Your Settlement Agent in Highgate

From offer to settlement day

Highgate lies in the heart of Perth, within Perth’s inner suburbs. The settlement side of a sale is unglamorous, deadline-driven work, and it is what Jacaranda Settlements does every day.

Jacaranda Settlements is based in Myaree, roughly 12 km from Highgate, and weekend home appointments are available.

Buying or selling a house is a lengthy and complex process and obtaining professional advice will help ensure your smooth and successful property settlement in Highgate. The main job of a settlement agent is to transfer the ownership of the property and depending on whether you are buying or selling has various different components.

Highgate property and the paperwork that comes with it

In Highgate, two properties in the same street can settle very differently depending on whether there is a strata company involved.

In this part of Perth we are most often dealing with:

• established green-title homes with older notifications on the title
• investment properties sold with tenants in place
• strata company information, certificates and by-laws
• adjusting strata levies and identifying any special levy
• off-the-plan and staged-completion apartment purchases

The difference matters. A strata settlement means obtaining information from the strata company, checking levies and any special levies, understanding what the by-laws allow and adjusting the levies at settlement. Those documents come from a third party and they are the single most common reason an otherwise simple settlement runs late, so we request them as soon as the contract is signed.

So the order of work matters. Strata information is requested immediately, the title search goes out at the same time, and the rates, water and levy figures are chased rather than waited on. Adjustments are then calculated to the day and set out clearly in your settlement statement.

We settle property across this pocket of Perth, including Leederville, Mount Hawthorn and North Perth.

Behind the scenes of your settlement

Between the accepted offer and settlement day sits several weeks of unglamorous, deadline-driven work. Searching the title and any restrictions on it, arranging for anything that should not stay on the title to be removed, obtaining rates, water and levy figures, preparing the settlement statement and the transfer, attending to duty, completing settlement and notifying the authorities afterwards, all sit with us rather than with you.

Rates, water and strata levies are adjusted at settlement, so a buyer reimburses the seller for the portion of the year already paid. It surprises people, so we set it out clearly in the settlement statement rather than leaving it as a line item.

The one thing we ask is that you come back to us quickly when we need something. Everything else, including settlement itself, is handled at our end.

The settlements we handle

The full range of settlement and conveyancing services is available to Highgate clients:

• Green title and strata title subdivision – Settlements on newly created lots, including subdivision work.
• Title searches – Shelley can search a title and explain what is registered against it before you commit.
• Transfer duty through State Revenue Online – We arrange stamping, so duty does not need to be paid before settlement.
• Court order transfers – Transfers arising from a separation or family court order.
• Lodgement at Landgate – Preparation and lodgement of documents for registration.
• Strata settlements – Apartments, villas and survey-strata lots, including strata information and levy adjustments.

Not sure which of these applies to your situation? Call and describe the property, and we will tell you what is involved.

Where and when we meet you

Not everyone can get to an office between nine and five, and you should not have to. Our office is in Myaree, roughly 12 km from Highgate, and we offer home appointments, including weekends, to sign documentation and to complete the verification of identity check sellers need, so there is no trip to Australia Post.

If it is easier to do everything remotely, that works too. Settlements in Western Australia are completed electronically, so you will not need to attend settlement itself. Call Shelley on 0428 336 878 to arrange a time that suits you.

We offer cost-effective and stress-free settlement

We are licensed in all aspects of conveyancing in Western Australia. Other services that we offer:

What buyers and sellers ask us most

I am buying a strata property. What is different?

A strata purchase brings in a third party. We obtain the strata company information, check the levies and any special levy that has been struck, look at the by-laws and adjust the levies at settlement. Because that information comes from the strata company, we request it the day the contract is signed.

Who tells the council and Water Corporation about the change of ownership?

We do, as part of the settlement. You do not need to contact them yourself, although you will want to arrange your own connections for power, gas and internet.

What happens if the other side is not ready on settlement day?

It happens, and the contract usually deals with it, including interest for the delay. The important thing is that you tell us as soon as you know, because a problem raised early can normally be worked around.

Don’t have time to get to an office?

Our services include Highgate home appointments, including weekends to sign confusing documentation and to conduct a verification of identity check for sellers to avoid going to Australia post. However, we are also able to work remotely to do all this over the phone or in person.