Buying a Home in Queensland
Have a property lawyer check the contract before you sign
Buying a house or unit? We review the contract and the seller’s disclosure, make sure your finance and building and pest conditions protect you, work out your transfer duty and any first home concession, and settle for you.
Prefer to talk? Call (07) 5555 0000
What we do for buyers
The most useful time to call us is before you sign. Once you have, we look after every step to settlement.
Before you sign
- Review the contract and every special condition
- Check the seller’s disclosure statement and certificates
- Make sure your finance and building and pest conditions are filled in, with dates that work
- For a unit or townhouse, go through the body corporate certificate and levies
- Prepare you for an auction, where there’s no cooling-off
- Work out your transfer duty and any home or first home concession
From signing to settlement
- Explain cooling-off and track every condition date
- Order searches and raise any problems with the seller’s lawyer
- Remind you to insure the home from the day after you sign
- Handle the ATO withholding if the seller has no clearance certificate
- Settle electronically, paying your transfer duty through PEXA
- Register the transfer and tell you when the keys are yours
Buying off the plan? Different rules apply, and the seller disclosure scheme doesn’t cover it. Buying off the plan
First home buyers
No transfer duty on a new first home since 1 May 2025
Queensland first home buyers pay no transfer duty on a new home, including off the plan, or on vacant land to build on, whatever the price. An established first home is duty-free up to $700,000, with a reduced rate up to $800,000.
To keep the concession, you must
- Move in within 1 year of settlement, or build and move in within 2 years on vacant land
- Not lease or sell the home before you move in
- From 1 August 2026, be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or a specified foreign retiree
- Buying new?
- You may also get the $30,000 First Home Owner Grant if the home and land are worth less than $750,000.
- Before you sign
- We confirm which concession applies, then claim it on your transfer.
What to check before you sign
Once you sign, the contract binds you, subject to cooling-off and any conditions. These are the points we check first.
- Finance and inspectionsFill in the dates
- On the current standard contract, if the finance or building and pest dates are left blank, the contract isn’t subject to them. We make sure they’re filled in, with time to act.
- The seller’s disclosureBefore you sign
- The seller must give you a disclosure statement, a title search and survey plan, and pool and body corporate documents where they apply. If something is missing or materially wrong, you may be able to end the contract before settlement.
- Special conditionsRead every one
- Extra terms added by the seller or agent can change your rights, deadlines and costs. We explain each one and suggest changes.
- InsuranceFrom the next business day
- Under the standard contract, the home is at your risk from 5pm on the first business day after you sign. Insure it before then.
- Smoke alarms and poolsThe seller’s job, mostly
- The seller must have compliant smoke alarms installed by settlement. If a pool has no safety certificate at settlement, you must get one within 90 days.
Buying at auction or by private sale?
The rules differ, and at an auction there’s no time to fix a problem after the hammer falls. Talk to us before auction day.
| Compare | Private sale | Auction |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling-off | 5 business days from when you receive the signed contract; ending it costs up to 0.25% of the price | None, including for a registered bidder who signs soon after the property is passed in |
| Finance and inspections | Usually conditions in the contract, with dates you negotiate | Sort them out before you bid: auction terms usually make the contract unconditional |
| Seller disclosure | Given to you before you sign | Given to registered bidders before the auction, and on display during it |
| When to call us | Before you sign the contract | Before auction day, so we can review the contract and disclosure |
Simon Bennett Partner, QLS Accredited Specialist (Property Law)Who looks after your purchase
Your purchase is run by our property team, led by Simon Bennett, a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in Property Law. Associates Mathew Parker and Erlinda Nunn work with him on residential purchases.
Associate, property law
Associate, conveyancing and off-the-plan
What our clients say
Buying a home: FAQs
Answers to the questions buyers ask us most.
Popular guides
There’s no legal requirement, but once you sign, the contract binds you, so it pays to have it checked first. Settlement is now done electronically, and your lawyer handles it for you.
Before you sign anything, if you can. We’ll review the contract and the seller’s disclosure and suggest conditions. If you’ve already signed, call us straight away, because cooling-off and condition dates start running quickly.
During the 5-business-day cooling-off period you can, for a fee of up to 0.25% of the price, except at auction. After that, generally only if a condition such as finance or building and pest isn’t met, or if the seller’s disclosure wasn’t given or was materially wrong.
If your contract has a building and pest condition, you can usually end it, or negotiate repairs or a lower price, before the inspection date. Without the condition, you’re generally committed, which is why we check the dates are filled in before you sign.
The liability arises when you sign. We lodge the transfer duty return for you, and the duty is usually paid through PEXA at settlement.
Generally, if it’s your first home and you move in within 1 year of settlement without leasing or selling it first. From 1 August 2026 you must also be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or a specified foreign retiree. We confirm your eligibility before you sign.
Yes. Under the standard contract, the home is at your risk from 5pm on the first business day after you sign. If it becomes unfit to live in before settlement, you may be able to end the contract, unless the seller restores it.
Foreign persons generally can’t buy an established home until 30 June 2029, under a Commonwealth ban with limited exceptions. New homes usually need FIRB approval, and foreign buyers pay an extra 8% transfer duty in Queensland.
It can work well, but the contract is different: there are sunset dates, and the seller disclosure scheme doesn’t apply. Have the contract reviewed before you sign. Read our guide to buying off the plan.
