t got back the money it should have. Who’s fault- vendor’s….who paid for it- my acquaintance.
I think over the length of the article I have convinced you why it is important not to take the settlement phase lightly. Surely, buying a home and paying the initial post-auction sum or post-private sale sum is great…savouring the moment is great, too but don’t think your duty is over till the property settlement phase….unless you want to do it at your own peril.
Did you face property settlement crisis ever?
