Timing is everything when it comes to your legal rights for buying and selling property. Regardless whether you are buying a vacant block of land, farmland or an established home, tread very carefully and go over everything with a fine tooth comb before you sign a sales contract.

A quick scan on the terms and conditions isn’t enough to get a clear grasp of what is included or what is omitted. Sales documents can be structured with very careful wording to project one party, even if they are in the wrong. 

You need a careful eye and a solid knowledge of what a standard contract entails to be able to easily see when something's off. That's why it really pays to work with your conveyancer early, as they have the skills and knowledge to understand the sale documents and tell you very quickly when something is not right, and what the potential consequences may be. 

You have the right to request a sale contract even without making an offer. That means you can send the paperwork to your conveyancer or drop into their office to talk about what’s involved. Even if you have taken this step it is so important to check that the document you sign is identical to the one your conveyancer has approved. There have been instances where a contract has been changed at the last minute. Even if you notice and bring it to the real estate agent's attention, by this point you are geared to sign on and you can easily be assured that it’s only trivial and it won’t matter.

Never take this at face value. Always get any change and all new documents checked.

Your conveyancer can also help you with careful wording to cover your investment should something go wrong. For example if you want to make an offer before a building inspection report comes through, this is actually possible and will help you feel secure in knowing no one else can nab the property from under you, but also provide protection if something in the report comes back as a red flag.

Essential things to include on your contract:

• Finance - that the sale is contingent upon obtaining finance is essential, even if you feel that your loan is a given. If this is missing, get it put back in. There is no reason not to have it, and every reason you should.
• Home inspection - You can walk away from an agreement if anything shows up on your inspection but this needs to be worded correctly to provide assistance for unusual minor problems.
• Fixtures and appliances - this can confirm which fixtures are staying or going and it’s especially important for features that make the home particularly attractive, grey areas or times when it’s been verbally agreed that something is or isn’t part of the purchase.
• Closing date - you need to make sure you can meet the specified time to complete the purchase
• Sale of existing home - You can state the purchase is continent on the sale of your current home and provide a time period for this to happen. That way if you are unable to sell your current property to fund your purchase, you can walk away from the contract.

Spotting flaws and inconscientes can mean some very easy negotiations and changes, but only before you sign. Once you sign the contract, any on there, no matter how unfair, is iron clad. You will be locked into that contract from then in, no matter what.

When it comes to how to word these conditions on the contract, you need to get it right. 

I know of one person who made an offer with loose wording around the inspection report results. The report came back to say that the bathroom floor was rotten and the entire bathroom would need to be replaced. But because the damage was not deemed to be structurally unsound, he was not able to get out of the purchase even though it was going to cost $10,000 to repair.

Various acts of parliament are involved in conveyancing work. When purchasing a house, land, or other type of real estate, it is important not only to know what you are doing, but also how to deal with difficult and stressful situations. 

Standing your ground can be difficult when you are worried you might miss out on the purchase or sale. It can be hard to know where your ground is exactly and what your rights are.

The biggest thing to be aware of is ‘Special Conditions'. Special conditions are not part of a standard contract and usually are put in for a specific reason. While it might not be immediately clear what the reason is, knowing that signing onto special conditions without discussing them in depth first acn really cost you down the track.

I’ll give you a situation where this actually came at a big price. A property owner was selling a home he had made significant alterations on himself. It was flagged early on that he did not require permits to do his home extensions, however the contract was signed anyway. Because the lack of permits was a known issue, the selling conveyancer was able to write up a lot of loopholes and put them into the contract as special conditions. 

Thai turned out to be devastating for the new owners who were told by council the extension (the whole back half of the home) would need to be demolished. Even though this occurred before settlement, it was after the contracts were signed which gave no hope of getting out of those horrid loopholes.

The cost was over $40,000, half of what they paid for the property in the first place. It’s just devastating to have this happen and can turn the thrill of purchasing a home into a nightmare.

I’m not telling you this to put you off buying your own property, rather to let you know that you need to protect yourself and tread carefully, just in case.

A quality conveyancer will strive to protect the interests of their clients

Having an inspection completed early is a worthwhile expense as you will get proprssina feedback on any issues as wella s how much they might be to fix. It’s a good way to confirm the value of the home, rather than taking the price given. They might not be able to catch everything though, in some cases you will only notice something is wrong after you get to know the property better.

As well as having an experienced and trustworthy conveyancer working with you from the very beginning, the other thing you can do to protect your new asset is obtain title insurance. 

We recommend that our clients looking to buy a property obtain title insurance. What that does is protect your financially should something be wrong with the property, particularly around instances of poor building works and lack of permits that you have inherited as part of your property purchase.

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