Eliminate and minimise risk is the name of the game

RICHARD CUNNINGHAM

JENNIE Tonner is all about leaving nothing to chance.

Since October, Tonner has been President of the NSW Division of the Australian Institute of Conveyancers and is also a director of the Real Estate Institute of NSW.

Conveyancers aim to protect their clients. Often, says Tonner, their last line of defence.

“That is our role,” she days. “We are there to eliminate or minimise risk as much as possible for the client.”

“But we are finding that harder and harder because of the way property is being sold in this State,” she said.

It involves undue haste, greed, new players. But first, some background to the battle.

Tonner runs Sydney’s Cremorne Conveyancing, a four-person outfit handling up to 350 matters a year.

She has more than 30 years’ experience but describes herself as an “accidental conveyancer”.

Tonner initially trained as a travel consultant after moving from Leura in the NSW Blue Mountains to Sydney at age 17.

She worked in a suburban real estate agency and wound up handling conveyancing for a local solicitor.

“I just loved it.” Tonner says. “It really suited my personality. I really liked the juggling, helping people buy their first home: the Australian Dream.”

At 21, she switched to the city, first with lawyers Makinson d’Apice and then Allen Allen & Hemsley, which won a bid to handle disposal of some 560 service stations.

“I had to learn national conveyancing in less than a week,” Tonner said. “I did that for five years and I loved it.”

She also gained her diploma. The national experience saw her head-hunted in 2000 by Mallesons Stephen Jaques, spending six months preparing the sale of Sydney’s iconic Centrepoint Tower.

It was to have been offered internationally on September 12, 2001. The day before, terrorists drove airliners into the World Trade Centre in New York “and the world changed”.

Centrepoint was eventually bought by Westfield, the late October deal to be finalised before Christmas.

“A massive learning curve,” she said.

“It wasn’t just the sale of real estate, it was the licences for pedestrian bridges, tunnels, signage, service agreements.”

Commercial property became her life for 10 years. “I was working on the biggest deals in the country. It was fantastic.”

Then the GFC hit, work dried up and she was offered redundancy, deciding to launch her own business.

“I initially ran it out of my home at Cremorne, then premises at Mosman and for the last six years, North Sydney.”

Tonner was elected to the AICNSW Board and is proud of what she’s achieved so far, including a closer relationship with the REINSW and improvements to the conveyancing curriculum at Macquarie University.

But there is plenty more to be done.

Tonner’s “number one focus” is for conveyancers to have professional standing comparable with that of lawyers.

“We’re not saying we’re lawyers. We are not,” she explains.

“All we’re saying is that when it comes to conveyancing, we do the exact same work, we have the same obligations in terms of insurance, risk, continuing legal education and protecting the consumer.”

AICNSW wants conveyancers and lawyers governed by one regulator, ultimately the Supreme Court. Presently, conveyancers are covered by Fair Trading.

“Under Fair Trading we can’t strike off a bad conveyancer, whereas lawyers can,” Tonner said. “The result of that is that our PI insurance skyrockets.”

There are other inconsistencies including disciplinary penalties and the treatment of interstate practitioners.

Tonner is urging reform, warning the NSW Government of potentially “disastrous” consequences.

“The consumer must be protected first and foremost,” she said.

“And I believe that this is the best way: for the industry to have the same benchmark when it comes to care and responsibility.

“We’re really going to be pushing that hard in 2026.”

Also of concern are short-term loans for vendors to pay for real estate styling and marketing.

These can be in the order of $30,000 at 19% interest, justified by the promise of a higher sale price.

Tonner believes sellers – already facing fat agency commissions and expensive online listing – might not realise what they’ve agreed to.

“They don’t need to spend $10,000 on styling,” she said. “But they’re being told it’s all about getting the best price possible.”

Conveyancers are often left in the dark. “These companies ring us and say, ‘oh, you need to make sure our invoice gets paid at settlement.’ And we say who are you?”

A third issue is “deposit holders” offering to hold buyer deposits in trust, manage AML/CTF compliance, pay agency commissions and enable settlement via PEXA.

This is in an agreement separate to the Contract for Sale.

Traditionally, deposits are held in a real estate agent or solicitor’s trust account until settlement.

Why? Because the contract is still on foot and the purchaser is still completing due diligence.

“Agents will love it because it’s less work for them, less paperwork,” Tonner said.

But it’s not a free service and a potential risk if the arrangement is not in the contract of sale.

Tonner’s own firm has refused such offers. “We said ‘that’s not going to happen. No way’.”

Another area that concerns Tonner is the haste involved in today’s supercharged, FOMO real estate market.

She sees buyers, sellers and agents rushing to exchange contracts before conveyancers have a chance to fully review them, conduct searches and perform due diligence.

In one case, her firm received a contract at 10pm, for exchange at 3pm the following day, and settlement within 20 days.

“I pushed back; said no, I’m not doing that. This was a $4.5 million sale.”

There’s too much at stake, she said, booby traps to be discovered and disarmed. But still, corners are cut.

“Agents can’t start showing or marketing a property until they have a draft contract,” Tonner explains.

“They put enormous pressure on conveyancers for a contract that’s not complete, which we should not be doing.

“But a lot of sole traders out there rely entirely on agents for work, so they’ll do it. That’s got to change.”

Don’t get her started on fees. Conveyancers are well acquainted with the issues, plus the likely cost of AML/CTF compliance.

Clients need to be educated to understand the value of the work.

“They’ll pay $50,000 or $100,000 in agent commissions but quibble about the conveyancing fee.”

And what of Tonner’s end game?

“I’m not doing this for attention, or to have my face out there,” Tonner said.

“This is my legacy for an industry that I love and have spent my whole career in.

“When I retire, or step back in three years’ time, I want to know that I’ve given it everything.”