Land for Sale in Brisbane—What Buyers Need to Know about Conveyancing

There’s more to buying land for sale in Brisbane than just picking a vacant lot and paying for it. After all, the process involves a lot of money and property ownership is a complex legal affair. Unlike typical commodities that you can own right after checkout, you cannot fully claim ownership of a piece of land simply by paying the selling price. You need to complete a process called “conveyancing” first.

What is conveyancing?

Full ownership of a property, whether it be a house or a vacant lot, is only achieved when the legal title of that property is transferred from the previous owner to the buyer. This process of transferring title is called conveyancing. Its primary purpose is to ensure that the buyer secures not only the title to the land, but also all the rights that run with it. It is also designed to ensure that the buyer is notified of any restrictions prior to purchase.

Despite the apparent intricacy of conveyancing, kits are available for buyers to be able to complete the process on their own. Take note, however, that the government does not recommend this due to the likelihood of legal problems arising from the complexity of varying state and council laws and processes. The involvement of a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer is the safest option.

How does conveyancing work?

Before delving into the conveyancing process, you must keep in mind that Queensland laws prohibit licensed conveyancers from running a conveyancing company. Only law firms are allowed to perform conveyancing work. So what happens during a conveyancing?

• Making an offer

  – After finding the land for sale in Brisbane that you’d like to purchase, it’s now time to make the owner or agent an offer. You’ll be shown the contract, which you need to carefully read in order to fully understand its terms and conditions. Like most contracts, a real estate contract is full of jargons that are too risky to interpret without sufficient legal knowledge. This is why it’s important that you engage a lawyer on your behalf. The signed contract along with your offer will be sent to the seller.

• Cooling off period

  – Once the seller receives the signed contract, it’ll take five days before it becomes effective. During this cooling off period, you are allowed to reconsider your decision and cancel the contract without facing any charges. You must, however, pay 0.25% of the purchasing price if you choose to cancel. The cooling off period doesn’t apply to land purchased at an auction.

• The search

  – Upon filing for conveyancing, the solicitor will initiate a thorough search of the property being purchased. They have to check for encumbrances and restrictions on the property, ensure that special conditions mentioned in the contract are met, arrange for the payment of all fees and charges as well as government duties, prepare all legal documents, organize the final settlement, and more. This may last for 4 to 6 weeks, which takes up the bulk of the conveyance.

• Paying the deposit

  – If you decide to continue with the purchase and the seller accepts your offer, you can now pay the deposit within a period specified in the contract. Make sure to pay the deposit when due to avoid any legal action from the seller.

• Fulfilment of obligations

  – As a buyer, there are several things that you need to do during the conveyancing process. One is to organise all the necessary insurance before the property is transferred to your care, which starts at 5:00 PM of the day after that contract date. Another is to obtain proper financing for the property for which you will be given a certain amount of time to accomplish. Lastly, you need to settle your transfer duty.

• Settlement

  – After the tedious inspection and search of the property comes the time to settle everything and transfer to you the title to the land. This is the time the purchase price is paid and the ownership of the property is transferred to you free of encumbrances.

You will notice how long and complicated land buying purchase is in Queensland. This is true in all provinces across the country, which is why it is very important to enlist professional agencies like Lion Land Marketing when buying land. They can help you better understand the process and get a lot of steps out of your way so you don’t get overwhelmed.