If you are involved in real estate transactions and conveyancing in Queensland, Australia, it might be time to consider looking into some of the best conveyancing solicitors. Quality conveyancing pays off in more ways than one when looking into property in Australia. They can help make the transactions as hassle-free and smooth as possible for you.
However, it is essential to note that if your case is in the hands of the wrong solicitor, the process that is already rather complicated can become even more so. As such, it is vital that you take your time and deeply consider the difference between conveyancers vs. solicitors before you employ them for your case. Let’s look at what conveyancing is, what they do, and some conveyancing qualifications.
Signs of the Best Conveyancing Solicitors
It is a solicitor’s responsibility to be a master of many trades. As such, take a look at these seven non-negotiable signs of the best conveyancing solicitors that will help you make your decision much more easily.
1. Qualified and Experienced
When you start searching for a conveyancer in Queensland, find out if the firm you are considering for conveyancing has a QLD Law Society Practicing certificate. This certificate will give them a permit to act on your behalf, which is very important. Here is the article about the difference between conveyancer and solicitor in Queensland which goes into more detail about the reasons for the need for a Practicing certificate.
When your conveyancing solicitor is registered and licensed, it goes a long way to show you as a client that they meet all the possible requirements you have regarding experience, knowledge, and qualifications.
These solicitors must also have met specific character requirements that would make them an ideal choice for you for any legal problems you may face down the line. When a solicitor has such extensive training, it gives them a unique skill set and the knowledge they need to deal with any legal issues you may face when dealing with a property transaction. It is very likely that when you are dealing with a qualified and experienced solicitor in QLD, they have probably already dealt with similar legal issues before your case and will have the right advice ready for you when you need it.
What’s more? They will also ensure you have complete confidentiality during the deals.
2. A Good Communicator
A Conveyancing Solicitor with good communication skills will explain to you clearly and succinctly the steps in the process and how it all works. Solicitors regularly need to explain complex legal information to their clients, so it is vital they can make it understandable to people without a legal background. They should listen to your concerns, needs, and desires and explain things you don’t understand. If your conveyancing solicitor uses hard-to-understand legal jargon and doesn’t seem to listen or understand your concerns, you may have a problem.
Obviously, without a general knowledge of what conveyancing is, you can’t check the quality of your potential conveyor’s explanations, but we have a property transfer guide with clarifications on the conveying process for buyers and sellers in Queensland that you can rely on.
A conveyancing solicitor will have to liaise with several people throughout your property transaction, including buyers, sellers, real estate agents, and lending institutions. Poor communication leads to conflict and misunderstanding, so it’s wise to find someone who can communicate clearly and effectively.
3. Professionalism
Being professional is essential, as you trust this person’s entire administration of your property transaction. A good conveyancing solicitor will always remain professional. They will show a great deal of integrity and sound judgment and will handle your transaction with sensitivity and capability.
Conveyancing is a complex and specialized area of law, and a good conveyancing solicitor will be well versed in all areas of it. They should quickly adapt to changing situations and deal with anything that comes across their path.
Here are some ways to recognize a professional conveyancer:
- A professional conveyancer keeps the line between formal and personal communication. The ability not to be too formal in communication is an important soft skill for any conveyancing solicitor;
- A professional conveyancer knows all the main property news in recent years;
- A professional conveyancer is not afraid to say if something goes wrong, but always has one or more options to solve the problem;
- A professional conveyor firm has many positive reviews on Google My Business;
- In personal communication, a professional conveyor hints at a willingness to cooperate for a long time and doesn’t give a hard bounce when a client tries to reduce the cost of the commission. Not because he is ready to give in to you, but because he is a professional negotiator, and this is in the order of things for him.
Not all of these criteria work individually, but if each of the points fits, then with a high probability, the conveyor is a professional.
4. Been a good time manager and react within 24 hours
The conveyancing process comes with stringent timelines that need to be met. Failure to do so can see your property transaction come to a grinding halt. A time-wise conveyancing solicitor will be able to ensure you meet all your legal requirements promptly.
Brisbane and Gold Coast are some of the most competitive conveying markets in the world, so good conveyancers in Queensland fight for their customers’ time.
For example, GM Law conveyancing firm has created the Instant Quote Form in which the user can automatically receive an estimate of the cost of the fee for conveyancing by entering their property data, which means that after 24 hours we can skip discussing a number of details with the client on his transaction. This 24-hour response is a hallmark of all conveyancers operating in highly competitive markets like Brisbane and Sydney.
Accordingly, if a conveyancer in Queensland can’t answer you within 24 hours, then this indicates that he has no idea about the degree of competition in Australia, or this company is simply not able to handle this level of competition.
5. Accessible
You want to deal with a conveyancing solicitor in all QLD areas like Cleveland, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Sunnybank, etc., who is available whenever you need them (who can meet you in person, not just remotely) and who you can liaise with directly. The last thing you want is an inaccessible person with whom you need to play phone tag and who’s always too busy to get back to you.
Do not settle for passing messages back and forth through other people – find a conveyancing solicitor you can have direct access to who is responsive and easily accessible.
6. A Problem Solver
The conveyancing process essentially involves uncovering problems and figuring out the most effective way to solve them. A good conveyancing solicitor will thoroughly research all angles of the problem and use their experience and expertise to make sure it gets solved.
For example, sometimes there are situations when you sell real estate that you rent or inherit. You do not need to contact any additional lawyer to solve such issues, many of these nuances could be resolved at the conveyancer level, but you should check with the conveyancer at the consultation stage if they are willing to go that far in helping you.
7. Someone Who Knows Your Local Area
Hiring a conveyancing solicitor who understands your local region’s unique challenges and requirements is also essential. You need to find someone who has a presence in your local area and has been there for a while.
This will ensure they have ready knowledge concerning your city and your local council and can help you overcome the unique challenges of your area. A good conveyancing solicitor will be very knowledgeable about your state’s differing laws, regulations, and requirements, as well as any amendments and changes to legislation.
Pay special attention to the difference between Queensland and the rest of the states in Australia. For example, Queensland has its own peculiarities of calculating Stump Duty. This is one of the first things you should be told by your conveyancers in QLD if you are a potential client from another state or country.
Signs of a Bad Solicitor
Up until the property transfer, there are many chances of things going wrong, and they can happen very quickly. But how to understand at what stage you can change your conveyancer? Even when it comes to big money, it is often difficult for us to refuse when we have already written an email, talked on the phone, and sent a package of documents.
That’s why to take another look at the stages of the conveyancing process: before you’ve signed a contract, you can easily abandon a bad conveyancer. The signing of the contract, as well as a cooling-off period of five working days, is the point when you can still refuse the conveyor.
So, here are a few signs that your property conveyancer should not be dealt with.
Inefficient and Late
Being late is just a warning sign of a much bigger problem, and that is that your conveyancing solicitor is inefficient and as such, finds it difficult to keep up with their commitments. You should keep an eye out for how they carry themselves. Are they always groomed or appear disheveled? If they continue to be late, it is a red flag you should not ignore.
They Don’t Keep Up With the Times
A big red flag when it comes to bad conveyancers is their refusal to use new-age technology, which is now absolutely essential to our survival. They must be able to use emails, know how to scan, check IDs, and more. If they refuse to simply adapt to the technology that surrounds them, then that means that they are still living in another time and are simply not the right fit for your case.
Communication Delays
This is just an extension of a much bigger problem, which is your conveyancer’s inefficiency. Your conveyancer must be capable of acting and thinking quickly on their feet as your case develops, not after it has already transformed into its final shape. If you find it harder to access your conveyancing solicitor, who says they will call back and never do, fail to answer their phone on time, or make excuses not to see you when you need them for a consult, perhaps it is time to change your representation.
Can’t Use Layman’s Terms
You have to be a conveyancer solicitor yourself to understand all the jargon they use, it is true, but your conveyancer needs to be able to communicate with you as a client. If your conveyancer is incapable of using general terms to help you understand your case so you can make an informed decision, it’s a red flag that you should not ignore. Ask, ask, and ask until you are satisfied and if you’re not, change your representations effective immediately.
How do you know what questions to ask a conveying solicitor in Queensland? Just go to the Queensland Government website, find any article related to the transfer of property and ask your potential conveyancer to translate it into a language you can understand. If the conveyancer is failing, this is a red flag for you.
How to Complain about a Conveyancing Solicitor
As mentioned above, the conveyancing market in Australia is very competitive, and any conveyancing companies are constantly monitoring both complaints and praises addressed to their employees, so you can be sure that any large conveyancing company will pay attention to your email if you praise or criticize their conveyancer. Most sites have a Сontact us form for this.
If you are not comfortable writing an email or Contact us form, then you can simply send a review to Google My Business account of your conveyancing firm, as it is one of the main ways to monitor feedback from clients for conveyancers, which is carefully studied by every conveyancing firm.
For many conveying firms, this is so important that they deliberately put links to their GMB accounts in the most prominent place on their Home pages. Usually, in such reviews, clients mention conveyancers by name (you can find review examples in our GMB profile), which then affects the reputation of these employees in the company.
