Settlement Agents for Safety Bay Buyers and Sellers

The settlement side of buying or selling

Located roughly 40 km south of the Perth CBD, Safety Bay forms part of Perth’s southern suburbs. When a property goes under offer, someone has to search the title, deal with the rates and water, arrange duty and get the transfer registered. That is our job.

Our office is roughly 31 km to the north. Home appointments are usually workable, and remote settlements are just as straightforward.

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 Safety Bay. 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.

Safety Bay in practice: the settlement work we do here

Safety Bay is on Perth’s growing edge, where a meaningful share of transactions are vacant land, house-and-land packages and homes only a few years old rather than long-established properties.

Typical local settlements look like this:

• coastal strata schemes with higher levies for building maintenance
• vacant land purchases where the title has not yet issued
• house-and-land contracts and the timing between land settlement and build start
• new-lot titles created from a deposited or survey-strata plan
• first home buyer duty concessions and grant timing, confirmed with RevenueWA

It also changes what we check. A new lot means confirming the plan has been registered and the title has issued in the correct name, that the developer’s requirements have been satisfied and that any design covenants noted against the land are understood by the buyer before settlement.

The rest is the standard sequence: searches, council and Water Corporation enquiries, duty through State Revenue Online, settlement figures and settlement itself, all prepared so that when the title does issue, nothing is holding things up.

Neighbouring areas we work in include Shoalwater settlements, Rockingham, Waikiki, Peron and Cooloongup.

The settlement process, step by step

Once a contract is signed, a series of searches, enquiries and payments have to happen in the right order. We search the certificate of title and check what is registered against it, raise enquiries with the local shire or council, Water Corporation and any strata company, prepare and lodge the transfer documents, attend to transfer duty through State Revenue Online, calculate the adjustments so rates, water and levies are shared fairly to the day, and complete settlement electronically.

Where a strata company is involved, request the information the day the contract is signed. It comes from a third party, it takes as long as it takes, and it is the most common cause of a late settlement.

Settlement in WA is now conducted electronically, which means no one drives across town with bank cheques. We complete it online and let you know the moment it is through.

Our conveyancing services

Whatever the property is, the settlement work is covered:

• Private sales – Where there is no agent involved, we handle the transaction between the parties.
• Lodgement at Landgate – Preparation and lodgement of documents for registration.
• Vacant land settlements – Land purchases and sales, including contracts that are conditional on the title issuing.
• Home settlements – Transfers of established houses, duplexes, townhouses and villa strata, for buyers and for sellers.
• Buying – Everything from the accepted offer through to registration of your name on the title.
• Transfer duty through State Revenue Online – We arrange stamping, so duty does not need to be paid before settlement.

Every one of these is quoted before we start, so you know the cost before you commit to anything.

The distance does not change the service

We are based in Myaree, roughly 31 km from Safety Bay. For clients here we are happy to come out for a home appointment, including on weekends, or to run the whole settlement remotely, whichever fits your week better.

Working remotely does not change the service. Documents are sent and explained by phone, signing is done electronically, and settlement in Western Australia is completed online, so nobody attends in person. Give Shelley a call on 0428 336 878 to discuss it.

We offer cost-effective and stress-free settlement

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

Your questions answered

Am I eligible for first home buyer concessions?

That depends on the property, the price and your circumstances, and the rules are set by RevenueWA rather than by us. Tell us what you are buying and we will point you to the current position rather than quoting figures that change.

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.

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.

Don’t have time to get to an office?

Our services include Safety Bay 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.