Residential Conveyancing

Residential Conveyancing

QLD and NSW

Fox and Thomas can assist with residential property transactions for the whole of Queensland and New South Wales, whether it be the purchase or sale of your home  or an investment property.

Our local Conveyancing Team offer a stress-free transaction with modern technology which allows us to receive your instructions when face to face consultations are not convenient.

When we receive your initial instructions, we offer a complimentary review and discussion of key terms of the contract with you prior to the contract being signed.

How to get ready

Whether you are buying or selling, we recommend you have critical conversations with your conveyancer and your financier to discuss any potential requirements prior to committing to a contract.

An item of note when negotiating a property transaction is to have a clear understanding of what items will be included or excluded from a sale.

Once you have decided that you are buying or selling a property, you should provide our contact details to the selling agent so that they can provide us with a draft contract prior to it being signed.

Due Diligence

Due Diligence is the process of conducting investigations into the property you are purchasing. There are a range of significant issues that may affect a property and may impose restrictions or obligations on you as owner of the property. It is important that you are satisfied with your due diligence enquiries prior to the contract becoming unconditional.

There is no limit to the level of due diligence you may wish to conduct. This can be very overwhelming and can leave a purchaser feeling lost on where to start. We recommend you consider what is important to you about the property, why you are purchasing this particular property and how you want to use the property now and into the future. These few questions can assist your solicitor in determining what level of due diligence is right for you. The cost of conducting appropriate due diligence now may save you significant costs in the future.

It is also a good idea to discuss your potential purchase with your insurer before you commit to a contract. Certain areas within Queensland and New South Wales may be considered high risk for insurers and therefore may have higher insurance premiums than what you have budgeted for.

When selling a property, you should place yourself in a purchaser’s shoes and ask yourself “what would I want to know about this property?” We recommend you give thought to this question and gather any information you may have in relation to the property so that you have as much information as possible available to assist your purchaser with their due diligence enquiries. Assisting a purchaser with their due diligence enquiries will ultimately assist in your contract becoming unconditional.

Purchasing entity advice

We provide advice on how to best structure your property purchase, depending on your individual and business circumstances. What structure you choose to purchase property in can have wide reaching effects on areas such as tax, estate and succession planning, and asset protection, so it is important that the most appropriate entity is selected.

Foreign buyers

Fox and Thomas are experienced in assisting foreign buyers acquire property throughout Queensland and NSW, having acted for buyers from Europe, North America and the UnitedKingdom.Foreign buyers who wish to purchase residential property or agricultural land are subject to a number of rules.

Foreign buyers purchasing residential property (of any value) or agricultural land (above $15 million)must obtain approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board(FIRB) before acquiring the property. We can assist you in the FIRB approval process and ensure that the necessary special conditions are included in the contract for sale.

There are additional stamp duty implications for foreign buyers of residential property which we can advise you on. In NSW, foreign buyers of residential property are charged an additional surcharge duty of 8% and in Queensland, foreign buyers of residential property are charged an additional transfer duty of 7% known asAdditional Foreign Acquirer Duty(AFAD).

Foreign buyers of agricultural land and water entitlements are also required to register their interest/son the Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land and the Register ofForeign Ownership of Water Entitlements. We can assist with this registration process.