What your Mount Hawthorn settlement agent does
Mount Hawthorn sits roughly 15 km north of our Myaree office, in Perth’s inner suburbs. Once the contract is signed there is a fair bit to organise before the property changes hands, and that is what we do.
WA does things slightly differently to the eastern states. Conveyancing here is done by licensed settlement agents or by lawyers, and settlement agents work under the Settlement Agents Act 1981 and a code of conduct. We are licensed, and we will tell you when a question is really one for a lawyer.
Mount Hawthorn is close enough that a home visit to sign the paperwork is easy to arrange, including on weekends.
Local Mount Hawthorn property, local paperwork
Mount Hawthorn has a lot of older housing, and older homes usually come with older titles. Over the decades blocks get subdivided, easements get added and the odd caveat appears. It is all normal, but it needs reading.
- Character and heritage questions belong with the council, and are worth checking before you sign
- Battle-axe and rear lots often come with easements for access or shared services
- If there is a tenant, the contract needs to deal with that
- Duplex and triplex sites can carry easements for shared services
- Lodgement with Landgate through electronic settlement
Selling or buying nearby instead? See Leederville, Highgate and North Perth.
Mount Hawthorn settlement, step by step
One thing that confuses a lot of Mount Hawthorn buyers and sellers is adjustments. Council rates, water and strata levies are often paid ahead for a period. At settlement they are split so the seller pays up to the settlement date and the buyer pays from then on.
Those figures all come together in the settlement statement, which you see before the day. If something looks off, ask us. We would rather explain it twice than have you sign something you do not follow.
The Mount Hawthorn settlements we take on
Common Mount Hawthorn conveyancing jobs that come across our desk:
- Green title and strata title subdivision settlements
- Transfer duty arranged through State Revenue Online as part of the settlement
- Settlements for houses, duplexes, townhouses and villa strata, for buyers and sellers
- Vacant land settlements
- Strata settlements, including strata information and levy adjustments
- Private sales, where there is no real estate agent involved
- Survivorship applications when a joint owner has passed away
There is more on our Mount Hawthorn conveyancing page, plus general information for purchasers and for sellers.
Settlement agent FAQs for Mount Hawthorn
The owner has died and the property was held as joint tenants. What happens?
The surviving joint tenant applies to Landgate to be registered as the owner, which is called a survivorship application. It needs a death certificate, a statutory declaration and identity verification. We can prepare and lodge it.
I am buying vacant land off the plan in Mount Hawthorn. When does it settle?
Off-the-plan land can only settle after its certificate of title is issued. Check the sunset clause in your contract, and make sure your deposit is held in a trust account.
Someone emailed new bank details for my settlement. What should I do?
Stop and call. Confirm the details using a phone number you already know, not one in the email. We never change our bank details by email.
Will my settlement agent come out to Mount Hawthorn?
In most cases, yes. Mount Hawthorn is a short trip from our Myaree office, so a home appointment to sign the paperwork can usually be arranged, including on weekends.