Selling a House - Conveyancing Questions

rubenastley on 05/08/2017 - 15:33
Last edited 05/08/2017 - 15:35

Hello, I am currently assisting my father in selling his unit in Victoria.

I have limited knowledge in the realm of property. I was looking at some fixed priced conveyancing and stumbled across thinkconveyancing. I was looking at the quote they sent me which had a breakdown of the estimated costs of the searches. They claim to not make any money from the searches but at the moment I have trouble understanding if these are mandatory searches or are they just recommended by them. What searches would be absolutely mandatory for a run of the mill conveyance job?

Title Search $14.08
Copy of Plan $10.56
Land Tax Clearance $30.11
Land Information Certificate $42.25
Water Information Statement $31.62
VicRoads $32.36
Planning Certificate $22.64
Bushfire Prone $8.72
Extract of priority Sites $21.92
Owner Corporation Certificate $172.00
Settlement Attendance $85.00
File Opening Fee $32.00
Postage Deliver $32.00

Home & Garden

Comments

  • altomic on 05/08/2017 - 16:00

    check this out. DIY kit

    thread on WP about DIY -pros & cons

    article from Domain about DIY

    I'm suggesting these links as they show what definitely is required and why and how much they cost.

  • canyoudoitcheaper on 05/08/2017 - 17:29

    They don't make money out of the searches. The searches are done by 3rd party companies like SAI Global or Infotrack who have fixed prices for doing them.

    If you don't believe they've actually done the search you can ask for a copy of the contract and see if everything's there.

    Keep in mind that if anything goes wrong, the average bill-out rate for a lawyer is $300+/hour.

    • djkelly69 on 05/08/2017 - 17:52

      Agree for most of the fees, but the file opening and postage fees are not real disbursements. Could maybe negotiate them, but not really worth getting your solicitor/conveyancer from the start.

  • [Deactivated] on 05/08/2017 - 18:17

    I am a lawyer doing quite a bit of conveyancing atm.

    Those don't look like genuine disbursements. Owner's corp is only about 20-30 from memory.

    It looks like they are double dipping — have them undertake to provide receipts for all disbursements prior to signing up with them.

    • rubenastley on 05/08/2017 - 19:16

      Apart from the pricing, do you think most of them are necessary? I'm confused if they just go out and undertake a general search for everything. Or would they do the search as needed?

      • [Deactivated] on 06/08/2017 - 00:23

        depends how good/smart they are.

        The first 5 would be considered mandatory for most practices (as needed for adjustments). Vicroads is pretty much a case by case basis.

        You are spending a lot of money on a house — wouldn't you prefer to have a thorough understanding of its true worth though?

      • djkelly69 on 06/08/2017 - 20:44

        Have they said they will need to undertake all of those searches, or have they just given you their generic disbursement price list of things which may be required?

        I would just instruct them to obtain searches which are mandatory, and they can discuss any others they may 'recommend' with you.

  • jjjaar on 07/08/2017 - 08:06

    These are all things found in a Section 32, so yes, I would expect they would be required. (VicRoads and bushfire maybe not, but dependent on location I would say).

    I don't know about costs for most but you can get a planning report (not certificate) for free at http://services.land.vic.gov.au/maps/pmo.jsp Just search the address then click on "get report". This is all I've ever seen in a Section 32.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join