We are often asked specific questions about PEXA including what PEXA stands for, what are PEXA property settlements and how does the PEXA settlement process work.
That’s because up until fairly recently, and for as long as people have been buying and selling property in Australia, the legal transfer of property known as conveyancing was entirely paper based. Property exchanges used to always occur in real life, and the parties involved in the selling or buying of property physically exchanged papers such as bank cheques, land titles, and other documents in order to move property ownership from one person to another.
Transferring property in this way wasn’t very efficient and things could and often did go wrong causing settlement delays which were frustrating and sometimes very costly.
This all changed in 2010 when PEXA opened for business and Australians started to do e conveyancing using this property exchange service. Since then, governments across many Australian states have mandated the use of electronic conveyancing and e-settlements due to their many benefits for all parties involved in conveyancing transactions. Benefits of electronic settlements include:
- More settlements happening on time
- A reduction in paperwork
- Reduced costs
- Fast access to cleared funds
- A safer and more efficient way of transferring property.
PEXA is short for Property Exchange Australia and nearly every Australian conveyancing business (including Settle Easy) uses this service. PEXA helps everyone using this service such as property lawyers, conveyancing solicitors and lending institutions lodge documents at the final stage of a property settlement and facilitates settlement funds all in one place. It all happens online, electronically.
When customers ask us how long a PEXA settlement takes, the answer is that once all the legal work is completed by your property lawyer or conveyancing team, your settlement happens entirely online and will usually be completed within an hour.
So, if you buy or sell property and are looking for a conveyancer in Melbourne or across Victoria, need conveyancing in Sydney or anywhere in NSW or conveyancing in Brisbane or wider QLD and you use Settle Easy to help transfer property, our team will use PEXA to finalise your transaction. The transfer of your documents and funds will all happen safely, securely and simultaneously in one place.
Before your settlement takes place, your Settle Easy conveyancer will book your PEXA settlement time, arrange for you to sign a PEXA authority form, and include the PEXA settlement fee as part of your final conveyancing costs.
Buying and selling property has changed a lot over the past few years with many services associated with the process (including Settle Easy’s award winning online conveyancing business) moving online.
Since their first successful online exchange at the end of 2012, PEXA has also developed further tools to help buyers and sellers navigate their way through the various stages of property settlement more easily. They’ve even developed PEXA Key, which is an app that shields sellers and buyers from phishing or fraud, and it includes an exciting settlement countdown, a checklist of what you should do before moving, and a detailed explanation of what happens during settlement.
At Settle Easy, our team of friendly, accessible locally based property lawyers and conveyancers are always available to help you.
Because buying and selling property can be complicated and stressful, you’ll still need a conveyancer to guide you through the legal process. At Settle Easy we can help answer all your questions, whether they are really technical or just general in nature.
We work hard to make the legal process as simple and stress free as possible. We always use easy to understand language (no legal jargon) to communicate with you and explain anything you’re unsure about including:
- The cooling off period
- What a strata title and legal title are
- How much our conveyancing fees are and how they’re calculated
- How long it takes to prepare a Contract of Sale and what happens when contracts are issued
- How much will I pay in stamp duties
- What joint tenants and tenants in common means
- What’s involved in the exchange of contracts
- What happens during each different stage of conveyancing
- Who has to pay for conveyancing fees
- What happens on the day of settlement.
For the answers to some of our other frequently asked questions please visit this link.
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