Property Settlement

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EXPERT OBSERVER
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Prospective Australian home buyers can breathe a sigh of relief, with industry experts predicting a drop in the costs associated with property settlement after the launch of new legal technology provider, The Search People. 
The entry of the first low-cost player in the Australian market offers an alternative to the notoriously expensive options that currently dominate the legal technology landscape. 
Numerous participants in the current technology market hold legal and conveyancing professionals hostage, with few providers offering a comprehensive suite of market-leading technology at an affordable price. 
The current price of some property information and legal technology providers is, to be quite honest exorbitant, and it’s consumers who suffer.
Lawyers and conveyancers are forced to pass on the high cost of this information and technology during the settlement process. 
Many of these buyers have already spent years saving for a deposit, and then have to spend thousands on the settlement process – it’s understandably disappointing. 
Professionals that choose The Search People to fulfil their technology and information needs can avoid high fees charged by other providers, and pass on this cost saving to consumers, making the Australian dream more achievable than ever before. 
We are proudly offering the best technology at an affordable price to disrupt the market and bring benefits to legal professionals and consumers alike. 
Consumers currently have two main ways to pay for property settlement services, and they should expect a reduction in costs under both payment models. 
The first option is for consumers to pay a lump sum plus the cost of property search fees to a lawyer, who manages the property purchasing process on the buyer’s behalf. 
The other option is for buyers to pay an all-inclusive price, which covers the conveyancer’s fees and includes the cost of property search fees.
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Regardless of which option buyers choose, they should see a reduction in costs if they choose to engage a professional that uses The Search People. 
Our technology provides legal and property professionals with the opportunity to gain a competitive edge and offer a lower price, so take advantage of this and shop around. 
Don’t be afraid to seek out a deal – consumers benefit the most from increased competition, and we are determined to stand up against the predatory behavior that has been accepted in the industry for so long. 
For buyers, that means more money in their pockets to pay off their mortgage sooner or furnish their new home.
Rafe Berding is the CEO of The Search People, an Australian technology provider offering online access to 5,000+ legal searches and access to the latest industry innovations, including electronic conveyancing, digital signing and Verification of Identity tools.
It is backed by leading technology company GlobalX and leverages the latest innovations available in the market. 
To find out more about The Search People, <a href="https://thesearchpeople.com.au/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
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jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

The Search People to offer home buyers cheaper property settlement services

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The ASX has announced it is partnering with Australian Technology Innovators (ATI), the parent company of InfoTrack, to create Sympli, a national electronic property settlement service.
The service will offer lawyers, conveyancers and financial institutions a more streamlined and comprehensive technology solution.
The ASX advises it will seamlessly integrate with clients' existing practices and systems.
The service, owned 50:50 by ASX and ATI, is, subject to regulatory approvals, expected to begin operations towards the end of the year.
The ASX says the electronic property settlement industry in Australia is estimated to have potential revenues in excess of $200 million.
ASX expects to invest around $30 million in the new venture of this and the next two financial years.
It will comrpise around $7 million in 2018, with further investments in 2019 and 2020. The ASX estimates Sympli will break-even in the 2021 financial year.
Below is the ASX executive summary. Click here <a href="https://edge.alluremedia.com.au/uploads/businessinsider/2018/05/asx-settlements.jpg" target="_blank">to enlarge.</a>
<img class="size_primary" src="https://edge.alluremedia.com.au/uploads/businessinsider/2018/05/asx-settlements.jpg" alt="">
ASX managing director and CEO Dominic Stevens said entering the electronic property settlement market is a natural evolution for ASX.
"We already settle approximately $70 billion in transactions electronically every day and have been the central settlement venue for the Australian financial market for decades," Stevens said.
"InfoTrack is the ideal partner as the market leader in legal and property search.
"It has 18 years’ experience and brings a deep understanding of, and connectivity to, the property conveyancing industry.
He said Sympli is an "exciting opportunity."
"Combining the experience and expertise of both shareholders will enable Sympli to provide a compelling offering, which we believe will allow users to easily realise the efficiencies of electronic property settlements.”
 
 
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ASX to create electronic property settlement platform Sympli

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SAI Global are reminding all of its customers to remain vigilant regarding suspicious emails and links.
It has recently been broadly publicised within the industry that fraudsters are working to gain access to law practice or conveyancing accounts with the intent to commit fraudulent activity. SAI Global has been made aware of an apparent attempt with one of its customers.
The customers were asked to reset their password from an email posing as SAI Global.
"We are currently investigating this incident as a matter of urgency."
It recommend actions to reduce instances of fraud and loss when it comes to property settlements.   "It is prudent to call (not email) all clients and warn them to not transfer funds based on electronic disbursement instructions purportedly from your business without first calling you (on a separately verified number) to confirm details.   "It is prudent to not transfer any funds from your practice (EFT or direct banking) before you confirm directly with clients (by phone call) any instructions received electronically purporting to be from them regarding the disbursement or receipt of funds."
<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/77744-settlement-conveyancing-con-by-scammers-triggers-warning" target="_blank">Recent issues have emerged</a> in SA and WA. 
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

SAI Global warn of heightened settlement fraud  risk

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Ian Romi, also known as Naim Rahimi, has been placed him on a good behaviour bond for two years after pleading guilty to the disposal of property sale funds prior to bankruptcy.
He pleased gulf to making a false declaration in his bankruptcy Statement of Affairs.
In July 2014, Mr Romi received $30,000 as a result of a property settlement.
Within two weeks he had withdrawn $24,000 in cash from his account, using $10,000 for a holiday and gambling the balance at a casino.
This money should have been used to pay his creditors, the Australian Financial Security Authority advised.
Rahimi was sentenced on 22 November 2017 at the Brisbane Magistrates Court. 
On 28 July 2014, Mr Romi filed for voluntary bankruptcy with debts in excess of $113,000.
He failed to disclose in his Statement of Affairs that he had sold a house in 2013, that he had made a profit in relation to the sale of another house and that he had transferred ownership of motor vehicles prior to bankruptcy.
In an interview with AFSA investigators, Mr Romi admitted he received the $30,000 prior to bankruptcy and just ‘blew it.’
Magistrate Quinn convicted Mr Romi and placed him on a good behaviour bond for two years. In sentencing, the Magistrate considered Mr Romi’s early plea which indicated his remorse, his cooperation and the fact that he had no previous convictions.
The matter was prosecuted by the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions on behalf of the Australian Financial Security Authority.
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Bankrupt failed to declare property sale proceeds pocketed before bankruptcy

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Actor Russell Crowe has been busy over summer tidying up his property empire, as he works towards a belated matrimonial property settlement.
He has quietly sold his Kingsford apartment block, an investment he picked up 15 years ago.
It was the three storey, four unit Wallace Street block that he was allowing his former 30 Odd Foot of Grunts band mates to live in rent free.
Crowe secured $3.2 million in an off-market deal for the Wallace Street building that cost him $1,454,000 in 2001, four years before the band unofficially dissolved.
It has been bought by a company associated with Hunters Hill based, PWC Australia partner Jason Habak and wife Linda.
In November the Sydney Confidential gleaned that Crowe was finally proposing to turf out his former band mates who had been living in the 1912 apartment block prey much rent free for the last 15 years.
The Gladiator star is understood to have told the musicians four years ago that it would be used 'as part of a divorce settlement', with his now ex-wife Danielle Spencer.
One of the two bedroom apartments in the block has just been listed for rent at $725 a week, marketed as 'freshly renovated'.
Crowe and friend Billy Dean Cochran formed Roman Antix in the 1980s, which later became the more well known Australian rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (also known as TOFOG).
In 1992 the band was formed and Crowe was the frontman, performing lead vocals and guitar. They played shows in London, LA and Texas in 2000.
There are whispers that the next property to go is Crowe's Riley Street commercial building in Darlinghurst.
Currently operating as 98 Riley Street Gym, the 667 sqm parcel cost Crowe $3,875,000 in 2004. The interior designer Blainey North has undertaken its fitout.
The Oscar award-winning actor has also listed his Woolloomooloo Wharf penthouse listing on which he had elevated price expectations - possibly even $30 million.
The luxury car dealer Neville Crichton, who sold his Point Piper home for $62 million in last year's biggest sale in Australia, was keen to buy the trophy apartment.
But Crichton, who wanted to downsize to spend more time in his homeland New Zealand, had hoped to pick it up for $25 million.
He has instead turned his buying intention to the $33 million Zamel home on the Point Piper harbourfront which Bill Malouf at LJ Hooker Double Bay had on his books. It had been for sale since 2014.
Western Australian mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forest also had a look around the Finger Wharf apartment which set a record in 2003 when Crowe and Danielle paid $14.35 million.
No other apartment comes close in size with some 1000 sqm at the tip of the Finger Wharf.
The offering includes a 35 metre marina berth and seven car spaces.
Crowe was only the second owner of the property, having bought the home from Nutrimetics founder Imelda Roche and her husband, property developer Bill Roche, who paid $9.8 million off the plan in 1998.
The recent relationship Danielle has with her beau Ad Long has triggered the decision to sell much of their property portfolio.
In 2011 Crowe and Spencer spent $10 million on the Rose Bay trophy home, Te Puke after a four-year search, which remains in both of their names.
It has been Spencer's home since their separation.
Crowe retains his 320-hectare property in Nana Glen, near Coffs Harbour.  
This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.
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Actor Russell Crowe sells Kingsford apartment block

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GUEST OBSERVER
The time taken from the commencement of proceedings in the Family Court of Western Australia was 108 weeks for the 12 months ending August 2013, 92 weeks for the 12 months ending August 2014 and 89 weeks for the 12 months ending August 2015.
Rather than wait almost two years for your case to be heard and determined by a judicial officer of the Family Court, you can take control of the outcome of your case by participating in a mediation-style conference.
Mediation does not require the preparation of expensive court documents and your attendance at court. Mediation may potentially achieve a prompt outcome.
Participating in mediation before commencing proceedings in the Family Court is not mandatory.
However, in 2012 the Family Court of Western Australia issued a directive to family law practitioners which confirmed that at the first Court hearing for property settlement matters where all parties are legally represented, practitioners would be expected to:
have considered arranging private mediation style conferencing;
provide to the presiding judicial officer the timeframe for the conferencing to allow an appropriate adjournment date to be given; and
if such conferencing is not considered appropriate, advise the presiding judicial officer of the relevant reasons.<a href="https://www.carrco.com.au/mediation-property-settlement-cases/#_ftn1">[1]</a>
Who will be the mediator? 
Mediation can be conducted by:
<ul>
<li>a Government funded organisation; or</li>
<li>a private mediator (a person trained and qualified to conduct mediation).</li>
</ul>
Many family lawyers are also trained and qualified mediators. If a family lawyer is appointed as your mediator, you can expect that they will have a sound understanding of the issues in your case.
The practice in Western Australia amongst family lawyers is that one party nominates a pool of mediators that they propose be appointed. The other party then selects from the pool or in some cases, proposes alternative mediators. The parties ordinarily agree the identity of the mediator. In some cases, however, the Family Court determines who will conduct mediation if the parties cannot agree.
Who attends mediation? 
The parties, their family lawyers and the mediator attend mediation.
It is possible to have a support person present at the location where the mediation occurs, but that person does not directly participate in the process.
Do I have to be in the same room as my ex?
Ordinarily mediation occurs with the parties, their family lawyers and the mediator in one conference room.
Throughout the course of the mediation there are numerous scheduled breaks where parties ‘break out’ into separate rooms to consult their family lawyer privately to obtain advice, discuss options and settlement proposals.
Mediation can be conducted on a ‘shuttle’ basis, which means that the parties are in separate rooms and the mediator moves between the rooms during the mediation. A ‘shuttle’ mediation is usually reserved for exceptional cases.
If you are concerned about your safety or being in the same room as your ex, you should ask your family lawyer about your options, but a ‘shuttle’ mediation may be appropriate.
How long will mediation take? 
Mediation is generally scheduled for a half-day or full-day session.
The process of agreeing a mediator, scheduling a convenient date to all parties, preparation and participating in mediation may take several weeks, or in some cases months.
Both parties and their respective lawyers meet with the mediator individually for what is known as an ‘intake session’. This allows the mediator to meet the parties, to obtain an overview of the issues in dispute, assess any risk factors and explain the mediation process.
It is possible for more than one mediation session to occur if there are matters that need to be discussed further or reviewed.
How much does mediation cost?
The cost of engaging a mediator varies according to:
<ul>
<li>whether mediation is to take place for a half-day or full-day; and</li>
<li>who is engaged.</li>
</ul>
You could expect the costs of engaging a mediator for a full-day conference to be between $2,000 – $5,000 (plus GST).
Some mediators offer mediation services for reduced fees in cases involving a modest pool of assets (below $750,000).
Who pays for mediation?
In most cases the costs of engaging a mediator are shared equally between the parties.
There is no regulation which stipulates that the costs are to be shared.
In some instances a financially superior party will meet the costs of engaging a mediator. Sometimes a financially inferior party contributes their share of the mediator’s costs out of their property settlement.
What will mediation achieve?
If an agreement is reached your family lawyer will assist you to evidence an agreement, for example by preparing a minute of consent orders that the parties can sign. The consent orders will then be lodged at the Family Court to make the agreement reached binding.
If the parties are unable to reach an overall agreement to resolve all matters in dispute, mediation can achieve agreement in relation to:
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<li>obtaining valuations;</li>
<li>partial property settlement; or</li>
<li>how the matter will progress to a trial in the Family Court.</li>
</ul>
Benefits of mediation:
Some of the benefits of mediation include:
<ul>
<li>it is confidential;</li>
<li>it is a fast and effective first step to resolving a dispute;</li>
<li>if an agreement is reached it saves the time, money and potential stress of Family Court proceedings;</li>
<li>it is a more structured and dynamic form of dispute resolution than ordinary negotiation;</li>
<li>it increases the control the parties have over the decision – if a dispute goes to Court, the decision will be left to the judicial officer;</li>
<li>compliance with agreements reached through mediation are usually high due to the fact that the decision was mutually agreed; and</li>
<li>the option of commencing proceedings in the Family Court will not be compromised if mediation is unsuccessful.</li>
</ul>
For further information contact Carr &amp; Co <a href="https://www.carrco.com.au/">here</a>.
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