Do You Need a Conveyancer When Transferring Title?
If you've ever bought or sold a property, you may know how important it is to work with an experienced conveyancer. After all, there is a tremendous amount of paperwork to consider, relevant searches to complete and legal issues to take care of during settlement. Yet, you should also think about working with this professional if you want to transfer the title of an existing property to a person or organisation. What types of situations could this cover, and why is it important to work with the pros from the outset?
Reasons for Title Transfer
There are many different reasons to consider transferring the title of a property to a different entity in modern-day life. For example, it may be beneficial to transfer everything to a trust from a tax point of view. Alternatively, someone could decide to give legal title to the property to their spouse if they feel that this would minimise a business risk elsewhere. Other individuals may want to "gift" the rights to the property to their children rather than letting the said property become an asset in a distributable estate.
Looking at Documentation
As in straightforward property acquisition, there are several legal documents to complete. It may also be necessary to pay duties to the government, depending on the nature and type of the transfer in question. There may be additional complications whenever a transfer takes place between two spouses. This process may require what is known as a "strategy declaration," which is essentially a legal oath that also declares the value of the property at the same time.
Assessing the Work
Certainly, you may not need to draw up a contract of sale or conduct extensive property searches as you would if you had been buying or selling a property in the first place. After all, all of these conditions would be known to you and easily communicated to the other parties. As there is less work involved here, disbursements might be lower than otherwise. However, certain types of transfers could yet involve additional paperwork, and you may need to consider the broader tax implications too.
Professional Advice
Start the ball rolling by talking with a professional with conveyancing experience today. Once they have asked you a few questions to clarify the matter, they'll be able to advise you of the work involved, a timeline and associated expenses. You will then be able to proceed with the details.