The Gold Coast is home to beautiful beaches, glorious weather, lifestyle-driven tourism, stunning natural scenery – and plenty of conveyancing lawyers. So how do you choose the best one? Buying or selling a property can be stressful, emotional, and challenging – but choosing the right conveyancing lawyer doesn’t need to be.
The right conveyancing solicitor will be able to take the stress out of the whole process and ensure you move onto the next phase of your property journey with ease. Follow these steps to find the best Gold Coast conveyancing lawyer for you.
Know what you’re looking for
When buying or selling a house at the Gold Coast (or anywhere), you don’t just need a lawyer or solicitor. You need the services of a conveyancing solicitor – a specialist professional with an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of property law and real estate. Rule out anyone else right from the start. Narrow your search to licensed conveyancing solicitors only, as they are qualified and experienced, and know property law inside out.
When it comes to the legal intricacies of buying and selling real estate, no one is more qualified to expertly help you. As well, they carry professional indemnity and fidelity insurance, meaning that clients are covered in the event of an error.
Set your budget
Decide before you start how much of your budget you can set aside to pay the conveyancing solicitor’s fee. Don’t be tempted to spend more than you can reasonably afford and try to avoid the cheapest option as well. Go for the best quality conveyancing service that’s within your budget.
Of course, no one wants to pay for services unnecessarily, and it can be tempting to think that you can do without the services of a conveyancing solicitor. Keep in mind that trying to save money by undertaking conveyancing yourself may actually end up costing you money in the long run.
In Australia, the requirements of buying and selling a property are stringent, and it’s important to ensure the process is completed correctly. The consequences of making a mistake can be extremely costly, and you will also have no insurance to cover you if anything goes wrong. In most cases, attempting to conveyancing yourself is just not worth it.
The use of a licensed conveyancing solicitor will help protect your assets and ensure the whole process of buying or selling your property is completed smoothly and with minimal hassle and stress.
Ask for referrals
Word of mouth is often the best recommendation, and people are usually happy to recommend a professional who has treated them well and achieved a good outcome in their own property transaction.
Ask relatives, friends, and workmates if they’ve used the services of a local Gold Coast conveyancing solicitor and who they recommend. Listen carefully as to why they recommend a conveyancing solicitor so that you can find one who is a good fit for your individual situation.
Do your research
Another place to uncover referrals and recommendations is online forums. Coupled with the referrals you already have, this will enable you to come up with a list of quality conveyancing solicitors with a proven track record of client interaction and property law management.
From here, you can visit the website of your prospective conveyancing solicitor and find out a little more about this professional who will play a pivotal role in the process of buying or selling your Gold Coast property. Read the kind of reviews conveyancing solicitors will get from past and present clients and establish the philosophy of the practice.
Of course, this will only tell you so much, but it’s a good starting point and will give you a feel for each option.
Find out exactly what you will have to pay for
As a real estate buyer, it’s important to know just how much it’ll cost to complete your transaction. That way, you can carefully budget for this stage of the sale by calculating the exact fee needed.
One of the expenses you’ll want to prepare for is transfer duty, which is a type of tax applied to certain property purchases. Different properties will have different transfer duties attached to them at transaction time, but there’s a way of finding out exactly how much you stand to pay.
If you want to know the GM Law conveyancing fee quickly, simply fill out the Instant Quote and you will receive a complete list of property transfer prices, including taxes and our conveyancing fee. Even if you don’t agree with this fee, it will help you see the full list of taxes and services, what exactly in your case you will have to pay money for.
It’s important to know this list because sometimes conveyancers reduce the price of the fee for marketing purposes, but then it turns out that they charge a separate fee for certain stages of the property transfer.
What Documents do you Need when Transferring Property in Gold Coast?
There’s a lot of paperwork involved during a real estate transaction in Queensland, and it’s important that you get it right. Knowing which documents you’re required to prepare, sign and register is very important and that’s why you need to engage a company that can manage this requirement.
Form D2.2 is standard with all transactions, except in the event that you claim a home, or buy a home for the first time. Even if it’s a first home, vacant land concession, or a family business concession, you’ll be exempt from this transfer or stamp duty. It’s called a dutiable transaction statement, and it must be submitted within 30 days after the dutiable transaction goes through.
Next, you have form D2.1. If claiming a concession when buying a home you’ll use as your primary residence or main residence is what you want to achieve, this is the form you’ll need to fill out. In order to be eligible, you have to determine what concession category you fit into. For home concession, you must be a natural person that isn’t acting as a trustee in the transaction. You must also be sure that you’ll move into the residence with your belongings within a year of the transfer date.
Form D2.7 is for the first home vacant land concession. For this, you must not have held an interest in any residence in Australia or anywhere else. You must not have claimed the first home vacant land concession, be at least 18 years of age, and you should be acquiring a residence worth less than $550,000. If the value of the home is between $500,001 and $549,999, you’ll need to pay market value to qualify for it.
If by any chance you’re hoping to claim transfer duty concessions as it relates to a family business, form 2.5 is yours for filling. Those that fill this form will be those aiming to buy property to be used in a family primary production business. Form D2.5 is also required in the case of gifts of property from other family businesses, and from family members.
Where it concerns a dutiable transaction that doesn’t have documentation or any instrument to back it up as evidence, there’s form 2.3. In this instance, you’ve got to provide details of the dutiable property. You need to list all business assets involved in the transaction if any. If the transaction is on the basis of a partnership acquisition, you have to list all dutiable property held by that partnership. It’s the same with a trust, you must list all property held by that trust.
If non-Australian transferors and transferees are involved in the transfer of real property, then an identity details annexure must be completed. A transferer is considered non-Australian if they’re not an Australian citizen. It’s the same with a company that’s incorporated outside Australia, a trust with a non-Australian company of tax, or another entity formed outside of Australia.
How Much Does a Conveyancer Cost in Gold Coast?
Property solicitors will differ in what they charge, and the cheapest conveyancing Gold Coast has isn’t necessarily the best it has to offer. Get the best conveyancing Gold Coast has available, and along the way, conduct background checks on whomever you come across.
Any Gold Coast conveyancing lawyers you deal with must have the proper credentials to carry out the work they do. Getting a rookie on board would be a mistake. One way to check a conveyancing firm is to review a Google My Business Profile, as it is difficult to fake GMB reviews in large numbers due to the risk of subsequent downgrading of the account.
Conveyancing gold coast style isn’t like doing it any other way, even the Head of Research at Core Logic said the Gold Coast was one of last year’s top performers. There are nuances involved in the process that you won’t find anywhere else. That’s why you need a conveyancer Gold Coast has come to know and love. You can also check some conveyancers on Facebook and LinkedIn.
For best results, consider the firm’s conveyancing fee as that will be a good indicator of the quality of service you’ll receive.
Something else you’ll have to look out for when searching for Gold Coast conveyancing solicitors is whether or not they have positive reviews from real people. It would be even better to work with a firm that has helped a family member of a friend of yours in the past.
If you are buying a property with e help of a buyer’s agent, ask him to recommend a conveyancing firm. Yes, most likely your buyer’s agent gets a commission for transferring his client to a certain conveyancing firm, but that is why agents usually choose the best conveyancing service because in the real estate business clients often come back and if they give you good advice, you will come back to them to reinvest your property.
Make a shortlist
Now it’s time to analyze your information and make a shortlist. From your research and recommendations, make a shortlist of conveyancing solicitors to consider. It needn’t be long – perhaps two or three options will give you enough of a choice without consuming too much time.
It will also be helpful to come up with a list of non-negotiables – those things that are absolutely essential for you in your choice of a conveyancing solicitor. This will help make your decision easier in the next few stages.
Prepare a list of questions
You no doubt have many questions to ask about the process of conveyancing and how it will work in your individual circumstances, so write them down. This ensures you won’t forget anything important that you need to know the answer to.
Meet your prospective conveyancing solicitor/s
Once you have a list of quality options, your budget, your list of questions, and your checklist of what you’re seeking, it’s time to meet your potential conveyancing solicitor, either in person or on the phone. Arrange to have a quick conversation with each one, to give you a feel for which option you might prefer. Ask some questions and take note of how they answer them.
This will tell you a great deal about your potential conveyancing solicitor – not only the answers they give but how they give them and their manner of interacting with you. Do they communicate clearly and explain what they mean, or use legal jargon that you don’t understand? Do they listen as well as talk? Do they give you their full attention?
You’ll soon get a feeling about whether you can work effectively with this conveyancing solicitor, so listen to your gut instinct. Poor communication, unprofessional behavior, or a feeling of unease are all signs that this is not the conveyancing solicitor for you.
Make the best and most informed choice
Once you’ve “interviewed” your prospective conveyancing solicitors, sit down and try and match your shortlist of requirements with your list of conveyancing solicitors. It will probably be fairly clear which one is the best match for you. Consider the fee and make sure it is reasonable.
Make sure your conveyancing solicitor is qualified, experienced, and has a good track record, and that they make you feel comfortable and secure in their expertise.
Choosing the right conveyancing solicitor for your Gold Coast property transaction is an extremely important step, and will help make the process as stress-free as possible. Don’t rush it, take your time, consider your options and make the best and most informed decision.
Choose the best conveyancing solicitors on the Gold Coast
To talk with a team of expert and professional conveyors who know the Gold Coast area inside out, contact GM Law today here.
