Stork Davies Legal Advisors principal Shannon Davies popped up in the real estate lift-out of The West Australian over the weekend, to share some of his thoughts on the scope for lawyers to advise buyers on residential property transactions.
“Stork Davies Legal Advisors Principal Shannon Davies said property law was a broad church with varying specialised roles.
He said there were three reasons most homebuyers did not seek legal advice when purchasing property.
‘The first reason is people tend to be unwilling to spend money on lawyers, especially at the lower end of the residential property market,’ Mr Davies said.
‘The second reason is most homes change hands via what is known as the Joint Form of General Conditions for the Sale of Land, which is a de facto industry standard and is considered reasonably fair to both buyer and seller.
‘The third reason has to do with current market conditions – if you’re a buyer and you take the time to seek legal advice, there is a chance someone else will swoop in on the purchase.’
Mr Davies said buyers should consider seeking a lawyer’s help whenever there was complexity to navigate.
‘For example, some strata contract packages run to hundreds of pages,’ he said.
‘There is a lot to unpaid there, especially if you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of strata schemes.
‘Or the seller might be a mortgagee and you’re trying to get your head around the mortgagee’s sale conditions.
‘๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ.’
…
๐๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฆ.
‘๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ช๐ต’๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ’๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต’๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ,’ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ.”
