Oh okok thanks. I want to know if the disbursements have different charges if property value is diff. Thanks.

If u use the purchaser's lawyer, u are basically unrepresented. The S&P will mention this as well. So before u sign the S&P u better read through every T&C very carefully. Whether u are selling your house on an "as is where is" basis or u are giving the purchaser some warranties.

Please be very careful. While u can tell the purchaser's lawyer to make changes, u are the one that have to check every word carefully.

Agree Ultraman (lolz) ..

Always appoint your own lawyer whether you buy or sell. They are there to protect your interest.
If you choose to use the same lawyer as the one appointed by the seller, there will be a bit of risk as to whose interest the lawyer will chose to protect more. Eg in the house I just bought the seller lawyer wanted a singe cheque for 8 % deposit ( 2 % has already been paid as earnest deposit. But my lawyer's search revealed that the seller owes the JMB about RM 40k and insisted that part of the 8% be used to pay the outstanding to the JMB and the balance only goes to seller. If I used the same lawyer and it happens that the lawyer is a friend of the seller, then this might not have been done. Not to say the seller will not pay off the debt in the end buy why risk it at all ?
You can google the charges and can usually get at least 30% discount and for some lawyers even up to 50% especially if the bank loan is also handled by the same lawyer as your S&P.
Some lawyers provide very good service - the recent for my loan document appointed by the bank sent their staff all the way to my house at 7 pm with all the documents for me and my wife to sign as I was too busy to fetch my wife to their office.
Another lawyer who is a friend of mine and also my company panel of lawyer allow me to take the documents home for my wife to sign rather than me taking her to the lawyer office.
However as a seller, my dad recently sold a house and I appointed a lawyer friend for him. The buyer happened to choose the same lawyer. My friend only charged me RM500 instead of the normal charges so I saved a lot of money.

I see. I guess its better to hire own lawyer to avoid any problems.

Any good lawyer to intro?

I have been using the same law firm for my previous and current property transaction. Although the lawyer is quite a nice lady, one thing i dont like is the fact that sometimes its so hard for me to reach the lawyer by phone (office phone mind you, they so scared to share with me the lawyer handphone number) and when i leave message for them to call me back, they never do.

I have no idea if the receptionist got problem in relaying my message or my lawyer just plain lazy to layan me ... is this normal ? Maybe cos i am a small ciku, property transaction is below 500k .. not a multi-million property owner. Feel so frustrated with customer service.


This post has been edited by platingirl: Jan 20 2013, 04:22 PM

If i am buying a property from a developer (new property) should i get my own lawyer?

very good question!

Recommendation from friend or relative who have use good lawyer before. They taste good then u try. it more likely you get good service from them.

lolz..........KL property standard below RM500k is a small fart.

Sigh ... what to do. me no millionaire investor :S

Guess i have to stick to using same lawyer then ..

Whereas for the question of buying new property frm developer, i think the developer sometimes insist you on using their panel lawyers, right ?

Resurrecting just to share experience. As many said, entire process including Sale Purchase Agreement will be lopsided. Best to learn and know entire process before doing this. According to my cousin, Title/Grant and Keys (Vacant Possession) are most important.

1. Buyer's lawyer will conveniently ask you to sign Memorandum of Transfer and handover your Title because want to help you to quickly get your money. Nothing is written in the Agreement on when to handover the Title.

Correct way : Sign and stamp Agreement. Buyer's bank will give Letter of Undertaking to release the loan and ask you to release the Title. Validate the Undertaking with the bank.


2. In the Agreement, you will have to deliver Vacant Possession with no definite time when you will get your Balance Purchase Price. Lawyer will orally tell you that you will instantly get paid the moment you deliver VP. The actual fact, there is another clause that says lawyer will release Balance Purchase Price x days after presenting the MoT to Land Office.


My understanding : The longer they delay submitting the MoT, the longer you have to wait while buyer gets hold of your property. If you refuse to handover, Late Delivery Interest starts kicking in.

Correct way : Vacant Possession delivered within x days after receipt (past tense == payment cleared) of Balance Purchase Price. When both parties have lawyer, Balance Purchase Price must be released to Seller's lawyer before Seller's Lawyer release keys.


3. Seller must deliver VP x days after Buyer's Lawyer receive full Balance Purchase Price.

my understanding : There is no clause to compel anyone to inform Seller when to deliver VP. If anyone "unintentionally" forget to inform the Seller, Late Deliver Interest kicks in. Buyer's Lawyer as stakeholder will be deducting the interest before releasing Balance to Seller.

Correct way : Easiest, VP after receiving Balance. Property will not grow legs and run away. Otherwise, put a clause to compel Buyer to get lawyer to inform you, failing which, no interest.


4. When Buyer knows Seller doesn't have lawyer, experienced property players will lobby to get the keys ahead of time.

My understanding : Anything that happens before official VP is Seller's responsibility. If anything happens, Buyer will ask for discount behind the Agreement. Seller also lose leverage in the deal.


Other tips :
1. Ensure Agreement is stamped and a copy is sent to you.

2. Compare with Agreements made between lawyers representing Buyer/Seller.

3. If can't reach agreement with Buyer's lawyer, discuss with buyer to abandon the deal with no cost to both parties.

This post has been edited by beLIEve: Oct 5 2024, 08:53 PM

use your own lawyer who will protect your interest, compared to the buyer's lawyer who will protect buyer's interest.

No lawyer. I protect my own interest while making myself a good prey

This post has been edited by beLIEve: Oct 5 2024, 08:52 PM

Use own lawyer better. Independent and represent you better. Don't save on the cost, not worth it.

Excellent advice..

now if you as a seller can comprehend the above, and is confident that you can act as your own lawyer (which basically is what it is), to vet the draft
spa and ensure your interests are protected, then do proceed to use the buyer's lawyer...

to me, WHEN and HOW the balance will be paid to you is utmost importance, though the points above are also important..usually for me, i ensure in spa is stated, house sold as it is, i hand keys over to buyer's lawyer, i get the final payment in exchange on the spot ie lawyer's cheque.. not after 7 days not after 1 day , its immediate!

once SPA is signed, its set in stone so you better be able to ensure your OWN interests are protected ...

This post has been edited by nugget2022: Oct 7 2024, 12:35 PM

As far as i'm concerned, in this case, the buyer's lawyer acts as Seller's stakeholder only. So yes, if not careful, lawyer will push the stake into my heart.

Yeah I *think* i fixed most of the clauses. Final stages now, VP and balance payment.

for residential house, very straight forward. i will choose unrepresented, means using buyer's lawyer

so far no problem. also i think is faster

but again, if u are selling a fully furnished house and with certain special condition i.e. selling with tenancy or leaseback to owner, better use your own lawyer.

As long using standard clause, seller can just use buyer's lawyer, although it means unrepresented but definitely work faster.

I did sell one house in March this year, let the buyer's lawyer to handle. The only condition is as per "what it is". Everything work very smooth and I got all remaining payment in last week of third mth.

Buyer must always insist to use back own lawyer for protection of their own interest.