Is it normal for a NSW conveyancer to not have a trust account to which a purchaser can electronically transfer a final balance owing at settlement?
We recently purchased in SA and everything was very straightforward. Near the end of the settlement process our conveyancer provided a statement (stamp duty, money still owning to vendor, and adjustments for rates, etc... and the conveyancer fee itself). We just transferred one lump sum to the conveyancer's trust account. Easy.
Now we buy in NSW which settles in a few days and the conveyancer has no such trust account. Is this normal? We are told we must get a bank cheque for the OSR to cover stamp duty, and we must get a second bank cheque for the vendor, and we must settle the conveyancer fees separately (the conveyancer's bill can be paid electronically).
It might sound like a minor inconvenience but it's far from it. First we have to transfer funds from an equity loan at Bank A (a bank without any branches), to a personal account at Bank B (of which the nearest physical branch is a 90 minute drive away)... so allowing up to 3 days for the transfer to happen so I can then drive to the bank, get the bank cheques drawn, physically take them to the conveyancer, etc.. and of course, conveyancer at this stage still cannot even confirm the exact amount owing to the vendor so I've had to guestimate the transfer value from A to B so to ensure the funds will be there and ready.
I mean... is this "normal" in NSW ???
I'll definitely be putting it on my list of things to ask my next conveyancer before appointing them: DO YOU HAVE A TRUST ACCOUNT ???
We recently purchased in SA and everything was very straightforward. Near the end of the settlement process our conveyancer provided a statement (stamp duty, money still owning to vendor, and adjustments for rates, etc... and the conveyancer fee itself). We just transferred one lump sum to the conveyancer's trust account. Easy.
Now we buy in NSW which settles in a few days and the conveyancer has no such trust account. Is this normal? We are told we must get a bank cheque for the OSR to cover stamp duty, and we must get a second bank cheque for the vendor, and we must settle the conveyancer fees separately (the conveyancer's bill can be paid electronically).
It might sound like a minor inconvenience but it's far from it. First we have to transfer funds from an equity loan at Bank A (a bank without any branches), to a personal account at Bank B (of which the nearest physical branch is a 90 minute drive away)... so allowing up to 3 days for the transfer to happen so I can then drive to the bank, get the bank cheques drawn, physically take them to the conveyancer, etc.. and of course, conveyancer at this stage still cannot even confirm the exact amount owing to the vendor so I've had to guestimate the transfer value from A to B so to ensure the funds will be there and ready.
I mean... is this "normal" in NSW ???
I'll definitely be putting it on my list of things to ask my next conveyancer before appointing them: DO YOU HAVE A TRUST ACCOUNT ???