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Some lending institutions and solicitors offer "cheap" fees for buying and selling houses. We invite you to consider whether the savings offered are worthwhile. It seems to us that all "cheap" operations share a common factor - they require you to accept a lower level of service or safety than we provide.
Missing Elements
In the case of lawyers who charge low fees, we have found that some dispense with elements of what we consider are essential for professional service. For example, they may not offer the following services (with possible consequences noted in brackets):
- A receptionist (the lawyer may be hard to contact)
- A trust account (you may have to use another firm's trust account)
- Adequate deed storage (your deeds may be lost)
- Backup personnel (you may breach your contract because the lawyer is unavailable due to sickness)
- Offices (contact may be unpredictable and custody of deeds doubtful)
- Negligence insurance (you may have to bear losses yourself)
- Qualified staff to do your work (a secretary may do it)
- Research or litigation capability (you may be encouraged to engage a costly litigation specialist)
Competition is OK
We at Hayman Lawyers are not against competition. We only want the cost of our service to be compared with the cost of a service from others which provides the same standards as ours. We recommend that before accepting a cheap fee offer you check whether you will be adequately serviced and protected. We invite you to consider what elements of our service are missing from the cheap offer and whether the worry and extra costs you may suffer from using it are worth the potential cost difference. You could regard the extra cost as a worthwhile insurance premium.
Hayman Lawyers has a team of six solicitors, some of whom have extensive litigation experience. We all have considerable conveyancing experience.
Buying and selling houses are major transactions. We consider you need an accessible lawyer who is dedicated to looking after your interests. If you don't have a lawyer responsible to you, who can you call when:
- The local authority says the balcony must be removed?
- A neighbor says you can't use "your" drive?
- Your spouse says the house is theirs ?
Good legal work is more than filling in forms
When purchasing property issues arise, such as whether you should take title as tenants or tenants-in-common (in equal or specified percentage shares). You may also need advice on wills, trusts and matrimonial and de facto property law. Only a qualified lawyer can help you on these complex issues.
Use our chart
So, before you accept cheap legal fees, we recommend that you use the comparison chart below to assess whether you will be adequately protected and served.
Reduced fee options for home purchases
If you use our mortgage broking service to obtain a loan of at least $60,000, we will reduce our conveyancing charges. We do not charge for processing your loan application (we are paid by the lender) but you will have to pay the lender's application fee, if any.
We represent all major banks and lending institutions and can offer you impartial advice. We also have our own solicitors nominee company which lends interest-only finance for terms of up to three years.
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