Hello there,

Would appreciate if some lawyers here or anyone experienced with the below case to advise me.


Story:
I am in the midst of buying a sub-sale freehold house. Loans are basically approved but haven't signed anything.
Just found out (through the seller's lawyer) the seller need to transfer the house title to beneficiary (since it's joint name for the seller and one passed away). According to the lawyer, they'll need to follow the court proceeding, then only can transfer title to beneficiary..The process will take about 3 months for court order and 2 months for title transfer to beneficiary.

The lawyer said i can sign SnP first to lock in the loan and once the above process finished, the loan will be released and the title will transfer to us which is a quick process.

So my questions are:
1) Is this 5 months process normal and will the bank able to lock in the loan for this long?



2) According to the 'agreement to purchase form': 90% balance to be paid within 90 days from i) date of SPA or ii) date of receipt of the relevant consent from statutory body, etc......... Upon expiry of the period stipulated in above clause to grant an extension period of 30 days on the unpaid balance sum at an interest rate of 8% per annum calculated on daily basis.

Should I just ignore and not concern about all these (since it's not related to me) and just follow as what stipulated in the booking form?


3) Is it advisable to engage the same lawyer as the seller?

4) Can i cancel the booking?

So my questions are:
1) Is this 5 months process normal and will the bank able to lock in the loan for this long?
If it's landed property, then yes 3 months to get court order and 2 months to transfer title is considered normal (for strata usually 3-9 months to transfer title, depending on which land office).


2) According to the 'agreement to purchase form': 90% balance to be paid within 90 days from i) date of SPA or ii) date of receipt of the relevant consent from statutory body, etc......... Upon expiry of the period stipulated in above clause to grant an extension period of 30 days on the unpaid balance sum at an interest rate of 8% per annum calculated on daily basis.
Should I just ignore and not concern about all these (since it's not related to me) and just follow as what stipulated in the booking form?

The lawyer will state that the 90% balance to be paid within 90 days from the date the lawyer receives a copy of the title duly registered in favour of the beneficiary.


3) Is it advisable to engage the same lawyer as the seller?

if this is the case, the lawyer is actually acting for you (thus you will be paying the legal fee) and the seller is unrepresented.


4) Can i cancel the booking?

no reason to cancel unless you need the house urgently.

Get ur own lawyer.
afterall you are the one that pay the lawyer

1) is it a leasehold property? if not, then why the need for 5 months? Transmission and Transfer can be presented simultaneously and the transaction can be completed with the period of a normal sale and purchase agreement.

Bank's letter of offer usually have a validity period when the offer will lapse, check with your officer and tell him/her the circumstances, if need be, the bank will issue a supplemental letter of offer to extend its offer.

2) since there is a transmission going on here, the 90 days period to pay shall only commence from the date the Transmission documents are in order to be presented (if the property is a freehold) or from the date the consent to transfer in your favor is obtained (if the property is a leasehold).

Please don't be lazy and trust the solicitors will do everything for you, it's your money so be aware of how it's going to be used. Comb through every terms and ask the solicitors if unclear and don't go back threatening the solicitor if something goes wrong. Caveat emptor, bro.

3) Anyway, whose solicitor are you using? Please don't tell me that you using the one recommended by the vendor because although in record, you are represented by them and you should be protected, in practice, firms will protect the people they are acquainted to.

4) Sure you can cancel the booking, read the offer form the agent passes you and see what is the consequence of cancelling.

Keyword is "READ", read everything before you sign because any documents signed is valid and binding. Not even the courts will accept "i'm illiterate" as an excuse to void a contract.