1. Contract for Sale of Land – Engage our services early to avoid any delay in preparing your Sale Contract. Your Selling Agent cannot market your property (including uploading the property to their website, domain or realestate.com.au) without first receiving the full marketing Contract.
If your property is located within the Willoughby, Lane Cove or Hornsby Council areas we can prepare your sale Contract within 24 hours from receipt of instructions!
2. Do you have your OLD Contract from when you purchased the property? Do you still have this? If so, it may assist us with the preparation of your new Sale Contract and also save you money as some of the searches can be re-used.
3. Have you renovated your property? If so, did you spend more than $12,000? Depending on the type of renovation (cosmetic or structural ) a Certificate of Insurance under the Home Building Act 1989 may be required. If such Insurance relates to the renovations carried out and you do not annex a copy of the Insurance to the Sale Contract, your Contract may be voidable by the Purchaser any time up to settlement.
If your renovations were structural (including the installation of a spa or swimming pool) a Final Occupation Certificate is most likely required to be issued by Council or a Private Certifier. Again, failure to annex a copy of the Final Occupation Certificate to the Sale Contract could leave you exposed as a Seller and enabling the Purchaser to make a claim for compensation under the Contract or in certain circumstances the Contract could be voidable by the Purchaser.
Where the footprint of the property has changed due to your renovations you should consider annexing an identification survey report to your Sale Contract. The Survey Report will disclose to any prospective buyer that all the improvements (new and old) stand within the legal title to the property and there are no encroachments onto any adjoining properties.
4. Have you installed a smoke alarm in the property? It is now compulsory for any residential property to have at least one smoke alarm installed (Environmental Planning & Assessment Amendment (Smoke Alarms) Regulation 2006). As a Seller a “Smoke Alarm Warning Statement” is required to be included in your Sale Contract. This means you need to ensure that smoke alarms are installed in the appropriate locations. Failure to have a smoke alarm fitted in a property could leave you exposed as a Seller and open to a claim for compensation by the Purchaser.
5. Special Levies/Strata Units – Are you aware of any special levies or expenses likely to be incurred by the owners corporation which could result in the striking of a special levy? If so, is the levy likely to exceed 1% of the Sale Price? The standard provisions of the Contract for Sale of Land provide that if a special levy is struck or there is evidence of a large expense between exchange of Contracts and settlement which exceeds 1% of the Sale Price then the Purchaser may rescind (get out of) your Contract.
We recommend that the details of any special levy be disclosed in your Sale Contract.
