What form should the Contract of Sale of Real Estate take?
Lawyers and Licensed Conveyancers are legally qualified to perform legal work associated with a real estate transaction, and this includes the drafting of a Contract of Sale of Real Estate and the terms and conditions it contains. Estate agents, on the other hand, are prohibited from drafting legal documents of any kind – they cannot draft contracts, nor can they draft terms and conditions. (It should be noted that the REIV openly defies this rule by supplying estate agents with draft “Special Conditions”, however the use of these by estate agents still constitutes a criminal offence!) Most lawyers and licensed conveyancers use the standard form Contract of Sale of Real Estate in order to ensure that there is some uniformity in the industry, allowing industry professionals and consumers to anticipate the rights and responsibilities they will assume in a real estate sale transaction.
