A conveyancing agreement, also known as a conveyance deed, is a legal document containing all the things involved in a transaction between a property’s seller and buyer. This is to be signed by all the parties involved when a deal is made.
Similarly, the agreement is the same material that the parties will refer to when settling in the new property, or if ever any unforeseen circumstances, such as contract breach and payment issues, arise.
That said, as a buyer, what are the things that you should look for in a conveyancing agreement to make sure that you’re not at any kind of disadvantage once you sign? This is what we’re going to talk about in this article.
1. Complete Property Description
As a buyer, you should know that simply looking at pictures won’t be enough to fully know whether a property is worth your money and time or not. You need to have and be able to read a full narrative revolving around its description before making a decision.
In a nutshell, the description should include things like the property’s specifications, such as the number of rooms, number of floors, flooring and wall material, age, current condition, amenities, and others. To add, you should also be able to know any existing issues. It should explicitly state if it recently went through disasters like fire, collision, or anything that resulted in damages, both minor and large.
It doesn’t stop there, of course. You should also find sufficient information regarding the inclusions of the property. Will you also get the furniture and fixtures in it? How about the existing flooring, equipment, and installed accessories? You should be able to get all the answers to these just using the conveyancing agreement alone.
2. Legal Information and Guarantee
The agreement should contain all the information about the legal matters tied to the property. This includes the name where the property is currently under when it will be transferred, to whom it will be transferred (this should be your name or whoever you’re buying the property for), and details about the estate tax you will be responsible for.
In addition to the ones above, there should also be a clause reserved for all the legal documents that you will receive to finalize the transfer of the property. This is important since the papers will serve as proof that you own the property.
3. Statement of Total Turnover
Third up, the conveyancing agreement should state that the property, along with the stated inclusions, will be totally turned over to you once all the deal’s terms are met.
Without this, it’s likely that the document will have holes, and may be used against you once you try to get a hold of the property. Usually, you can see this along the lines of the offered payment terms. However, there are also some cases where a separate clause is provided for this.
4. Fair Payment Details
Now, it’s not enough to just see the payment details in the agreement. It should be fair. This means that the amount of payment, repayment terms, grace period, sanctions for late payments, and likes, won’t put you at a disadvantage.
You don’t have to worry, though. If you don’t agree with something, you can always consult the legal professional you’re with for the steps that you can to amend the deal. It will just be up to the seller if they will accept the change your proposed or not.
5. Responsibilities of the Seller
The buyer is not the only one holding a set of responsibilities in a negotiation. Even if you’re the one acquiring the property from the seller, there should still be rules exclusive to them in case they are the ones who violate the contract later on. You will usually see this in the form of a warranty or guarantee that they will shoulder loss in certain circumstances.
Summary
Keep in mind that conveyancing agreements come in multi-page files. You may find it hard to browse through everything since you still have to look at it as a whole instead of simply finding the clauses we talked about in the previous sections. Make sure that you take the time to read every written text, so you can avoid missing any important detail.
That said, make sure that you’re working with a professional if you’re planning to either buy or sell a property. Doing so will give you a clear view of all the legal matters that you need to take care of. Compare conveyancing quotes from different teams if you want to ensure that your investment will be worth it.