Settmenet adjustments on sale of property

[Dimsh]

For all solicitors on this forum. I have recently sold my property and solicitors have done council, water and strata searches 1 month before settlement and used these searches for settlement adjustments.
This resulted in them not picking up council and strata fees that have been paid by me in those 30 days and as a result in double charging me.
My questions are:

When do solicitors have to conduct all searches for adjustment purposes. 30 days seems to be a way too early.

How do I recover overpayment of fees.

 

[Kate Ashmor]

Adjustments are usually prepared by the purchaser and then submitted to the vendor for verification. Purchasers will rely on property certificates and updates via phone calls/emails to the local Council / Owners Corp, as relevant.

When verifying adjustments (usually a couple of weeks prior to settlement), lawyers / conveyancers should check with their vendor clients for any recent payments. Not all vendors (such as yourself) will volunteer this information without prompting and recent payments may not show up yet with the Council / Owners Corp / water company, etc.

You will need to contact the Council and OC directly to obtain refunds.