OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au After many years as a conveyancing solicitor I identified three immutable rules of real estate. The first is that salespersons move fast. The second is that solicitors move slowly. And the third, the reason for the first two, is that buyers and sellers alike can change their minds. When real estate consumers – particularly buyers – change their minds part-way through contracts, their conveyancing solicitors are expected...
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OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Several months after contracting to buy six beach resort units, as well as the resort’s management and letting rights, Fred Sutton had second thoughts about his company’s purchase. No matter that the seller company had already made some post-contract concessions: a price reduction on the rights contract, and extensions of time for finance and the completion date of both contracts. Each contract was conditional on the other,...
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OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au An Appeal Court has ruled that a father and his daughter validly escaped a developer’s option to buy their property because of a solicitor’s slackness over the Christmas-New Year holiday period.When Maitland Murray and daughter Jacqueline bought a bungalow in Birmingham, England, from pension fund trustees one of the sale terms gave the trustees, who owned adjoining playing fields, an option to re-purchase from Murrays. This option...
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by Shannyn HunterConveyancer shannyn@lawyersconveyancing.com.au Lawyers Conveyancing On Monday morning purchasers can experience a real estate hangover. After a weekend of elation at finding their dream house and pressure from the agent to make an offer, with hesitation they sign on the dotted line and their concerns about legal advice are pushed aside. They are locked into a contract. Unfortunately, the emotive attachment that causes you to buy a property can also cause you to forego certain...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Gold Coast conveyancing clerk Anne Mullins and her company Simply Conveyancing Australia Pty Ltd have pleaded guilty to Office of Fair Trading charges that they falsely held themselves out as legal practitioners in breach of Sections 573A and 573C of the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act (PAMDA). Fair Trading may have made legal history when it laid these “marketeering” charges, in circumstances of apparent illegal property...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading has lost, and lost badly, a landmark case mounted in the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal against Gold Coast solicitor Donald Dickie. The implications of this decision, which Fair Trading decided not to appeal, are likely to significantly affect residential property sales and conveyancing practices across Queensland. Attorney-General Kerry Shine, the Bligh Government’s minister responsible for the Fair Trading portfolio, may need to...
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