6 May 2010
Buying or Selling a Property
Our aim is to ensure that this often stressful process proceeds in a smooth and efficient manner
As you embark upon purchasing a new home or selling your existing property, it is prudent to take professional legal advice at an early stage in the process. Quite often one’s emotions take hold and what should be an objective decision making process becomes shrouded in subjectivity.
We recommend that you engage your lawyer to review any agreement for sale and purchase prior to signature, as this will afford you the opportunity to make any suggested amendments. It is extremely important to remember that once you have signed the agreement, a legally binding contract comes into force with the ensuing legal obligations.
A recent court case in Northland clearly demonstrates the strict approach that a court will adopt in determining a contracting party’s legal obligations. Mr and Mrs A entered into a contract to purchase a new home with the contract being conditional, amongst others, upon them selling their existing home. Their circumstances changed with the result that they did not vigorously pursue a sale of their existing home. They consequently cancelled the contract on the basis that this condition had not been satisfied. The vendor eventually sold the property but at a far lower price than that provided for in the original contract with Mr and Mrs A. The vendor successfully sued Mr and Mrs A for his loss (in excess of $100,000), the court holding that Mr and Mrs A had a legal obligation to use all their efforts to fulfil the condition of selling their existing home and that they had not discharged their responsibility in this instance.
In addition to receiving the requisite and timely legal advice, it is essential that you are kept abreast of all developments pertaining to your transaction. In order to facilitate this, Quay Law has embraced a unique piece of conveyancing software which enables all interested parties in a conveyancing transaction to be kept in the loop at all times.
KeyTrack allows not only you as the vendor or purchaser of a property, but also all related service providers such as your real estate agent, mortgage broker, banker etc to follow your conveyancing transaction online. Using the KeyTrack system has the following benefits:
- You are able to view the status of your property transaction online 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
- You will receive email and/or text alerts when conditions in your agreement have been satisfied and when your agreement is declared unconditional.
- You will receive email and/or text alerts upon your deal settling including notification that the keys can be released/collected.
- If you have multiple transactions on the go you are able to view all of those transactions with your single login saving you time in phoning or emailing the lawyers associated with each deal.
- The electronic file is stored indefinitely for you to access (free of charge) at any time in the future.
- You will have global access to your transactions and will receive text message updates globally.
- Your estate agent /estate agency branch administrator also has access to your transaction thereby saving you the hassle of having to communicate with your agent as well as your lawyer.
- Your estate agent is able to keep you updated with online developments relating to the marketing of your property eg the outcome of your open homes.
The team at Quay Law are excited about the additional efficiency and service levels which the KeyTrack system will deliver to our clients.
It goes without saying that there are numerous factors and additional costs, some of which you may not have considered, involved when buying or selling a property. Having an awareness of these aspects at the outset will stand you in good stead.
Please feel free to contact Ian Mellett at Quay Law for more information or if you have any questions regarding your conveyancing or other legal needs. You may also wish to visit our website www.quaylaw.co.nz.
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