The other day an amazing thing took place. A contract arrived on my desk that only contained one page of special conditions (which technically should be called "Additional Conditions")!
Now this may at first glance appear to be a bizarre observation to make. However, when reviewing property contracts is your bread and butter you soon gauge what is normal practice and what is rare. All contracts will have the set of standard Law Society clauses, as it is established practice to use these in property transactions.What usually follows the standard clauses are pages of special conditions, dealing with things like warranties and delayed settlement and the payment of interest. However, a significant majority of the usual special conditions in effect just restate what is in the standard clauses. I suspect that this is due to the fact that many conveyancers and lawyers do not know what is contained in the standard clauses and also the fact that they are copying other conveyancers and lawyers who have the same clauses.
What's my issue? Well, extra special conditions adds time and cost to a transaction. Poorly worded special conditions can hold up a sale. The frustrating thing is that most of the time the standard clauses deal adequately with the issue in question - there is no need to restate the standard clause in different wording. But sometimes conveyancers and lawyers feel more comfortable with what they have always done, what everybody else does, rather than really thinking about what is necessary to protect their client's interest.
I thank the practitioner who provided me with the contract that provided such amazement. He was from the country, where perhaps things are simpler and people a bit nicer. But maybe us city folk could learn a thing or two by making our property contracts sensible and appropriate for each transaction.
