Frequently Asked Questions

If you are ready to proceed with our quote, simply instruct your real estate agent to email a copy of the fully signed contract directly to us at admin@synergycpm.com.au. Once received, our team will review the paperwork and contact you within a few business hours to guide you through the next steps.

Alternatively, if you haven’t signed anything yet and want to make sure your interests are fully covered, please email the unsigned contract to us first. Our experienced legal team will review, negotiate, or amend the document to protect you before you commit.

Yes. We provide fixed-fee quotes upfront for our professional services, giving you total certainty and peace of mind about your legal costs before your transaction even begins.

No, both parties are independently responsible for their own legal costs. The buyer and the seller each hire their own representative and cover their respective conveyancing fees separately.

Your conveyancing fees are taken care of at final settlement. The costs are typically handled directly through the settlement funds on the day ownership officially transfers, meaning you don’t have to worry about paying our professional fees upfront.

Once a contract has been signed by both the buyer and the seller, the paperwork needs to be sent to us at admin@synergycpm.com.au, either by you or the real estate agent.

From there, we will reach out to you within a few business hours to confirm your details and gather any necessary information regarding your specific purchase or sale.

Because every property transaction is unique, the exact timeline and steps will depend entirely on the conditions outlined in your contract. For a broad look at how a standard transaction flows from start to finish, feel free to explore our conveyancing roadmaps.

Yes, property transactions always involve several external costs that apply to both buyers and sellers.

If you are buying a property, you will need to budget for:

• Standard property searches and title checks.
• Mandatory electronic settlement platform fees (such as PEXA).
• Independent building and pest inspections.
• Comprehensive home insurance.
• Statutory government charges, including transfer registration fees and stamp duty.

If you are selling a property, your main external costs generally include:

• The electronic settlement platform fee (such as PEXA) for the transfer or mortgage discharge.
• Any relevant professional removalist or storage services.

Because every transaction is unique depending on the property’s location and your personal financial structure, we highly recommend obtaining professional advice tailored to your exact situation to ensure your budget is perfectly aligned before settlement day.

Buying and selling property is a big deal, and it’s important you engage someone you trust to guide you through the legal processes and ensure your interests are protected.

Below are some of the questions we recommend asking your conveyancer:

Q: How many years of experience do you have?
A: We have over fifteen years of experience helping people buy and sell homes

Q: How many on-time transactions have you completed?
A: We have over 1,000 on-time settlements under our belts

Q: What data security measures do you have in place?
A: Our systems have been built and are constantly tested and improved by our in-house team of developers here in Australia. Our best-in-class data security and fraud protection practices mean you can rest assured that your data is in safe hands

Yes, but please forward any incoming property bills directly to our office so we can guide you on how to handle them.

If you do choose to pay a bill yourself for council rates, water usage, land tax, or body corporate, please make sure to email us the receipt straight away. This allows us to adjust the final settlement figures so you are fairly reimbursed by the buyer for any days past the settlement date.

Additionally, we highly recommend cancelling any automated direct debits linked to these bills once the contract is signed to avoid accidental overpayments.

Property searches are an essential safeguard during the buying process because they uncover crucial details about the real estate that aren’t visible during a physical inspection or a standard building and pest report.

Depending on the specific checks you request us to perform, the results will reveal critical legal and financial realities, such as:

• Property restrictions: Whether any external parties hold a legal interest in the land, such as through a registered caveat or an easement.
• Inherited liabilities: Whether there are outstanding debts tied to the property—such as overdue land tax, council rates, or water bills—that you could inadvertently become responsible for if they aren’t cleared by the seller before the change of ownership.

Ultimately, these searches provide the legal transparency you need to ensure you are actually getting exactly what you are paying for.

The total amount of stamp duty (land transfer duty) you will owe depends entirely on the market value of the property, your residency status, whether it is an investment or a primary home, and if you qualify for any government concessions (such as first-home buyer discounts).

Because your Victoria conveyancing will be processed via the State Revenue Office (SRO), we highly recommend using an online assessment tool to estimate your upfront government costs. You can get a personalised estimate based on your specific situation by using the State Revenue Office Victoria Land Transfer Calculator.

Even as a citizen or permanent resident, Australian tax law requires you to formally prove your tax residency status when selling real estate.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) uses the Clearance Certificate process to confirm you are an Australian resident for tax purposes. Without this valid certificate presented at settlement, the buyer is legally obligated to withhold 15% of the total purchase price and send it directly to the ATO as a foreign resident tax safeguard.

To ensure your settlement goes through smoothly without any funds being withheld, keep the following in mind:

• Processing Times: While submitting the online application only takes a few minutes, the ATO can take up to 28 days to issue the certificate during peak periods.
• Validity: Once granted, the certificate remains valid for 12 months.

You can complete your quick application directly on the official ATO Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Clearance Certificate Portal.

Even if your loan balance reads zero, paying off the debt does not automatically clear the mortgage from your property’s legal title. Until a formal “Discharge of Mortgage” is executed, your bank remains registered on the land title as an interested party.

Because of this, you must contact your lender to submit a formal discharge request. This prompts them to prepare the necessary legal paperwork and cooperate with us inside the PEXA electronic settlement workspace, allowing the bank’s name to be officially removed so ownership can safely transfer to the buyer on settlement day.

While we are not legally authorised to sign this document on your behalf, we are more than happy to help you navigate the process. We can assist you in filling out the required details on the discharge form, but you will need to physically sign it before returning it to us so we can lodge it with your lender on your behalf.

Alternatively, you have a few options to complete the form yourself:

• In-Branch: You can visit your nearest bank branch, where a representative can help you fill it out and submit it on the spot.
• Over the Phone: You can call your bank’s customer service line, and a team member can guide you through the form step-by-step.
• Online Lenders: If your mortgage is with a digital or online lender that has no physical branches, please call our office directly—we will ensure you have exactly what you need to get the form processed smoothly.