1) Purchaser always appoint a lawyer to act on his behalf. No two ways about it. There's no such thing as "agent's lawyer" in SPA transactions. It's either vendor's lawyer or purchaser's lawyer. There's also no lawyer who sits in the middle and "ensures that the SPA shall be impartial". That is all hogwash. Ultimately, the SPA will have terms which side one party, whether a bit or a lot. It depends on how it is drafted and how it is ultimately approved and finalised.

2) Am sure that at the end of the day, you would be paying full fees for this lawyer. Vendor would not need to pay full fees and he needs to pay minimal fees only as the lawyer is supposed to be acting for you [read: protect your best interests]. So if the agent pushes this lawyer to you and at the same time says that the lawyer will prepare an impartial SPA, then it's time to get an independent lawyer of your own choice - ask friends and family for recommendations.

3) Yes it is a conflict of interest for a lawyer to purportedly act for two parties in the SPA. He can't act for both parties. He can act for purchaser and be authorised by the vendor to attend to the discharge of charge/deed of RnR and filing of CKHT forms [or to apply for consent, if applicable]. That's all. At the end of the day, your lawyer whom you are paying full scaled fees has to act for you.

4) If your SPA lawyer is on the bank's panel, you can insist that he does the loan as well, in order to save time and costs (disbursements can be reduced). Who pays the fees? Here's the reality in M'sia - the lawyer acts on behalf of the bank, but you pay the fees.

To calculate legal fees - use the calculator in the first page. Fees are based on the purchase price or loan sum (when it comes to your loan documentation)

wow...thanks very much dario for the info!! very helpful indeed!!

Spa completed means all of the neccesary process completed until final payment? Or day of spa signed?

No offense to u dario, since i think you are a lawyer (correct me if iam wrong) but can i trust the calculation done by lawyer regarding amount that i need to refund back?

Hi Dario,

Need your advice here. I am in the middle of refinancing my apartment unit, which is still under Master Title.

A week ago, I signed the deed of assignment, power of attorney, facility agreement and those documents should now be on their way for stamping.

However, only today did I realise that my current loan lawyer made a mistake with the Master Title number on those documents (that I signed a week ago) . He got one number wrong (for example, it should be 123456 but instead it was 133456), on all the documents.

Please advise me on what to do and what are the possible consequences.

Will I have to pay extra $ to correct things?
Can the mistake even be fixed or will the bank simply cancel the agreement?
Will the disbursement of money be delayed and by how long?
Should I alert my loan officer (who is also in charge of the after sales service)?

Thank you in advance.

Date of completion of SPA would mean the date the vendor's lawyers receive the cheque for payment of the balance purchase price. Normally, within 3 working days from that date, vacant possession has to be surrendered to you. However, for the purpose of calculation - the date of receipt of the cheque by the vendor's lawyers would be deemed as the cut-off date. As such, from that date, you are considered the owner of the property. As such, you start to pay for all outgoings from that day onwards.

You can always do your own calculation, just to double check. No issues with that. Just to be safe.

Dario,

Thanks a lot for the info. Cheers!!!

Thank you very much dario, i understand now. You are truly a life saver

If you just executed it, it must be sent to the bank to be executed by the bank's attorney. So perhaps they would spot the mistake and send it back for the lawyer to amend first before they would execute it.

The delay would not be long - provided your lawyer quickly collects back the doc, make the amendments and send it back to the bank.

It depends on the bank as well - some banks are more flexible and can execute it first subject to the lawyer's undertaking to do the amendment upon collecting the docs. Some insist on seeing the amendment. It also depends on whether there are other mistakes. If there are a lot more, then the docs would be returned for amendments to be made, before the bank would execute it.

You don't need to pay anything at all. I don't think you should alert your loan officer at this stage. Unless there is a delay on the part of the lawyer to attend to the amendments.

Dario, thanks a lot for the advice. I send an e-mail to my lawyer pointing out the mistakes (so that there's a record) and he wrote back "Noted. Thank you" . I'll wait 2-3 weeks and see if he updates me further

Dear Dario,

Hi, I'm planning to sell my property at 500k and buy another property at 250k. Can you please explained what are the hidden cost incurred for buying and selling properties? My property is more than 2 years but less than 5 years. No mortgage involved.Thank you.

What do you mean by hidden costs?

Sorry, didn't make myself clear. Meaning the legal fees, agent fees, SnP charges, stamp duty n misc fees other than the stated 500k n 250k properties. Do i need to pay 4 valuation report, imbursement fee n transfer of strata title, insurance if no bank is involved. Assuming that both parties using the same solicitor. Both properties r 20 years old building. I've tried to check online but the more I read abt others reply the more confused I get. To put it simply, other than the 500k I'll receive from the buyer n the 250k I have to pay to the seller, what other cost I have to bear for these 2 transactions? My parents recently bought a property at 488k n the legal fees is 17.5k. I have no way of knowing whether the fees is justified or not. Thanks again 4 being patience with me. I don know if I'm asking a silly question or not.

dario,

i bold out your statement, is this something right and parallel with law? can we challenge this? since the loan act on behalf of the bank, why should we pay for the fee? what is your opinion on this?

Hi Dario,

What is the use of Letter of Intent in property transaction? How secure is the LoI to the purchaser? What can purchaser does if seller refuse to continue the transaction?

the appt has master title... is master title transfer are included by default in the S&P agreement or is it something separate ?

If you're not taking a loan to purchase your new house you need not pay for valuation report and other bank charges.

You can't share the same solicitor. I've explained this in detail in an early post. Do look it up.

As purchaser, don't forget that you have to pay pro-rated quit rent ,assessment, and other outgoings. You've pretty much covered all the other costs.

One cannot judge legal fees by the price of the property. One must also look at number of purchasers (more costs for CKHT), whether there is individual title or otherwise, whether the fees are for both SPA and loan doc, etc.

Get a few quotations and compare. Want to know whether it is justified? Ask the lawyer to justify it for you. Simple. If he refuses, go to another lawyer.

It's nothing to do with law. It's about ethics.

Challenge it? And achieve what? You want to do the loan documentation all by yourself?

There was a time when banks used to absorb legal fees. Not anymore.

But the bank dictate the system. Unless the customers all protest and boycott the banks en bloc, I can't see how the system will change.

The LOI is to confirm and secure the deal and terms pending finalising a formal SPA between the parties.

If the purchaser paid an earnest deposit - doesn't matter how much, even RM1 is sufficient - then the vendor is bound to abide by the terms of the LOI. If the vendor fails to proceed, the purchaser can sue to compel the vendor to sell it upon the terms of the LOI.

If nothing of value is given to the vendor, the vendor has no obligation to sell it at the agreed price upon the agreed terms.

Are you taking about individual title for apartments?

Master title is the main title whereupon the whole block is constructed upon. Once the apartment is complete, the developer can apply for subdivision into strata title, i.e. individual title.

In the SPA, the developer will agree to execute a memorandum of transfer (MOT) to transfer the strata title to you, when the said strata title is ready. So when the time comes, the developer will notify you that you have to appoint a lawyer to prepare the necessary docs, espec the MOT, to transfer it to your name. You have to bear the legal fees for it.

This post has been edited by dariofoo: Jan 15 2012, 10:58 PM

yeap correct strata title.. in my case from owner to purchaser..

the owner already got the title already.. so during S&P between me and seller... is this title will be transfered to me by default ... or is it different process ?