NSW Solicitor Recommendation

As the title says i'm looking for a recommended solicitor in NSW. Have paid a deposit for a property and want to know what my options are if i no longer wish to purchase.

 

Can @Terry_w help?
Read some of his posts, he knows what he doing, is very professional, on the ball and a great person

 

Thanks for the reco Xenia - but not my area of focus.

 

Where in NSW? Convenient to you?

 

I actually live in WA so all correspondence would be done over email/phone, so location doesnt worry me too much

 

There's enough of us on this forum experienced in NSW RE to let you know your options or if you need more specific legal advice. Feel free to tell us what you did (exactly).

 

- Purchasing an NRAS investment property in NSW for $380k
- Have paid a 5% deposit
- Waiting for the property to complete building before getting finance (should be complete within the month)
- Want to know what my options are if i no longer wish to purchase the property

let me know if you want more information

 

Have you exchanged contracts unconditionally? i.e. you signed, the vendor signed, the cooling off period has expired?

 

Yes thats correct

 

I hope you are confused , because once the contract has gone unconditional (ie: the cooling off period has expired) you are bound contractually and will forfeit as a minimum your 5% deposit (in NSW vendors usually require 10%) if not more, should you rescind now. Vendors have the right to pursue you for the remaining 5% (and possibly more) here in NSW.

If, however, you are confused and you are still in the 5 day cool off period, then you will only forfeit 0.25% of the total agreed purchase price should you withdraw FOR ANY REASON. Building/finance/cold feet- it doesn't matter, unlike other states of Australia.

I am concerned that you don't have appeared to have sought legal advice or a conveyancer before signing the contract.... my recommendation is to get a conveyancer/solicitor ASAP to advise accordingly of your options here. Happy to recommend one of our best and favoured solis here in NSW - Skye Clarke from Freshwater Legal Freshwater Legal - Lawyer Good luck and do keep us posted.

 

It is possible to ask the vendor to terminate the contract. If you both agree you can get out of it and possibly get your deposit back. They may allow this if it has increased in value.

There are also other avenues to argue the contract isn't valid but this is likely to be costly.

 

Thanks Jacque, i have emailed Skye.

 

Yes there certainly are Terry, though in my experience it's a rare vendor who allows termination without penalty once it's proceeded to unconditional status. It does depend on circumstances however and without knowing more specifics of Vool's situation it's difficult to provide options here.
We had one recently around the corner in my own area, that was sold in Oct for $2.8m but the purchasers couldn't complete, despite their best efforts. The agent told me they were interstate buyers, committed too early and couldn't raise the finance despite going unconditional after 5 business days. A week prior to settlement they let the vendors know, the vendors kept the $280K and the property is back on the market (going this Sat so should be interesting to see what it fetches round no. 2!)

 

that's a quick 280K made or lost

 

Easy money. The same thing happened to a purchaser in Eastwood. Can't get finance and lost the 10% after winning at auction.