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PPR advice from the leading solicitor in Springwood
When buying a home to live in you are entitled to claim a Principal Place of Residence concession whereby you pay stamp duty at a lesser rate. In order to qualify for this concession you must sign a declaration and in that declaration are one or two points which are often overlooked by buyers (this happens frequently when buyers don’t ask the advice of a solicitor in Springwood).
Firstly, you cannot “dispose” of the land or the residence, lease or otherwise grant exclusive possession of part or all of the property to another person if you are claiming the First Home or Principal Place of Residence concession. This also may include renting out a room within the home. There have been cases where a buyer, in order to help meet the mortgage payments has rented out a bedroom to a friend and that has been held to be “disposing” of part of the residence.
Secondly, to qualify for the stamp duty concession you must occupy the home within twelve (12) months of the settlement date. This time limit is strict, there is no way around it. The seller can continue to occupy the property after settlement provided they vacate the premises within six (6) months. If the property is tenanted at the time of purchase then the existing tenants can continue to occupy the property after the settlement date provided they vacate at the end of the term of their lease or within six (6) months of the settlement date, whichever is first to occur. It is important to note that the lease arrangement had to be in place prior to the settlement date and that it cannot be renewed or extended.
We had a case recently where a client failed to qualify because she didn’t take occupation within the time period and had to pay an additional $15,000 in stamp duty.
Be very careful when signing the Form 2.1 Declaration. Read it carefully and make sure you understand what you are signing and that you are going to be able to meet the criteria. Your best step is to speak to your solicitor in Springwood who can guide you through the process.
I think everyone by now has heard of the horse meat furore unfolding in the UK and Europe; the widespread contamination of processed beef products with up to 100% horse meat. How is this relevant to legal services pricing? Simple really, it doesn’t matter whether you are talking processed meat or dubious legal services at the end of the day you get what you pay for.
We find this across all spectrums of legal services but particularly in the area of conveyancing.
People who shop around for the lowest price conveyancing are simply kidding themselves if they think they are going to get the same quality of service and professionalism as they would from a firm like ours and it never ceases to amaze that there are people dealing with the biggest investment of their lives, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is going to be a home to their family for years to come, ringing around amongst the horse meat traders of the profession and then react in shock and horror when the standard of service doesn’t live up
to expectations.
For most people buying or selling a home is a very, very stressful time for them and their partner. If issues arise people want them resolved immediately, if they have questions they want them answered, if things start to go wrong they want good sound legal advice. All of a sudden that tender sirloin steak that was priced too good to be true turns out to be horse meat.
The trouble with cut price conveyancing firms is that because they are doing it so cheap they have to cut costs and cut corners. What else can they do? If they don’t they will go broke (and many of them do).
The trouble nowadays with the internet is that people think they have done their research in selecting a conveyancing firm simply by Googling “conveyancing” and then filling in an online quote. That’s not research. Speaking to family and friends, asking them who they used, were they happy with the service, were phone calls returned promptly, was the firm competent in the advice they gave. That’s research.
Fortunately our clients are a bit more discerning and for that matter so are we in selecting clients to act for. If someone is after “the cheapest quote” for conveyancing we are happy to send them elsewhere. We’re by no means expensive but you can’t deliver good, competent professional advice at horse meat prices.
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