Selling Property
The Contract
Once you’ve made the decision to sell your property, one of the first tasks is to have the Contract for Sale drawn up.
The contract will include not only the legal terms and conditions of sale, but will also specify what items are included or excluded from the sale, and any other special requirements you might have, for example you may like a longer or shorter settlement than usual, or perhaps that the contract be conditional upon another contract for you to buy your next property. There are a lot of ways that a contract can be varied, so it’s important to discuss your situation in detail with one of our experienced conveyancers.
You will also need to know your disclosure responsibilities, as failing to disclose certain things can lead you into a lot of trouble.
The Deposit
Once a purchaser has been found and the contract has been signed and is legally binding, then a deposit is usually paid by the purchaser and is usually held in the trust account of the selling agent.
Settlement
If you’re happy to proceed, you can make an offer. You might be asked to pay a small sum as an initial deposit, but this is fully refundable if you don’t end up signing the contract. It does not mean that the property is yours yet either, as the agent can take other offers.
Settlement is scheduled in accordance with the contract and is usually 6 weeks after the contracts have exchanged. During the wait for settlement, we will liaise with your bank in relation to releasing any mortgage held on the property. In this time you should arrange disconnection of electricity and other services.
Before settlement, the purchase price will be adjusted to reflect the council rates, water rates and any strata fees that need to be shared between the parties. There may be other adjustments, based on the contract.
Once settlement takes place, the real estate agent will be authorised to release the deposit to you, less their fees.
Contact us today to discuss the sale of your specific property with one of our experienced conveyancers.
