Inconjunction Real Estate - Reviewing The Contract

When you’re satisfied with the home, you’ll work with your solicitor / conveyancer to analyse the technicalities of the contract. This is vitally important. Amongst other things, your legal representative will be looking out for, and advising you of any of the following: -

The Certificate of Title
“Title” is the right of ownership that you will hold over the land and property. The most common titles in NSW are freehold and categorised as one of the following: -

Old System Title – The first system of land ownership in Australia (dating back to 1792). Properties under this system can trace ownership back to this time. When ownership is transferred to a new party the document that records the transaction is added to the document set. Current Government policy stipulates that a property that is owned under the Old System Title, when changing ownership, will be transferred to a Torrens Title.

Torrens Title – The common name for a property owned under a “Real Property Act Title”. This is the most common form of Title used today in Australia. The Title is registered with one document (known as the Certificate of Title), which stipulates a particular Folio (page) number to identify the property.

Strata Title – Relates to residential units and the rights to use communal property (such as swimming pools, gardens, driveways, etc.). It gives unrestricted ownership of the space between the walls of a unit.

Company Title – The oldest form of ownership of home units. With this form of ownership, a Company owns the block of units, and a buyers buys ‘shares’ that provides common use of a unit’s space (as well as communal areas). The main problem with this type of ownership is that any sale must be approved by the rest of the shareholders.

Community Title – is similar to Strata Title and applies to quality housing sub-divisions with community usage and responsibilities for common amenities.

As well as Freehold, other types of ownership exist such as “Crown Leasehold”, where the Government retains some control over the land usage.

Easements
If the contract stipulates that there are easements on the land, it means that other parties have rights to use the land (a common example includes easements held by a power company for the construction and maintenance of overhead power lines)

Right of way
Allows access across the land – i.e. for properties that have a common driveway

Covenants
Is a restriction on how the land may be used.

Dealings
Identify other parties that may have an interest in the land / property (other than the registered owner).

Caveats
Indicate that another person may be claiming rights over a property (i.e. may be the case if the vendors are divorcing)

There are other aspects that will need to be considered and your solicitor / conveyancer will be able to explain them as well as the legal obligations that you are committing to upon signing the contract.
It’s wise to satisfy yourself with the property AND the contract before you proceed to the next phases of the lifecycle….Submitting an offer and settlement.