Leasing 101: NSW Lessor and Lessee Disclosure Statements

Why Should I Bother? How a Lawyer Can Help You During Commercial Conveyancing Matters

When buying or selling a commercial property, you will be faced with a multitude of legal jargon and complicated documents. Without proper understanding, there is no certainty that your interests are protected. That’s where a commercial lawyer comes in: an expert who understands the process and ensures that you get the best deal possible.

So how do commercial lawyers do this? Is it really worth paying all those legal fees? The answer is entirely up to you, but I have prepared this post to attempt to convince you that yes, it is.

The Intricacies of Buying and Selling Property

The process may seem simple on the surface: a landlord owns a property, a tenant buys it. But once you get into the details, things become a lot more complicated.

See if you can answer these questions. What does ‘neat and tidy’ actually encompass? Is there a deadline for when a tenant can ask a landlord to fix something in the house? If a party fails to show up to settlement, what happens then? There is a huge stain on the carpet in my unit that I am trying to sell, what do I do? It’s no issue at all if you cannot answer these questions, because most people cannot. But a lawyer can.

Understanding Your Rights and Responsibilities

A commercial lawyer will work to ensure all of their client’s interests are being protected, while also being aware of the rights and responsibilities of each party. That way, when a disagreement arises, your lawyer will likely be the only one who can handle it.

Here is a list of some common conflicts that arise during the conveyancing process, either through disagreements or a lack of understanding, including examples of how your lawyer can help you work through them.

• Settlement Figures and Adjustments

A lawyer can help you discern exactly what is being bought and sold. This may seem obvious: a property. Duh. But what other ‘hidden costs’ come with that property? For example, many forget or do not know that rates belong to the property, not the owner. As soon as settlement day comes along, it will be the tenant’s responsibility to pay for them. Therefore, the settlement figure goes down depending on how expensive rates are.

• Understanding the Contract

A lawyer will help you understand each clause in your contract, and exactly what to expect when settlement day rolls around. Take this example. A buyer visits the property pre-exchange and presumes that the home’s gas heater will be included in the settlement because they presume it to be a fixture. However, when the buyer finally moves in, they are shocked to discover that the heater was not a fixture as first thought and instead the seller’s unscrewed it and took it with them. However, since the contracts have already been written, the buyer has no legal right to demand the heater back. Such a calamity could have been avoided should the tenant have consulted a lawyer to explain that the heater was a fixture so it was not included in settlement or could have arranged for the contract to allow it.

• Conditions of Property on Settlement

Unbeknownst to most, there is a deadline for buyers to demand things to be changed before settlement. For example, say you are a buyer and have moved into your new home on settlement day, only to realise that the living room fan does not work. Unfortunately for the buyer, this was not discovered in the pre-exchange settlement and thus the buyer has no legal right to demand it be fixed. How could the buyer have prevented this unfortunate conundrum? With, you guessed it, a lawyer.

• Failure to Settle

Let’s say that settlement date rolls around, and one party fails to settle on time. What happens then? If one afflicted party did not have a lawyer to speak their case, this could be a severe hindrance on their ability to settle on time.

• Unexpected Events

Let’s say that the home air-conditioning completely breaks in between exchange and settlement in the middle of summer, and there is not enough time for the landlord to hire a handyman to fix it in time. If one side does not have a lawyer, this unprecedented fork in the road could break the settlement. But with a lawyer, an agreement can be reached, whether to decrease the settlement figure or delay settlement.

So, Should You Bother?

A commercial lawyer is like insurance. It may seem fruitless in the beginning, but it may just end up saving your neck. There is bound to be a disagreement or two during the conveyancing process. But with a commercial lawyer in hand, these dilemmas can be worked through effectively and efficiently.