Should it take this long to get new titles.

Hi all, I would like to know how long does it normally take to get titles issued for a new 2 lot subdivision.

A bit of background.

I'm in Victoria and have recently finished knocking down an old house and building 2 houses on the block, one house I am keeping as my PPOR and the other was sold off the plan. The sale of the house cannot go through until Titles have been issued

My problem is a conveyancer who is slow to do anything and only acts after I chase him up on what he's been doing.

The Surveyors released the documents for lodging but the conveyancer did nothing for 2 weeks before he requested consent from the bank to subdivide and that was only after I contacted the bank myself to see what the hold up was.

Today, again I rang the bank to see what was happening and they tell me they had sent a document to the conveyancer last week that I needed to sign before they will give consent, I ring my conveyancer and yes there is a document there but he hadn't bothered to tell me about it, if I hadn't rang who knows how long it might have been before he told me.

When I went to the office to sign he had someone else give me the document and he left the office while I was busy signing avoiding having to answer any questions.

I thinks his conduct has been unprofessional and I have serious doubts about his ability to handle the work, its been 3 weeks since he received the file and he has done very little and lied about it being the banks fault .

How long should it take to get Titles and is it unreasonable of me to expect him to be working efficiently and submitting paperwork as soon as he receives it.
Any advice would you appreciated especially from anyone who has done a subdivision before.
 
I've done 2 strata title subdivisions recently.
I think it's best to ask them to explain the whole procedure thoroughly so you have some sort of indication of what's involved, and expected timelines.
Then constantly stay on top of the situation to keep them accountable.
Time is money and sometimes they do not realize the urgency.
Of course some operators may be more slack than others and you can't know this when engaging them, but the way you deal with them with the knowledge you have can get them to take action faster.
 
Change to a good solicitor. The conveyancer is too busy doing follow the bouncing ball easy jobs to be bogged down in your "requires thought" matter
 
While it may be the conveyancer's fault, do note that subdivision can take a while as there is a bit of paperwork going on. Just keep tabs on it.
 
I don't think I have much choice now but to see it through to the end with this conveyancer and thanks to all the great information on SS I do have a little idea of the times that it should take.

It would have been nice if he had said before we signed that he was too busy or not experienced to do the job. if I ran my business like he does would have gone broke a long time ago.

After 2 weeks of hearing nothing from him I rang him to ask how the subdivision was going and he laughed and said "good question you tell me how is it going" very strange response from someone who I hoped would have been on top of things.

I agree Davem, too many easy jobs with settlement dates and my job is just put to the side.

There will be paperwork needed to lodge at Titles Aaron C but so far after 4 weeks I have only signed 1 document and that was provided by the bank, I only found out that document was waiting to be signed when I contacted the bank.

I thought I was paying for a professional to handle things but instead I am doing all the phoning around, luckily the bank have been very helpful with keeping me informed but that shouldn't be their job and I shouldn't have to ring them every second day to find out what my conveyancer isn't doing.

I am concerned now that he will also be handling the sale, I think I should find someone else as have no confidence in him.
 
Hi Redrock,
I am just finishing off a two lot subdivision and build in Albury. It would have been a fun exercise if it wasn't for the surveyor handling the subdivision, the subdivision people at council and my bank rep. As a first timer I had to put my faith in them as 'professionals' however the only thing they are professional at is making themselves look good. They just made me feel like i was naive and brushed me aside more often then not. The good news is I learnt alot and will be better for it next time.
Whilst my surveyor was inefficent I did believe he could do it. I'm not so sure about your guy. Maybe you could talk to someone else to take it over so you can drop this fella. I agree that a good property solicitor is the go and I wouldn't let this guy near you house sale. Like bad tradies - put a line through him.
If you put more details here on exactly where your up to hopefully myself or someone else may be able to help you with time frames.
 
Hi aussiesir, the land surveyors have been excellent and had all their work done and sent the Spear file to the conveyancer on the 13/3 since then the conveyancer waited until the 27/3 to ask my bank for consent to subdivide. On the 2/4 the bank requested we sign a form agreeing for their fee to be paid by direct debit, that form wasn't passed on to us for signing until the 7/4. I will need to ring the Bank again tomorrow to check if the conveyancer has faxed that form back to them yet, considering how slack he has been so far I will be shocked if he has done anything about it.

From what he has told me from when he lodges at the Titiles office it should take 8-10 days to get the separate titles and then another 2 weeks for settlement of the sale to take place. Does that match up with what you have been through.
I will definitely be finding someone else to take care of the sale.
 
Hi Redrock.
My surveyor did all of my subdivision work for me. We got there in the end but I'm a bit greyer because of it ha ha.
The speed your guy is moving is inline with what I experienced. Very frustrating. The good news is you are close to the end. The bank will tell you it will be a week for them to do their bit then take two weeks (my lender actually couldn't get to the post office for two days to post mine to the surveyor :mad:). My surveyors were waiting for mine and scanned the docs straight to the titles office so be onto that so you don't lose another week. LPI (in NSW) took the whole 20 days to sort out the titles as they had some questions etc. I then moved on to construction loans rather than settlement so I can't help you on that one.
I feel your pain. The process taught me the importance of dog walking to reduce stress:D
 
Hi aussiesir, Frustrating is definitely a good word to describe the whole knock down rebuild process.

Everyone wants a share of our perceived profits, a bloke at the council changed his mind about our legal point of discharge which meant we had to get the plans redrawn and include some sewer grade pipes large enough to drain a large shopping center, his comment was ? you %$%^*** developers come in and make a million dollars.?

When we needed to connect the electricity someone had stolen the copper wire that had been hanging of the street pole for a year, that put us behind 6 weeks as Spausnet considered replacing the wire a low priority maintenance issue
.
I also go for a walk to de stress, I don?t have a dog but I do have a nice beach to walk to.

The Land surveyors, Mortgage broker and Town Planner/Designer have all been great to work with and yes the end is in sight it?s just hard to see it with the Conveyancer standing in the way.
 
Hi, I'm at pretty much same stage on a two lot subdivision in west Footscray renovating the original house on corner block to sell and sold back block with settlement pending titles so I am stuck waiting like you for my money which I holding me up with cash to finish the front house and a block of units I have in Darwin. Silly me kicked all my tennants out believing I would have title by now so losing 3k a week and luckily surveyor gave me guest access to spear to log on and I end up checking up and calling council surveyor conveyancers referral agencies all the time so stressful. My first sub Division so have no clue and no one seems to let you know what to do next and what you are meant to organise your self. Started process over two years ago. Theres around 500k profit in it before tax it's wort the stress I guess. I called bank ahead about them releasing the block as It was part of security for another property so had a bit of head start or probably would been told til end
Called title office today to double check time frame on there end and they said about 7 days if it's hand delivered. Which I will do with how much I'm missing out on a day especially having just left my job to concentrate on property. Good luck
 
Back
Top