Your Sale of Real Estate
We routinely represent people selling their property and appreciate how pivotal the transaction and handling of sale proceeds can be. Coelho & Coelho are well placed to protect your interests througout your conveyance.
Why Choose Coelho & Coelho
To sell a residential property, you must have a contract of sale before advertising the property for sale. The contract must include prescribed documents like the title extract, registered plan, drainage diagram and council certificate. Furthermore, potential issues must be addressed in the terms and conditions.
The conveyancing team at Coelho & Coelho are supported by a solicitor and are proficient and experienced at preparing the contract and representing you throughout your transaction.
With over 30 years of experience assisting property owners in their sale of real estate, our team are an excellent choice and would be pleased to represent you.
Why You Should Engage Lawyers
It is best to prepare the contract well and have a good legal team on your side from the start. Coelho & Coelho have the legal experience to support you and your real estate agent in a sale by auction or private treaty, and to handle contract enquiries and negotiations by purchasers or their conveyancers. Our contracts include terms and conditions to protect our vendors, and we include the contractual documents and disclosures prescribed by law.
In conveyancing, it is best to have the right advice and documentation from the outset, and timely legal assistance when it is needed.
Call us on (02) 9877 0772 to discuss the sale of your property.
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Ready to sell? Fill out our intake form.
What Our Clients Say About Us
We have engaged Coelho & Coelho in a few conveyancing matters. The team has always been professional and very helpful. They are pleasant to deal with, and we have thoroughly enjoyed our experience with them. Thank you.
We had sold 2 properties and bought 1 property with them and all processes are smooth. They guided us in all the transactions and provided professional opinions on some of our purchasers' requests that helped us avoid potential pitfalls.
Checklist: Preparing Your Property for Sale
Coelho & Coelho have prepared this practical guide to assist our clients wanting to prepare their property for sale.
- Consider your personal circumstances and the circumstances of your family to determine when you might sell your property.
- Do some research on sale prices in the last 6 months for similar properties in your neighbourhood. A good starting point is to look in the recent ‘sold’ prices section of realestate.com.au or domain.com.au.
- Read the reviews written by vendors about their agent and ask around for referrals.
- Consider if repairing and repainting damaged or worn areas of your property will increase the sale value.
- If there is a garden or courtyard, tidy it up before you put the property on the market for sale.
- Speak to your real estate agent about all the above and take their strategy advice.
- Review the agency agreement, and consider the length of the exclusive agency period and the commission and fees you must pay - these are negotiable terms of the agreement. When you are ready, sign an agency agreement with the real estate agent you have chosen to get started.
- In discussion with your appointed real estate agent, determine if the market is best for a sale by private treaty or by auction, and the sale price you should be able to achieve.
- Contact Coelho & Coelho about preparing a contract of sale. You may phone us on (02) 9877 0772 for a quote, or use the enquiry form on our website.
- As to what documents and information will be needed for Coelho & Coelho to represent you in your sale of property, see the FAQs below.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What information should I give my conveyancer to start preparing a contract?
- The full name and address of each vendor on the property's title certificate.
- A strata levy notice (if a strata property), or a council rates notice (if a house or duplex).
- Photo ID.
We will start on it and provide you with a checklist or questionnaire to gather the remaining information needed. You may phone us on (02) 9877 0772 if you have any questions.
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Can you prepare a contract to sell land I am in the process of subdividing?
Yes, a contract for the sale of unregistered land can be prepared for you to sell land, or a house and land package, while you are waiting for subdivision approvals or for the NSW Department of Land Registry Services to register the new property title or titles. Settlement is normally 21 days after the title is registered.
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Do you need my real estate agent's name and contact details?
Yes, give us the information after you have signed the agency agreement. The name of the agent you have appointed and their real estate agency is recorded on the front page of the contract of sale. As most agency agreements give the agent a period of exclusive agency, be sure to only sign one agency agreement.
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What else do you need from me?
- A change of name certificate, if your name on the property title certificate, ID or ATO records do not match.
- An ATO capital gains withholding clearance certificate for each vendor.
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How long does it take to sell my property?
After your real estate agent has received the contract of sale from us, they can commence advertising your property for sale. The marketing campaign is typically for about 3 to 4 weeks, but longer in a slow market. Settlement is usually 42 days from the date contracts are exchanged. You should call our office if you want to discuss a shorter or longer settlement period.
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Should I disclose any renovation, deck, carport or extension for which I don't have council approval?
You should disclose it to us so we can discuss if a special condition dealing with it is needed in the contract of sale. Some unapproved works or defects in the property can give the purchaser a right to make a claim against you or end their contract with you within 14 days after signing it.
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Should I disclose information such as defects, disputes or notices about the property to my conveyancing lawyer?
Yes. This includes:
- any defect in the property or its boundary fences or walls,
- any dispute involving the property, or the boundary fences or walls, or
- any letter or notice from an authority about the property.
You should inform us so that we may advise you if the information is material and needs a special condition in the contract of sale.
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What are the certificates I need if my property has a swimming pool?
You should provide us with the following for attachment to the contract of sale:
- A certificate of registration, and
- Either a certificate of compliance, or a certificate of non-compliance.
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Can you help the executor of an estate who doesn't know anything about the property that is for sale?
Yes. We will include special conditions addressing your circumstances. You should phone us to discuss the expected timeline.
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Can you help me with the sale of property as required under a Family Court order?
Yes. You should phone us to discuss and provide us with a copy of the Family Court orders. We will contact the lawyers or conveyancers representing the other party.
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Who will hold the purchaser's deposit?
It is usually the real estate agency you appointed that receives the 10% deposit in their statutory trust account. During negotiations, the purchaser may request that they deposit 5% instead. In an exchange of contracts with a cooling off period, the purchaser will pay a 0.25% deposit and the balance of the deposit on the last day of the cooling off period.
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What happens if the purchaser decides to withdraw from the contract during the cooling off period?
The purchaser's legal representative will issue a notice of rescission, then you can legally forfeit their 0.25% deposit and sell the property to a different purchaser.
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What happens if the purchaser wants to proceed with the contract during the cooling off period?
If the purchaser is satisfied with their property enquiries and receives the finance approval they want for the purchase, your agent will remind them to pay the balance of the deposit into the real estate agency's statutory trust account on or before the day the cooling off period expires. If they don't, we will write to them about paying the deposit immediately.
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Can the vendor use the deposit before settlement of the sale?
Yes, we can include a special condition allowing the vendor to use the deposit before settlement as a deposit on the purchase of another property. The deposit would be transferred from your real estate agent's trust account to the other real estate agent's trust account, to be held until settlement of your purchase of the other property. It is possible to have a special condition allowing release of the deposit to the vendor, however, there may be push back and negotiation from the purchaser's lawyers.
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What if my builder or tradesperson did not give me a Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) insurance certificate for residential building work over $20,000 that was done to the property less than 7 years ago?
You should contact the builder to inform them that you are selling the property and need the HBCF certificate from them, as it is legally required to be attached to the contract of sale. A purchaser can legally terminate the contract of sale within 14 days of signing it, and receive a full refund of their deposit, if the certificate is not attached. Alternatively, details of the HBCF insurance will be needed so that the purchaser can look it up on the iCare website.
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When should I receive the Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) insurance certificate?
Builders must purchase the HBCF insurance and give you the HBCF certificate of currency in relation to the renovations or building work before asking for a deposit or starting work on the job, where the cost is $20,000 or more. The HBCF insurance protects you, and the next owner of the property, for 6 years in relation to structural issues and 2 years in relation to non-structural issues from the date the work was completed. You do not need to give the purchaser a HBCF certificate of currency if it has been more than 7 years since completion of the work.
