For any property buyers, it is important to do your due diligence (paper work) and inspection (physical). What this means is usually hiring a lawyer to go through all the paper work and requisitions. In most cases, your lawyers will search for all the title, plans, minutes (for strata) and any proposed DA. However as the seller is not obliged to say anything, the buyer may not get any answers to those ‘difficult’ questions like “what is this blood-like stain on the carpet?”.

www.pickahouse.com.au and www.ozrealestates.com are designed with an open dialogue in mind, questions can be submitted and answered in open or they can be closed (through private messaging). However, be aware that there is no obligation for the vendor to tell the truth. This does not apply when there was a murder in the property (in NSW) as per the infamous Gonzales case and in particular estate agents are bound.  

It is not essential but advisable to have your mortgage or finance in place beforehand. My suggestion is that before bidding on a property, you should at least make sure that you are going to be eligible for a mortgage (if buying with a mortgage). At the minimum, get a confirmation from your bank that you are eligible (‘pre-approval’) or speak to a mortgage broker first.

It is prudent to view and inspect the property at least 3 times before purchase, at a different time of the day, different day of the week, subject to the vendor’s agreement.

In New South Wales, the vendor must provide you with a Sale and Purchase Agreement which comes attached with a number of reports like Section 149 and Title. If it is an apartment then one has to prepare each search on the Strata Title and the original Title, the minutes of committee meetings and so on.

In most cases, transactions will succeed. But it fails, most likely it is because one of the parties could not settle on time rather than the fault of the conveyancer/solicitor. This could happen when there are simultaneous sale and purchase, ie. where one of the parties buy a new property and sell his current property at the same time, and the transactions involved loan settlements with different banks.

Buying a property is an experience, and winning it at final negotiation or at auction is wonderful as long as you set your limits. In a live auction, the atmosphere is frenzy and one may easily get carried away. Indeed that is why there is much showmanship in an onsite auction to liven the crowd.

For any conveyance assistance or other legal matters, please contact KhaiKwan Lawyers at Level 11, 65 York St, Sydney NSW 2000.

Chris Khai Kwan
Barrister & Solicitor, High Court Australia
Principal Lawyer, KhaiKwan Lawyers
E: info@khkwan.com