A property sale is a very sensitive transaction which should be approached with a lot of caution. Many have been tricked into losing their money while buying a piece of property that had been previously sold to someone else. So is a lawyer necessary?

One is not obligated to include a lawyer in a property transaction, though it is important to note that a lawyer’s role in this transaction is indispensable.

Below are a couple of services lawyers provide when it comes to a property sale:

Lawyer’s role when acting for the Seller:

• Preparing agreement

• Preparing title documents

• Approving transfer

• Procuring execution of transfer

• Attests the execution of a transfer

• Receives and accounts for the proceeds of sale to his client.

When acting for the Purchaser:

• Going through title documents

• Carrying out search

• Sending out requisitions on the Title and Agreement plus advising for on the same

• Preparing transfer

• Attending to the execution of transfer where necessary

• Stamping and lodging documents for registration

• Obtaining and paying the purchase monies to the seller’s advocate.

Most of the above functions can be done by almost anyone. If anything, excluding a lawyer could help cut on extra costs. However it is important to point out that by so doing you may in fact be at a risk of incurring more costs. A conveyance lawyer does these duties for his or her clients every day. They have therefore become conversant with all the other organizations or parties that the seller and purchaser would have to come into contact with. Using such a lawyer eliminates the risks of innocent sellers and purchasers dealing with “cunning and dodgy” Ministry of Lands officials and clerks.

Furthermore, each parcel of land comes with its own unique circumstances. A person entering a Sale of Land Transaction as a one-time deal or once in a long time deal may not be able to identify some of these unique circumstances as easily as a conveyance lawyer who does this every day and has dealt with so many different parcels of land would.

It is evident that the input of a lawyer is necessary. However, one must also be careful not to be conned by cunning lawyers. So how can one distinguish a genuine one from a fake one?

That will be my area of focus tomorrow as I continue with this series.