Do All Conveyancers Have Professional Indemnity Insurance?

When the time comes to go through the conveyancing process as you’re buying or selling a home, you’ll want a qualified conveyancer or solicitor to assist you. There are several different qualities to look for in a conveyancer, such as a license or registration with the appropriate local authorities. Another quality to look for is whether or not the conveyancer has professional indemnity insurance. This type of insurance is taken out by a business and helps protect them against loss for events which may arise due to their act of negligence, error, or omission.

(A good real estate agent will have professional connections to conveyancers and conveyancing solicitors, you can compare real estate agents upfront at LocalAgentFinder and get the expert advice to help you sell your property.)

Professional indemnity insurance, whether it’s used by a conveyancer or real estate agent, helps cover the costs or expenses of defending a legal claim. It can also be used for any payable damages. When you choose a conveyancer with this type of insurance, you can be sure that they will be able to pay you these damages should any mishaps occur due to their negligence. It protects both the professional and the consumer.

Solicitors and Professional Indemnity Insurance

It’s a legal requirement in Australia that all solicitors carry professional indemnity insurance. If you decide to use a solicitor to carry out your conveyancing process, you can rest assured that they will be insured. This is required before the solicitor can have a current practising certificate issued, so one way to make sure that your solicitor is insured is to ask for their practising certificate. If they have a current certificate, this is proof that they also have professional indemnity insurance.

Conveyancers and Professional Indemnity Insurance

The majority of conveyancers will also carry professional indemnity insurance, because this is a requirement of the registration or qualification that they must go through in order to become a conveyancer. If you are thinking of hiring a conveyancer without professional indemnity insurance, then they usually are not following other state or territory conveyancing regulations either. This would be a major red flag.

Although it is compulsory in most cases for a conveyancer to hold professional indemnity insurance, it can’t hurt to ask them for confirmation. This will ensure that you are covered in the event of any errors or professional negligence.

Choosing a conveyancer who doesn’t hold this type of insurance is risky. Not only are they more likely to be in breach of other conveyancing regulations, but this could also cost you money. Should something go wrong during the conveyancing transaction which is due to their error or negligence, you could suffer a significant financial loss. In this case you would normally take the professional to court, but if they don’t have the funds to pay any damages you are awarded you will have to bear this financial loss. A conveyancer who holds professional indemnity insurance will have the ability to pay your damages without delay, offsetting your loss.

What’s next?

This is also a quality to look for in a real estate agent for the same reasons. You can compare local real estate agent fees and services upfront at LocalAgentFinder, to help you find the right agent for your needs.