Thanks Dave
I have attached a list of the searches that you might conduct in QLD to give people an idea of costs.
If the Qld Conveyancing Protocol is not followed and we don't conduct the recommended searches, we pay a huge excess on our insurance. The recommended searches can come to $800 by themselves.
As an absolute minimum, the following should be done:
Current Title Search x 2
Registered Plan
Land Tax
Rates
Special Water Meter Reading
Totals $327.32
One thing to bear in mind with conveyancing is that it is the number 1 claim by both volume and amount on solicitor's insurance in Qld and NSW (I assume other states also). I have never understood the looking for a cheap conveyance price on what is such a large transaction, with such high costs if it goes wrong. There are cheap firms who can do an outstanding job, and there are expensive ones who can do a crap job. When looking for conveyancing I would be asking how it is done in that firm and be more concerned with that than the price.
Some firms only use solicitors to conduct each conveyance and have 1 solicitor in charge of each file. Many other places do not use solicitors to actually conduct the file (only law firms can do conveyancing in QLD but that doesn't mean they get solicitors to do it). Some also use teams, that is a team of people handle the receipt of the contract, a different team handles the first letters, another team handles the searches etc etc etc. They are effectively a factory. Great for them on a cost basis, not great for you having lots of different people handling the file, not the same contact. Other places will have a paralegal do the work but only have a couple of paralegals per solicitor.
It varies greatly and prices are not always an indicator if this, as some of the most prolific advertisers are dearer than some of the firms who do it properly, and some of the cheaper ones may be a one man band who does it very well.
I know of several QLD firms that will act for both the buyer and seller in the same transaction. An ethical and legal nightmare waiting to happen.
A conveyance not only involves an expensive asset, there are stamp duty and land tax issues that can add enormous sums to the transaction, also body corporate levies can be massive.
We have been involved in numerous transactions this year alone that could have costs our clients large sums of money had we not been on top of things. Best example:
1. Unit development being sold by receiver, units needed hundreds of thousands of dollars of rectification work to be fixed so a body corporate levy in the tens of thousands per unit levied. BC involved in litigation with receiver. Receiver wanted us to pay whole amount to them, we wouldn't settle unless levy was paid to BC. We turned up to settle on 2 separate occasions and almost got to going to Court over it until receiver relented and settled. Numerous other buyers settled on the property, paid the receiver and are now left with large BC bills. That meant that numerous other law firms allowed their clients to settle on the purchase without either doing the correct searches on the body corp or without understanding the legal swifty the receiver was trying to pull.
If solicitors charged on an hourly basis, some of our conveyances would come to thousands of dollars. Yet most charge under $1,000. Also make sure that the price you are quoted is fixed. If you have to pay extra for extensions to finance clauses, B&P or a settlement fee, hourly rate to talk to a solicitor etc the cheaper initial quote can not be so cheap.
This forum is a great resource for things like this, you get recommendations from people who have used the firms even when you live across the other side of the planet.
