Even if this is your first time, don't stress! We've helped hundreds of people just like you - and we've heard every question you can think of!
A lot of people ask us, when is the best time to get a lawyer involved? We think it's never too early. Let us be your guide through the home-buying process. Wherever you're at in the process, feel free to give us a call to check in.
You will need a lawyer to help you with the purchase process once your offer is accepted, but some people ask us to do our legal checks on a property before making an offer. We are then involved all the way through to settlement day, where we help you pay across the purchase price, and you can pick up the keys!
Pre-offer advice
If you would like us to check a property before you make an offer, we can provide you with pre-offer advice, where we look at the title, sale and purchase agreement and LIM report (if available). The advantage of this advice is that we can help you make an offer that has as few conditions as possible (which can increase your chance of having your offer accepted).
Our pre-offer advice fees depend on the type of title a property has, they are:
- $550 plus GST for fee simple properties
- $700 plus GST for cross lease properties, or fee simple with a residents' association
- $850 plus GST for unit title properties
- remember, we will also pass on any costs we incur on your behalf (called 'disbursements'), such as title searches, which are $6 for each title 'instrument'.
If you’re successful with your offer, we waive the pre-offer advice fee, continue on with the conveyancing process and you will pay our standard conveyancing fees, set out below.
If your offer isn't accepted by the vendor, you can move on to the next weekend of open homes, and we'll email you an invoice.
After an offer is accepted
Alternatively, you can include some standard conditions in your offer and then we can help you once your offer is accepted. Our fee is our standard conveyancing fees discussed below. If your agreement is conditional and you decide not to proceed with the purchase or are unable to confirm the conditions, our fee will be the same fee as we would have charged you for pre-offer advice.
Our standard conveyancing fees start with a base fee of $2,000 plus GST, to which we add extras, such as:
- $100 plus GST for cross lease properties, or fee simple with a residents' association
- $250 plus GST for unit title properties
- $250 plus GST for each KiwiSaver application
- $150 plus GST for each First Home Grant
- $250 plus GST for using a second-tier/non-bank lender
- remember, we will also pass on any costs we incur on your behalf (called 'disbursements'), such as LINZ title search fees, registration fees, PPSR and AML fees. All these usually add up to about to about $210.
Our ‘Homebuyers Roadmap’ gives you an overview of the steps of the process. We will deal with all communications with the vendor on your behalf once your offer is accepted, we can help with KiwiSaver applications if required, we’ll advise you on your home loan documents we receive from the bank, and we’ll manage the payments on settlement day.
The first step in looking for a house is getting your pre-approval. Once you have this, we always suggest you get approval for each specific property before making an offer, rather than relying on a general pre-approval from the bank (which generally just is saying that they would consider lending to you).
The best time to get in touch with us is when you find a house that you are keen on. If possible, please give us 72 hours’ notice before a tender or auction for us to complete our pre-offer advice. However, we can sometimes provide it on shorter notice if necessary.
