OPINION by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Solicitor Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au What do you do when a property you have contracted to sell is damaged (by flood, fire or whatever) before settlement? What do you do if you are the buyer of that property? These critical questions arose for more than a few sellers and buyers across Queensland during the State’s extensive flooding of December 2010 and January 2011. A year later, with Queenslanders currently remembering...
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OPINION by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Solicitor Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Real estate agents are rarely prosecuted or sued. Sure, we regularly hear about misbehaviour in the real estate industry and occasionally a real estate agent appears in court, but this is a rarity compared to the level of misbehaviour and misconduct encountered by consumers on a day to day basis. The reason for the low rate of court actions against real estate agents is the...
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OPINION by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Solicitor Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Marty Zelig was a former articled law clerk who, while continuing to study part-time for his law degree, became a project coordinator with a property development company. His new job involved handling all the company’s real estate transactions. So when work-mate Francine Clare and her husband George signed a contract to buy their first home, Marty happily agreed to look after their conveyancing to save...
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Lawyers Conveyancing Facebook Page Quality and Legal Best Practice In keeping with our commitments to client satisfaction and continuous improvement as a Best Practice – Quality Endorsed Law Firm, we have established this self-help facility as a means by which we can offer assistance to conveyancing consumers while also obtaining feedback and information about conveyancing consumer needs. This assists us in ensuring that we can continue to provide the best quality conveyancing services for our...
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The Office of Consumer and Business Affairs (OCBA) is warning conveyancers of their legal duty to declare any relevant interests on properties they deal with, following successful disciplinary action in the District Court. Today Judge Wayne Chivell officially reprimanded Bernard Ignatius Flood and fined him $2000 as a result of Mr Flood acting unlawfully and negligently in his practice as a conveyancer. Mr. Flood has operated a conveyancing business in Mount Gambier but the court...
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OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au The Queensland Law Society has happily informed its solicitor members that the Queensland Government does not intend to allow licensed conveyancers to practise in the Sunshine State. No matter that many solicitors here have long disguised themselves as conveyancers, and conduct their conveyancing practices under imaginative, less-than-imaginative and less-than-professional business names where the words “conveyancing’ or “conveyancers” feature prominently. Consider these crass examples: Affordable Conveyancing, Aussie Conveyancing,...
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OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au (Following on from “Licensed Conveyancer Corruption Must Be Stopped“, Tim O’Dwyer reports on a lawyer conveyancer’s attempt to attract referrals from real estate agents. Readers are also referred to Tim’s posting Catch 32 On Solicitors’ Independence regarding estate agent referrals to lawyers.) After the principal of a small suburban law firm sent an email touting his services to several real estate agents, one agent passed it on to...
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OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate Consumer AdvocateReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd I was motivated to write this article for www.AustralianRealEstateBlog.com.au after I had received a series of emails from a Licensed Conveyancer, Paul Garson of Stonnington Conveyancing. Garson believes that lawyers, who for many years have been the only legitimate conveyancers in the industry, should no longer call themselves “conveyancers”. It seemed to me that Garson had begun...
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OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd I have previously written about estate agents who refer clients to “pet” solicitors and conveyancers in return for payment, and the corrupting effect this has on the industry. An equally insidious form of client referral is the “punishment referral”. This is where the estate agent refers clients away from a lawyer or conveyancer as a form of punishment. Two...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Solicitor Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Victoria’s solicitors have been informed by their Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee (“LPLC”) that their mishandling of property conveyancing is one of the most costly sources of clients’ negligence claims. Whether acting for vendors or purchasers, conveyancing solicitors have been warned to be especially careful regarding Section 32 Statements. Section 32 of Victoria’s Sale of Land Act 1962 requires vendors of real estate, before contracts...
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