A View On Property

Anyone buying or selling property in Queensland needs to be aware of the provisions of the Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act. The affect of this Act is that anyone who owns a property is entitled to retain the view that exists at the time that they buy it. If that view subsequently becomes obstructed by a tree, on another property (which is more than 2.5 meters tall), then this Act of the Queensland Parliament enables the property owner whose view has been lost to take action to have the trees pruned or if necessary removed, in order to preserve their view.

A recent decision of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal has confirmed that this possibility exists, even for properties that were purchased many years ago, and long before this statute was passed. The recent case decided by the Tribunal dealt with one property purchased in the 1980’s and a neighbouring property upon which the trees had grown that was purchased in 2001.

A vital point to understand is that a Buyer is only entitled to the view that exists at the time that they buy the property. We can see this leading potential Buyers of property requiring the Sellers to enforce their rights to a view, to improve the outlook, before a prospective buyer signs the Contract.

Would you go Guarantor for your son or daughter?

Congratulations you paid off your home loan! Your children or child has all grown up and moved out. Now your looking forward to your retirement.

Now its time for your son or daughter to buy their first home or business or real expensive car and the bank will not lend them the money. They say they will not lend them the money unless they have a guarantor. Your son or daughter has promised that they can meet the repayments between themselves and their partner. Please mum and dad can you go guarantor for us.

The first thing that could happen is you could lose your own home and maybe even find yourself living on the street. As harsh as that sounds, unfortunately it happens. Your son or daughter may lose their job or become ill and not be able to make the loan repayments.

If you become a guarantor, what does it mean for you? A guarantor allows the equity in their home to be used as additional security for the Borrower’s loan. This can happen in a few different ways. All the equity in your home could be used as security or only a set amount could be used. Check the contract and ensure you fully understand what is required by you if your son or daughter can not make the repayments, for example if you have to repay the loan in full or only in part.

We know they may be family but it is essential that you get independent legal advice before signing anything. Never agree to any loan that is not scheduled to be repaid back by a certain date such as overdrafts or lines of credit. Do your checks and don’t get caught.

Your own solicitor for life or a one time offer

When you have decided to buy a home or a house for investment purposes, you will need a conveyancing solicitor. Many people will simply google “Conveyancer” or “Conveyancing solicitor” which will see a large variety in the quality of results that this produces. 

There are solicitors who as well as attending to your conveyancing can also support you in a range of other legal areas. It can be a concern, if your conveyancer only deals in conveyancing, as moving into a new home can potentially include a variety of areas of law. Should you need assistance in preparing new Wills, family advice, company advice, employment advice etc then you would want to have a solicitor that can support you in all your needs, not only during the purchase of your home, but for life. It would make sense that after spending many weeks with your solicitor and building a relationship with them that your lawyer deals with future requirements that you might have.

Otherwise, how does a simple, ‘cheap’ high volume conveyancer sound to you, where your matter is churned out as one amongst many and one has to hope that it was still completed correctly. Or would you prefer to build a long term relationship with a lawyer who is committed to ensuring that they provide you with a high quality personalised service as the foundation of a long term, ongoing relationship?