Happiest Clients: When more than just the land gets divided

Essendon-based mortgage agency Bundy Financial Services assisted three couples in 2015 acquire a commercial loan to purchase land on which to construct six home units. When the units were completed in 2017, the titles had to be subdivided into six residential titles, with each couple retaining two titles and two units.

Difficult as it already was, the deal took on another layer of complexity when one of the couples decided to get a divorce.  

“We had to provide guidance and essentially orchestrate the new finance for each couple to payout the one commercial loan, as well as liaise with the solicitor to assist with the subdivision,” Holly Bundy, director of Bundy Financial Services, told MPA.

“There was also a lot of correspondence between the couple who were mid-divorce because there were now stamp duty implications for all parties due to the one couple divorcing.” News of possible stamp duty charges did not go down well with the couples because it wasn’t factored into the project’s overall cost.

However, after Bundy and her team spent a considerable amount of time liaising between the solicitor and the divorced couple, and after much persistence with the state revenue office, they were able to keep any stamp duty from being imposed.

“Persistence was definitely the key in facilitating the waiver of the stamp duty with a lot of back and forth between the client and the solicitor,” Bundy said. 

According to Bundy, in normal circumstances, the clients usually deal directly with the solicitors. But given the complexity of the transaction and the number of parties involved, her team felt they needed to do more otherwise the subdivision and refinance would likely never have been resolved.  

“It was an extremely complex transaction with a lot of moving parts,” she said. Despite that, her team was able to please all parties by successfully subdividing the loan to six names. 

When asked about her takeaway tip from this experience for other brokers, Bundy humorously answered: “Tell your clients not to get a divorce mid-transaction.”

Bundy knows life happens and brokers’ job is to help clients best navigate through situations which can affect their finances. “Supporting clients and going above and beyond to try and help them find a solution is key, as well as being persistent to get the best outcome for them.”

In MPA’s happiest client short story series we showcase stand out ‘client success stories’ from brokers and discover what they learnt along the way. Leaving aside the details of the deal, we explore the human side of the story and how brokers really make an impact in people’s lives. If you have a client story you would like to share please email [email protected].