As per the law, the deposit from the Purchaser is kept in the Trust Account maintained either by a Real Estate Agent or your Conveyancer/Lawyer. This provision is to provide comfort and safety of the Purchaser, as there would be a floodgate of litigation if the Vendors spend this money, and are then not able to settle the property later on.

However, as per section 27 of the Sale of Land Act, this deposit (minus the Real Estate Agents commission) can be released to you if you satisfy few conditions.

The main conditions to be satisfied are:

1. There is no caveat on the property
2. Your loan is currently not in default
3. The total outstanding loan is less than 80% of the sale price.

Note: This is to be confirmed by your bank in the form of section 27 mortgagee certificate.

Once we receive the above certificate, we will serve that to the Purchasers.

Once served, the purchasers have 28 days to approve or object.

Note: Please note that although our team member will assist you most effectively and try to have this money released to you as early as possible. However, still, the release of the deposit cannot be guaranteed immediately. Any objection or delay in receiving the information can increase the processing time. It is imperative not to commit to any further obligation or purchase of another property, in anticipation of this money.

• Please contact Sharma Solicitors and Conveyancers team as soon as you have decided to put your property on the market for sale through a Real Estate Agent.
  
  Please note that Sharma Solicitors and Conveyancers can also assist the clients who have already found a buyer, and do not require the process to be handled by a Real Estate Agent. There are additional obligations such as allowing us to receive the deposit money into our Trust Account as it is against the law for Vendors to receive the deposit directly from the Purchasers.

• A friendly member of the Sharma Solicitors and Conveyancers team will provide you with our full and frank Costs Disclosure, citing all the applicable fees. To ensure that you are fully aware of the costs involved, we even inform you of the fees charged by other relevant parties such as PEXA (mandatory electronic platform for conveyancing settlement), land use Victoria fees, loan discharge fees, and the expected range of disbursements i.e. costs of certificates required to be included in the Vendor’s Statement.

• With all the fees and charges up front, you can proceed with confidence. Rest assured, there are no hidden fees ever charged by the professionals at Sharma Solicitors and Conveyancers.

• Once engaged, we will assign a dedicated team member to your file, as a single point of contact for all your future correspondence and communication. Our team member will set a meeting or send a detailed email, listing all the required information for the preparation of the Vendors statement (section 32) and the Contract of Sale. We will also inform you regarding all your disclosure requirements to ensure there is no legal issue later on.

• The draft copy of Contract and Section 32 is provided to you for your kind review.

• The draft copy of the Contract and Section 32 is provided to your Real Estate Agent.

• We wait for the property to be sold, and to receive a copy of the fully executed contract (with purchasers and sale price information).

• If the contract is subject to any condition, such as finance or building and pest inspection, we wait for the Purchaser to confirm the satisfaction of these conditions. Once confirmed, from this point onwards, the contract is called to be proceeding Unconditionally.

• If the property is Mortgaged, we assist you by guiding you to the forms required by your lender (Bank) to initiate the Discharge of the Mortgage.

• If you wish to have the deposit money released to you before the Settlement, we will also assist you by preparing the section 27 document. If the property is mortgaged, you will need a section 27 information from your bank. Please refer to <Section 27> section for more detail.

• We assist you in verifying your identity, which is also called Verification of Identity (VOI) and is a legal requirement. If you seek services from our Wills and Estates team, we may arrange your in-house Verification of Identity for free and thus making it more cost effective for you. Please contact your dedicated team member to know more.

• We take your confirmation on the final payments and figures by sending you a document called Statement of Adjustment.

• On the day of Settlement, you will receive the exact same amount, as mentioned above, in your nominated bank account.

• We will inform the Real Estate Agent to release the balance of your deposit, if not already done through the section 27 process as discussed above.