Role of a Conveyance Lawyer in Singapore

Role of a Conveyance Lawyer in Singapore

The lawyer’s role in property buying includes but not limited to the following: -

1. The lawyer’s role is to review the contracts and terms of purchase. Such as reviewing an Offer to purchase, Option to purchase or a sales and purchase agreement. (Many times, this important process is skipped as people go straight to the show room and sign contracts blindly after listening to property agents without adequate legal advice.)

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2. Conduct title searches on the property which you are buying to make sure that the titles are unencumbered or unchallenged and can be delivered to you upon completion of the purchase of the property.

3. Check against government policies or regulations which may adversely affect the value of the property that you are buying. Such enquiries may include checks with URA, BCA, SLA, LTA or more.

4. Once all checks are complete, a caveat on the property title is lodged. This Caveat is then published and made available to the public. This serves to inform the public that you have a vested interest or claim in the property which has the corresponding property title. During this period, if there are other claims or counter claims on the property title, they must be raised at that time. Lodging a caveat increases the protection to the buyer from future legal challenges on the legality of the sale process.

5. Given that properties are large commitments. Most people will use a bank loan to finance a property buying. During this stage, (you would have already completed exercising option to purchase and already signed a bank’s letter of offer for a Singapore bank loan.) your lawyer will liaise with your bank’s lawyer to ensure smooth disbursement of the agreed home loan mortgage on your property. Sometimes, the bank’s lawyer is also your lawyer. This lawyer will assist in coordinating to disburse your loan. The bank’s lawyer will check against terms in the bank’s letter of offer and compliance to matters of material facts and report such matters accordingly to the banks prior to funds disbursement.

6. Liaising with CPF Board (or Lawyers on CPF board). If you intend to utilize Central provident fund (CPF) – A Singapore’s version of pension fund, your lawyer will check and ensure that the CPF funds are ready for drawdown in order to complete the property purchase within the completion time-lines. Sometimes, your lawyer may also be a lawyer on CPF panel of lawyers, that makes things potentially easier and faster (but CPF has internal processes for disbursing funds, these things still takes time).

7. Your lawyer will be responsible for liaising with the Bank and the CPF Board (or their lawyers) to ensure that your Housing Loan and your CPF Funds are in place and ready for drawdown to order to complete the purchase within the agreed completion period.

8. Prior to Completion, your lawyer will calculate any sums of monies due to the property seller from their over payment of Management Committee Strata Titles (MCST) fees (commonly known as maintenance fees) and annual property tax. Based on the property completion date, your lawyer will calculate your pro-rata share from the MCST and Annual Property tax that has been paid by the property seller and you will have to settle this fee in cash by paying your lawyer and your lawyer will pay to the seller.

9. Completion of sale. This is a legal term which refers to all the payment of the agreed and contracted property sale price where you have fully paid all monies to the seller. The seller hands over to you the signed conveyance of title called the “Instrument of transfer” which effectively transfers the ownership of the titles from the seller to the buyer and hence the ownership of the property from sellers to buyers. At this stage, your Singapore bank loan is fully disbursed. Or in the case of a building under construction, whatever monies which should be paid during this stage of construction is disbursed.

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