Often people that are required to consult a lawyer for independent legal advice wonder why this certificate is necessary when they are actually signing the contract. If you too have such questions or doubts regarding the independent legal advice certificate then here are a few basic details about the ILA or the independent legal advice.
The most common scenario where an independent legal advice certificate is required is property transactions. A number of people are required to sign the contract and this includes the person that is directly benefitting from the loan and also the person that is not directly benefitting from the loan. The lender would want to ensure that everyone signing the contract is in complete understanding of the documents that they are signing.
This is a simple process, as a borrower you need to find a good independent legal advisor that you could work with and get an appointment with your lawyer who is acting as your independent legal advisor. Find someone that is flexible with their appointments and ready to meet you outside the business hours if required so that you do not have to worry about taking time off from work for your lawyer appointment.
Your advisor will require you to furnish some basic documents. It is therefore important that you get the list of documents that your service provider would require you to furnish during the meeting. When you go prepared you could save yourself another trip to the lawyer’s office. When you are fixing your appointment ensure that you have enough time to gather all the required documents. Fix short notice appointments only when you have all the required documents and are ready to furnish them at the first meeting.
During this meeting your lawyer will review your contract with the lender and explain the document fully so that there is no knowledge gap. If you have any questions or doubts you must have them all addressed before you sign the contract. Remember the scope of services offered by your legal advisor is just limited to explaining the documents at hand and ensure that you have a complete understanding of all the documents you are signing.
Once the lawyer explains the legal implications of the contract will get you sign the contract in their presence. The legal advisor will then issue an independent legal advice certificate with their signature. You will also be required to sign the certificate acknowledging that you have engaged the services of the said legal advisor.
This certificate should be attached with the loan agreement that you are submitting to the lender. If this certificate is missing then you will not be able to get your application successfully processed. Before engaging the services of any legal advisor, make sure that you have a clear understanding of the fee involved and there are no surprise charges. Most of these independent legal advice services come at a fixed fee. You need to however double check things with respect to the advisor fee.
