If I Could Say One Thing – Carolina Munoz
“It’s not to exchange a contract to buy a property without having your loan approval locked in.”
In the past few years, I’ve noticed that the banks are taking longer to approve loans and, on some occasions, not giving approval at all. Potential purchasers run the risk of being sued for breach of contract if they can’t get finance before settlement and suffer undue stress when finance is not finalised before a crucial deadline such as the expiry of the cooling-off period. At the very least, lock in your pre-approval so that you can go into the negotiations with certainty and peace of mind.
Now that AML/CTF compliance obligations are upon us, what transactions require checks and what transactions are exempt in the property realm?
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) reforms came into effect on 1 July 2026. These checks are a standard legal requirement and apply to many clients and services. For property solicitors and conveyancers, more formal due diligence and...
