20180825 (Sat)
What if my vendor said “I don’t care, I sell without paying for stamp duty or legal fee!”
What the seller said is “I don’t want to pay for any cost of transaction, I just want the money I ask for. No less!”
In a normal transaction, market norm is both parties share out the legal fee and stamp duty. In fact, in the law, Stamp Act 1949, the purchaser is in law to pay for the stamp duty. It is not the buyer to “share” the stamp duty on transfer of real property. However, the market practice is hard to change. It varies between places to places.
If such is the case, the buyer has to take up all the legal fees, stamp duty and cost of dealing with this property. The appointed buyer’s lawyer has to sort that out! In fact, even the discharge of charge with his bank (assuming he still owes money to the bank) also will be charged to the buyer. This, indeed is possible when the lawyer of the buyer is instructed to do so.
For a property which is expensive, this fees can be significant. Thus, it is an advantage of the seller to push these costs away. However, when he does this, he is no more protected by his lawyer, and that is sometimes risky. Well, to a seller, as long as I get the money, what else is important?
“I can read the sale and purchase agreement, if the amount is right, I just sign it!”