Serve the Person, Solve the Property

Picture a couple selling the family house because the marriage is ending. On paper it is a three-bedroom house with a valuation, a bond to settle and a rates clearance certificate to apply for. In the room it is two people who cannot sit on the same couch, and each of them has to sign, because when spouses are married in community of property both must consent before the house can be sold.

So the property problem and the person problem arrive together, and the first only gets solved by serving the second. The questions that seem unnecessary, asked for the third time, about when transfer will happen and whether the bond will be cancelled properly, are usually fear speaking. One of them is worried about where the children will sleep. The other is worried the money will vanish before it lands.

Someone who reads only the paperwork will push for signatures and wonder why the deal keeps stalling. Someone who reads the people will slow down and explain the order of things plainly, the offer, the conditions, the conveyancer's work, the lodgement at the Deeds Office, so that each person can see where their part sits. The house was never the difficult part. A building does not hesitate, change its mind or need reassurance late at night.