The SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT is the crucial document to your house sale. It is important to know the stages in the formation of a contract, and, even more, important that you get appropriate advice before signing one. The reason for getting advice on the form of the SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT before signing it is that once a contract is formed it is tough to alter the terms and conditions of it, and this could create major problems for you as the Vendor if you have not thought through all your obligations related to settling the sale.

CHATTELS

We suggest that you should make careful consideration of what CHATTELS you are selling as part of the agreement. There is room for you to include the exact CHATTELS you wish to sell in the SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT. We suggest that you provide specific detail in the agreement if you specifically want to retain any of the CHATTELS, which are listed in the standard-form SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT or if, for example, you wanted to remove specific trees or plants from the garden that forms the property.

OTHER CONDITIONS

You may also need to consider some other CONDITIONS in the agreement, and these could be specifically related to your circumstances.

If you are aware that the amount of loan repayment to discharge your current mortgage is quite high, and the settlement amount may not be enough, you may want to insert a clause that deals with problems with getting a settlement DISCHARGE of the mortgage. CONTACT US if you need assistance with a DISCHARGE OF MORTGAGE clause.

Also, if the property you are selling is a rental property, you may wish to consider appropriate clauses that may be important from an income tax perspective.

SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT – TYPES

A SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT for Real Estate may take various forms. The only major requirements are that it is in writing and that the normal requirements of Contract Law are met.

However, generally, a Purchaser will utilise a standard-form SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT. At present, there are generally two mainly used precedents. These are the ADLS precedent and the REINZ precedent. We strongly suggest that Vendors and Purchasers utilise the ADLS precedent rather than the REINZ precedent.

Please CONTACT US if you have any questions relating to the form of any draft SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT you are considering signing.