This is a great question, when you hire a competent real estate professional, you do not need to engage a lawyer until after your conditions are removed from a residential sale. A lot of people are under the impression that if they purchased the property on their own their lawyer can correct any errors that may be in the contract. This is FALSE! Once you’ve engaged in a contract of purchase and sale you have a legally binding contract between both Buyer and Seller. There is often very little a lawyer can do to correct a contract once both parties have agreed to all the terms and conditions in it, making it incredibly important to ensure that you understand fully what you’re committing to before all conditions are waived in a contract. There are a few times however, that engaging a lawyer during your due diligence period can be helpful. For example, you may want your lawyer to review some strata documentation to help to fully understand what buying into this strata or condo means. If you are purchasing commercial or multifamily properties and you have a condition for lawyer review you will want to engage a lawyer sooner than once conditions are removed. You can always engage a lawyer as a condition to review the contract but it’s important to remember that lawyers are not real estate professionals and may cause contracts to become more convoluted than necessary. Most lawyers and or law firms are happy to accept your business which makes engaging a lawyer at condition removal completely acceptable and standard practice. Your real estate professional should be able to recommend a few options that will be great for you!
