Property Law and Conveyancing

Buying or Selling Property?

If you are looking for Property Lawyers in Forest Lake, our team at SavvyLaw Conveyancing can help you right now. Yes, you can call us 7 days per week on (07) 3733 1541.

We can assist with all your legals in buying and selling real estate in Queensland, whether you are buying or selling a home, unit, vacant block, strata title, commercial real estate, investment property or rural property.

What is Conveyancing?

Conveyancing is the legal work associated with buying or selling real estate. With nearly 20 years knowledge of the Forest Lake region, Harrigan Lawyers & SavvyLaw Conveyancing can advise on the right property searches that you will need, saving you money on unnecessary searches yet providing certainty that the relevant checks are made. We’ll see you through the whole matter, even dispute resolution and litigation if things go wrong.

We can also advise you on reviewing and/or updating your estate planning and Wills which is always recommended after a major property transaction. That’s the advantage of having a full-service legal practice to do your conveyancing for you.

Buying your Principal Place of Residence

It is important that you establish exactly who the owners of the property are going to be before you sign a contract. Most spouses or domestic couples buying their principal place of residence will usually buy the property in joint names. You may need to reconsider this, however, if one of you is involved in a business or occupation that carries a risk of litigation (for example, a doctor, accountant or other professional) or if one of you is the sole director of a company that operates a business. Sometimes it is better for asset protection that the spouse or partner who is not engaged in a trade or profession that could put them at risk of being sued, is the preferred property owner.

Buying an Investment Property

Most people will purchase an investment property in their individual personal names to obtain the negative gearing tax deduction benefit. Again, if you are in a high-risk profession or run your own business, you are potentially putting your personal asset at risk if you are successfully sued or made bankrupt. An alternative strategy may be to purchase the investment property in the name of your spouse or partner, or to create an investment trust.

You should also be careful not to purchase any property in the name of your trading company or your trading trust as this could expose those assets in the event of the business being sued or being put into liquidation.

Consequences of Putting the Wrong Parties on the Contract

You cannot just add parties to a contract after it has been signed or enter a new contract if you get the parties on a contract wrong. There are transfer duty consequences of entering the contract and it could be that you are up for double transfer duty if the issue is not handled correctly. For example, the amount of transfer duty payable on the purchase of a $500,000 investment property in Queensland is $15,925. If you entered a contract with incorrect details shown as the purchaser, you may have to pay that amount twice along with any penalties or fines imposed by the Office of State Revenue.

Difference between Joint Tenants and Tenants in Common

Joint Tenancy

Most couples own their principal place of residence as joint tenants. This means that if one person dies, their notional half share of the property passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant without reference to their Will. To transfer the property into the name of the surviving partner a Notice of Death and the Death Certificate is lodged with the Land Titles Office. The same applies to joint bank accounts, jointly owned shares and most other jointly owned assets.

Tenants In Common in Equal Shares

If you own your home as tenants in common in equal shares, this allows you to deal with your half share of the property in your Will or transfer your share to whoever you wish (this is subject to the consent of your bank if you have a mortgage and may not be practical).

Leaving a half share of your property to someone who does not get on with your existing co-owner may be completely impractical. A more common method is to leave your spouse or partner a life interest or life tenancy in the home until they pass away. This means that you can create a life interest in your half share of the property and leave this to your spouse or partner for their use during their lifetime. Upon their death that use will then pass to your children or whoever you wish to nominate as the designated beneficiary. This is a good way to ensure that the asset passes to who you would like to benefit and also protects your surviving spouse or partner from predators and creditors who may come out of the woodwork after you have died.

Getting estate planning advice before you decide on which tenancy to use for your property purchase can save you a lot of time, effort and money and helps to ensure that your testamentary wishes are fulfilled.

Body Corporate

We can help with a range of Body Corporate and Strata matters including:

Acting for Lot Owners and Bodies Corporate
Management Rights Advice
By-Laws and Community Management Statements
Lot Entitlements Adjustments
Levy Collection
Dispute Resolution
Applications for Conciliation and Adjudication

Body Corporate Advice

The increasing popularity of living and investing in medium to high density housing has brought increasing enquiries on community titles (strata) law. This area of law is not exclusively for residential apartments. The legislation applies to a range of property development projects, for example, residential units, hotels, business parks and commercial offices, or a mixed use of all of these.

Dealing with Disputes – the wrong approach can be expensive…

The legislation provides for the ‘exclusivity of dispute resolution provisions’ and prescribes a specific process for the determination of a body corporate dispute. With only limited exceptions, any dispute regarding property registered as a community title scheme must at first instance be referred to the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management. The dispute resolution provisions outlined in the legislation provide a far less adversarial approach than typical court proceedings which is important in community title matters where there is often a need for an ongoing relationship between the parties. Where a matter has been brought to a court at first instance, it may be referred back to the Commissioner with costs brought against a plaintiff for bringing proceedings in the wrong jurisdiction. This results in additional expense and delays in determining a resolution.

Unpaid Levies – being late does matter…

The issue of unpaid levies by a lot owner is a common theme in body corporate matters. Irregularities on the calculation of quarterly levies on a contribution notice need to be resolved immediately the discrepancy arises. In one extreme matter, unpaid levies totalling $15,664.31 developed into a matter where the lot owner failed to make payment of 38 levy notices resulting in the imposition of penalties and the recovery of legal costs totalling $106,792.22!

Management Rights Disputes

Disputes concerning management rights should be addressed early and expert advice sought. Often the holders of management rights of schemes have invested heavily in purchasing the rights and are prepared to expend considerable funds to defend their position. Not only is a body corporate not obtaining value from non-performing managers, but the lot owners’ asset value is being diminished by poorly maintained common property.

If you need assistance, contact [email protected] or call 07 3733 1542 for expert legal advice.