Never be rushed – and other crucial words of advice for conveyancers
Country conveyancer Luke Seve - who was featured in an in-depth Q&A for Australian Conveyancer - shines a light on pressing issues facing practitioners, warning they should never bow down to rushing matters.
COUNTRY conveyancer Luke Seve shines a light on pressing issues facing practitioners – and warns they should never bow down to rushing matters.
“There’s often a lot of pressure from real estate agents and clients to get things done yesterday,” he tells Australian Conveyancer.
“But my advice is never take shortcuts. If you need GST advice because you’re not sure whether there’s going to be GST at settlement, don’t neglect that.
“Stand your ground. Don’t be afraid to do the right thing would be my advice.
Don’t succumb to the pressure of urgency.
“The other thing that sticks out is that we can’t provide financial advice.
Often clients ask me things that cross over into what would come under advice.
“So sticking to what your legislation permits you to do is important.”
But with so many regulatory headwinds facing the industry, it is not straight forward.
Asked about Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing – and other compliance issues facing conveyancers, Luke highlighted the ATO certificates as a particular issue.
“The foreign resident capital gains withholding clearance certificates are now mandatory for every transaction, every sale, which is a bit of an issue, mainly because I’m often finding that people want to settle very quickly,” he explained.
“But this 28-day window that the ATO says is involved in getting this certificate means we have to set client expectations – because of the potential lag for a transaction.
“Another thing that does concern me with regard to AML and cyber is the fact that clients seem to be the ones causing the problems – in that they don’t have sufficient safeguards in relation to their own email accounts.
“During COVID, I transitioned to working from home predominantly.
“So I do a lot of online verification of identity, a lot of DocuSign and obviously E-settlements.
“Often, I don’t meet my clients. But that has me thinking maybe I need to go back face to face. If someone can use AI to change someone’s face so that it looks like the client who’s on video, it’s an issue.”
What are the pressing issues for you and your business? Let us know.
