Property Law - Springing into the property market
It’s not just your garden that flourishes in springtime. With flowers in full bloom and the sun shining, your house is also likely to be looking its best. Spring is the busiest time to buy and sell real estate, the season when the annual property market takes off. Whether you’re selling a house, buying an investment property or planning to renovate, it’s a good idea to get your head around the rules, regulations and legal considerations involved.
If you’re selling, you may want to appoint a real estate agent. Make sure the agent holds an estate agent’s licence or is employed by a licensed estate agent as an agent’s representative.
Make sure that the terms of the agency agreement are acceptable to you. Negotiate how the agent’s commission is going to be calculated and establish whether there are additional expenses such as advertising, facilitating inspections and scouting for prospective buyers.
Once you have decided to sell, one of the most important documents you will need is a Vendor’s Statement (also called a ‘Section 32’). This contains the legal information relating to your property that is made available to all prospective purchasers prior to sale. The Vendor’s Statement is prepared by a solicitor several weeks before sale and has information on the property title, rates, zoning, notices, orders, building approvals during the past seven years and services connected to the property. As a vendor, you are responsible for the accuracy of the Vendor’s Statement; any incorrect information about the property can affect its ultimate sale and allow a purchaser to get out of a signed contract.
Your solicitor can prepare a Contract of Sale at the same time as he or she prepares the Vendor’s Statement. This can be a standard Contract of Sale or a Contract for Sale at Auction. All the terms and conditions of your contract should be fully discussed and understood. Both the vendor and the purchaser must agree to the terms of the sale, including purchase price, length of settlement, and the fixtures or chattels to be included in the sale. The parties should also be aware of less obvious issues: is the pool fencing adequate? Are there any planning restrictions limiting the intended use or development? Is the finance clause sufficient? Your solicitor can advise you on all of these issues.
During the sale process, your solicitor will attend to many steps to facilitate the transfer of the property from you to the purchaser. He or she will seek your answers to Requisitions on Title (specific questions about the title to the property by the purchaser), seek the release of deposit monies, and ensure necessary documents, including discharge of your mortgage, are completed.
Specific legislation governs the conduct of auctions and the rules agents must follow both before and during the auction. Before the auction, the agent must comply with the Sale of Land Act Regulations 2005 (Vic), which include production of an auction information statement and publication of the rules applying to the auction. Mandatory announcements by the agent at auction include an outline of the laws applying to the auction and whether there will be co-owner and/or vendor bids received at the auction. The Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic) prohibits the agent from accepting dummy bids to push up the price of the property during the auction.
In addition to the law governing property transactions, there are other rules and regulations for building and renovating. Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) has just released a new Building and Renovating Guide, which features a budget planner, useful checklists, valuable contacts and legal information. It explains the purpose of building permits and the new requirements of the Building Regulations 2006. The Guide is freely available and can be downloaded from the CAV website. It leads you through the minefield of regulation and industry standards relating to builders, architects and other tradespeople and offers practical advice. Ensuring that building improvements and renovations, and the people who carry them out, comply with the rules and regulations governing them, means that standards of construction and maintenance can be upheld and improved. This, in turn, protects the occupier – that’s you and me.
So, as the “great Australian dream” chasers get busy this spring, the rest of us can pave our building blocks for the future.
More information
Useful Web links
Downloadable Building and Renovation Guide - www.consumer.vic.gov.au
Building permit requirements - www.buildingcommission.com.au
Property law information - www.liv.asn.au/public/legalinfo/property
Disclaimer: The information in this article is not intended to be a complete statement of the law relating to the issues raised. Accordingly, no person should rely on this information without first obtaining specific advice from Brendan Kelly of our office. | 
