When you are selling the process is the reverse of the process for the buyer and is just as important that you use Professionals for your conveyance. You don’t want to risk losing your sale because you got it wrong.
Your Sale Contract
You have listed your property with your Real Estate Agent for sale and the Agent rings you to tell you that the people who have just inspected your property are keen to buy. What do you do next?
Ordinarily your Real Estate Agent will prepare the basic contract of sale and include your standard contract details. If you have given your Real Estate Agent instructions about whether or not the house and structures on the property or swimming pool have had final Council inspections or if there are any fixtures about the property that you wish to take with you, then the Agent may also include this information in the Contract of Sale.
You must disclose to the buyer if the local Council or any other Authority have issued any notices in relation to the property e.g. work to be done before a Final Building Department Clearance Certificate can be issued or if there is a Notice of Resumption or any other type of notice in relation to the property.
You also have an obligation to tell the buyer if you are aware that there is any contamination of the property or if there are any neighbourhood disputes regarding fencing or trees.
We strongly suggest that you contact us before you sign the contract so we can protect your rights as seller before you sign the contract.
Identification:
It is a legal requirement that we identifiy all Sellers at the time of the conveyance. We will ask you for your photo identification and request that you provide us with certified copies of your identification documents e.g. Drivers Licence or Passport.
Discharge/Release of your existing Mortgage
Once you have a signed Contract of Sale, you will need to provide your Bank with a copy of the contract. Your bank will also have a form called a “Discharge of Mortgage” that will need to be signed by you and any other joint owner of the property to request the Bank to prepare a Discharge of Mortgage in readiness for settlement.
If you do not contact your Bank straight away your Bank may not be ready to settle in time and you could then be in breach of contract. The discharge of mortgage process can be more complicated than you think and can have serious consequences if you and your Bank are not ready to settle on the due settlement date.
We work together to ensure your sale goes smoothly
There are many steps and documents that are required to be prepared and signed throughout the process. We will monitor the buyer’s conditions regarding finance, pest, building and any other special conditions and will help to guide you each step of the way.
Certificate of Title
You will need to bring or send to our office the Certificate of Title for your property if one has been issued. Since 1994 the Titles Office in Queensland has not issued Certificates of Title unless you have specially requested one.
We will need to carry out a Title Search on your behalf to ascertain if there is a hard copy Certificate of Title issued. If so, you will have to locate the original hard copy Certificate of Title before settlement. If your Certificate of Title is lost, this will cause a substantial delay to your settlement because you will need to request a replacement Certificate of Title be issued by the Titles Office. This can be a lengthy process.
Therefore, if you are unsure if there is a hard copy Certificate of Title, you should contact us before you sign a contract so we can investigate whether or not a hard copy exists, so you know where you stand straight away.
Sale Proceeds
The expenses that you will have to pay out on settlement will include the payout of your existing Bank Mortgage/Line of Credit or Overdraft you may hold, your Real Estate Agent’s Commission, Council Rate and Water charge adjustments and Titles Office registration fee for your Release of Mortgage. We will provide you with a comprehensive Settlement Statement prior to settlement which will explain these adjustments.
We will arrange for a Bank cheque to be available at settlement for you to collect, or otherwise, we can arrange to deposit your cheque to your Bank Account. We will discuss this with you and work out what suits you best.