Ian
1/5
I want to outline a very negative experience I had with Drew Gleeson.
I engaged them to do the conveyancing for the house I was purchasing in August 2024. At first everything proceeded as you would expect although I did find the communication a bit lacking. Drew Gleeson were also acting for the vendors and in hindsight I should not have engaged a firm also working for the counterparty to the sale.
The first issue emerged when on the 3rd of September Drew Gleeson sent me the incorrect contract of sale. Instead of the contract for the property I was buy they sent the contract for the property the vendors were buying conditional on the sale of their property to me, letting me know which property they wanted to buy and how much they paid for it. It didn't impact me but I thought it was a pretty unprofessional thing to do.
The next issue (maybe) was the stamp duty in the estimated costs summary was incorrect; I was eligible for a partial stamp duty exemption so the summary was out by about $20,000. Drew Gleeson claimed twice that this is intentional, and the estimated costs summary does not take into account any stamp duty concessions. Maybe that’s true but I’m not totally convinced given I received a call from Drew Gleeson on the 5th of September specifically asking to confirm whether I was eligible for a concession for correspondence they were preparing. Either way the most charitable conclusion I can draw is this part of their documentation needs to be clarified to ensure readers understand this is not necessarily a complete estimate of costs.
The biggest (and most stress inducing) issue was the discovery that Drew Gleeson sent out two different versions of the contract of sale for signing, the result being myself and the vendors signed off on different terms relating to the building and pest inspection. This was pretty alarming for me since the inspection had not yet been conducted, yet according to one set of terms the building and pest date had already passed and I wasn’t sure if I still had the option to pull out of the sale. When I raised this with Drew Gleeson I was told everything was fine regarding the building and pest dates, however no further explanation was given which did nothing for my stress levels.
By now I was seriously concerned there might be additional problems with the contract and decided to engage a property law specialist in Geelong for peace of mind. I also felt there had been a pattern of errors and had lost all confidence that the remainder of the purchase would proceed without further issue so I decided to engage a different conveyancer.
