Logan Conveyancing

Building and Pest Inspectors are licensed and should have professional indemnity insurance in place to protect their customers. When you engage the services of a Building and Pest Inspector yourself, you may benefit from a contractual relationship with them, and they may owe you a duty of care for services they perform for you. If it transpires that an inspector does not meet their contract conditions with you (or the duty of care placed on them for inspections), then there may be options for you to seek compensation from them for loss that you suffer. To recover loss, you would need to be prepared to commence court action, which can be expensive and time consuming, and there would have to be legal grounds for your claim, and a means of them paying you compensation.

If you rely on a Building and Pest Report paid for and/or obtained by another party, they have the benefit of the contract and duty of care rights, not you. As you do not have a legal relationship with the inspector, you cannot sue them in contract law or negligence for the report contents, even if they were incorrect.

Also, if you do not engage an independent inspector yourself, there is the possibility that the inspector’s report provided to you by the Seller was prepared by an inspector who is not independent of the Seller (eg. their friend or relative’s business).

We recommend reading reports provided by the Seller, but that our clients pay the very reasonable fee charged by their own Building and Pest Inspector.

Yes, we are lawyers with practising certificates and are qualified to perform conveyancing services in Queensland.

In Queensland, all conveyancing services must be supervised by lawyers who hold practising certificates issued by the Queensland Law Society. There is no registration or licensing scheme for conveyancers to work in Queensland independently of law firms. We are aware of businesses who promote themselves as conveyancers, but these businesses are required to have a lawyer who holds a practising certificate supervising the legal conveyancing services performed. 

We urge consumers to enquire with conveyancers about who they are supervised by, whether that lawyer is available for the consumer to speak with during the legal matter, and whether the lawyer is located (or regularly attends) in the same office location as the conveyancer. In our experience, discount conveyancing services do not often have these features, and so there is a risk that if an urgent conveyancing matter arises that requires the direct intervention of a qualified conveyancing lawyer, that person may not be available.

At Ryder Lawyers, we are a firm of two dedicated lawyers who work as a team on all legal matters, so our clients can have the confidence that there is a lawyer ready to step in to protect your rights and interests in Logan Conveyancing at the time you need us.

Most contracts for the sale of residential property in Queensland are subject to a cooling off period.

Exceptions apply, with the most common exceptions being if the property is purchased at an auction, or the cooling-off period is waived before the Contract is signed.

The cooling off period runs for five business days, starting on the day the Buyer receives a copy of the Contract, which has been signed by both parties to the sale.

When does the cooling off period end? The cooling off period ends at 5pm on the fifth business day after the Buyer receives the signed contract. The Buyer may terminate the contract during the cooling off period by giving the Seller a written notice cancelling the contract. A termination penalty applies to terminations under the cooling off period (0.25% of the purchase price).

Waiving the Cooling Off Period

A Buyer can waive (or shorten) the cooling off period in writing.

We are experiencing increased enquiries from Buyers who have been asked by a real estate agent to waive the cooling off period before signing a Contract. Buyers should never forgo such an important legal right before speaking with and receiving individual advice from a lawyer.

The cooling off period gives Buyers a short period of time to seek legal advice about the contract they have signed, and to understand the rights and implications of the contract. Where they change their mind about the purchase, a Buyer can exercise their rights under the cooling off period to terminate, provided they are within the timeframe and understand the penalty is payable.

When you purchase a property at auction, the contract will not contain a cooling off period, and will not be conditional on satisfactory building and pest inspections or obtaining satisfactory finance approval. There may be other special conditions in the auction contract.

We recommend Buyers complete their own building and pest inspections before deciding to bid at the auction, and have the cash funds available for the purchase. Some Buyers will bid at an auction where they are relying on funds from a Lender who has provided them with a conditional or unconditional loan approval. This is inherently risky, because there is the possibility the lender could withdraw their offer of finance before settlement.

We recommend Buyers contact a conveyancing lawyer in advance of the auction to have the auction contract reviewed, and for due diligence enquiries to be completed where possible.

We can refer Buyers to our trusted network of mortgage brokers, who can assist with loan approvals.