What does a conveyancer do?

Moving the ownership means checking the contract and the title, working out the money owed at settlement, and making settlement happen. Who is allowed to do the work, and what the seller must hand over first, depends on the state; pick yours above to see its rules.

Who may do it, state by state

Doing conveyancing for a fee needs a licence in every state, or a practising certificate as a lawyer. In most states a licensed conveyancer and a solicitor are interchangeable for an ordinary sale; NSW’s own words are that they are “equally qualified to do conveyancing.” Queensland leaves no choice, and on our reading of its legislation neither does the ACT.

Queensland is solicitors-only, and its Legal Services Commission says so in terms: conveyancing there “can only be provided by qualified and licensed solicitors and law practices.” The ACT appears to be the same, though no official page puts it in one sentence: its Legal Profession Act gives “preparing an instrument relating to property” as an example of legal practice, its Agents Act never mentions conveyancers, and no regulation exempts them. WA calls its conveyancers settlement agents and the Northern Territory calls them conveyancing agents; the job is the same.

What a conveyancer does for a buyer

The official lists from NSW, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and WA come down to the same sequence:

1. Before you sign: read the contract and the seller’s disclosure, and explain your obligations and the special conditions. Victoria tells buyers to have the Section 32 statement checked before they buy; Queensland, to take the contract to a solicitor before signing it.
2. Searches: the title, council and water enquiries, government interests and, for a unit, the strata or owners corporation records.
3. Cooling-off: what your state allows, how long it runs and what pulling out costs. The rules differ everywhere; the inspection page draws each state’s deadline.
4. Deposit and finance: the deposit paid into trust, and the mortgage documents checked with your lender.
5. Adjustments: council rates, water and strata levies split between buyer and seller. Even the split day differs: in South Australia the seller pays to midnight before settlement, in WA to the end of settlement day.
6. Stamp duty: assessed and paid from your funds, usually as part of settlement.
7. Settlement: usually electronic now, except in the Northern Territory, where a transfer cannot yet be lodged electronically. Before signing anything for you electronically the conveyancer must hold your written authority and verify who you are.
8. Registration: the transfer lodged so the title is in your name.

Building and pest inspections are on the list as things the conveyancer arranges, not performs, and a valuation is separate again: Queensland’s contract warning recommends “an independent property valuation” alongside legal advice.

What a conveyancer does for a seller

The seller’s conveyancer prepares the contract and the disclosure the state requires, by the point the state sets for it (NSW before the home is advertised, Victoria before the buyer signs, South Australia at least 10 clear days before settlement); arranges exchange; prepares the settlement statement; and at settlement discharges the seller’s mortgage so the buyer gets clear title. In NSW any land tax owing has to be cleared before the sale can complete. The disclosure document is where the states differ most:

What a conveyancer does not do

Only NSW lists it in terms. A licensed conveyancer there may not start or run legal proceedings, set up or vary a trust, prepare a will, give investment or financial advice, or act on a non-residential mortgage over $7 million. WA puts the boundary the other way round: its code of conduct obliges a settlement agent to recommend a lawyer “if it is necessary or prudent”. And the vendor’s disclosure is not a building report: the Section 32 statement says nothing about the condition of the buildings, and Queensland’s Form 2 leaves out structural soundness.

When you need a solicitor

For an ordinary purchase or sale, in a state that licenses conveyancers, you do not. The line falls at work outside the transfer itself: disputes and court action, trusts, wills. One task people expect to need a lawyer for does not in NSW. To give up a cooling-off period, section 66W of the Conveyancing Act needs a certificate “signed by a solicitor or barrister”, and section 66P counts a licensed conveyancer as a solicitor for that part of the Act, so your own conveyancer can sign it, though nobody acting for the seller can. South Australia requires a solicitor’s certificate to waive cooling-off.

Doing it yourself

The consumer bodies in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory all warn that you lose the professional indemnity cover that protects you if a conveyancer gets it wrong. In NSW you cannot finish the job anyway: every land dealing has had to be lodged electronically since 11 October 2021, and only a subscribed solicitor or conveyancer can lodge. South Australia, WA, Tasmania and the ACT keep a paper route for someone acting for themselves, and in the Northern Territory a transfer cannot yet be lodged any other way. In the ACT the paper route means lodging in person at the Land Titles Office.

What a conveyancer charges for all of this is a market price, not a schedule. The conveyancing fees page sets out what the quote should cover and what sits on top of it.