How Much Does Conveyancing Cost in Queensland?

If you are buying or selling property in Queensland, one of the first questions you will ask is how much does conveyancing cost. The honest answer is that it depends on what you count. Most quotes you see online show a single headline figure, but the true cost of a property transaction is made up of three separate layers: your solicitor's professional fee, the searches and disbursements paid along the way, and the government fees and duty that land at settlement.

This guide breaks each layer down line by line, using the Queensland fees in force for the 2026–27 financial year. You will see exactly what a title search costs, what the City of Gold Coast charges for rates and building searches, how the Titles Queensland transfer fee is calculated, and how it all adds up on a typical Gold Coast purchase. By the end, you will be able to read any conveyancing quote and know exactly what is (and is not) included.

[Image suggestion: buyers reviewing documents with a property lawyer. Alt text: Gold Coast home buyers reviewing an itemised conveyancing cost breakdown with their property lawyer]

How Much Does Conveyancing Cost? The Short Answer

For a standard residential purchase in Queensland, you can expect your conveyancing costs to fall into roughly these brackets:

Cost layer	Typical range	Who sets it
Professional fee (legal work)	Around $900 to $2,000 plus GST for a straightforward matter; more for complex transactions	Your solicitor
Searches and disbursements	Around $300 to $1,100, depending on the property and how many searches are needed	Titles Queensland, your local council, state agencies
Registration fees (buyers)	About $2,400 to $5,000+ on most Gold Coast purchases, based on price	Titles Queensland
Transfer duty (buyers)	Nil for many first home buyers, to tens of thousands of dollars	Queensland Revenue Office

Strictly speaking, only the first two rows are "conveyancing" costs. Registration fees and transfer duty are government charges your solicitor collects and pays on your behalf. They matter, though, because they are far larger than the legal fee itself, and they are the numbers that most often surprise buyers.

Layer 1: The Professional Fee

The professional fee covers the legal work on your matter: reviewing the contract, advising you on special conditions such as finance and building and pest clauses, ordering and interpreting searches, calculating settlement adjustments for rates and water, liaising with your lender, and managing settlement.

In Queensland, conveyancing work is carried out by solicitors or under a solicitor's supervision. That is different from states like New South Wales and Victoria, where licensed conveyancers operate independently. It also means the "cheap online conveyancer" you see advertised in Queensland is still a law practice, so the real question is how much attention your matter will get for the fee.

Published fixed fees across Queensland commonly sit somewhere between about $900 and $2,000 plus GST for a standard residential sale or purchase. Expect to pay more when the matter involves:

• Units or townhouses in a community titles scheme (body corporate records need reviewing)
• Off-the-plan purchases with long settlement periods and sunset clauses
• Rural, acreage or commercial property
• Trusts, company buyers or SMSF purchases
• Contract disputes, delayed settlements or terminated contracts

Our Gold Coast conveyancing lawyers quote each matter individually for exactly this reason: a standard house purchase and an off-the-plan unit with a body corporate dispute are very different pieces of work.

Layer 2: Queensland Search Costs, Itemised

Searches confirm what you are actually buying: who owns the land, what is registered on the title, whether rates are owing, and whether there are environmental or building issues attached to the property. These are paid at cost and passed on to you as disbursements.

Here are the main search fees for a Gold Coast property in 2026–27:

Search or certificate	Fee (2026–27)	What it tells you
Title search (Titles Queensland)	$25.71	Registered owner, mortgages, easements, caveats and other interests on the title
Survey plan image (Titles Queensland)	$27.56	The registered boundaries and dimensions of the lot
Community management statement copy (Titles Queensland)	$50.16	Lot entitlements and by-laws for units and townhouses
Rate information report (City of Gold Coast)	$185.00	Rates levied, paid and outstanding, used for settlement adjustments
Water meter reading (City of Gold Coast)	$84.20	Current water usage so consumption can be apportioned at settlement
Environmental Management Register / Contaminated Land Register search (online)	$61.05 per lot	Whether the land is recorded as contaminated or used for a notifiable activity
Residential building records search (City of Gold Coast)	$583.00	Building approvals, inspections and outstanding notices for the home and structures such as pools
Defined flood level information (City of Gold Coast)	$113.00	Flood levels for the lot, useful for insurance and renovation planning
Body corporate certificate (units and townhouses)	About $87 (76.75 fee units)	Levies, sinking fund, insurance and other body corporate information

Sources: the Titles Queensland 2026–27 fee schedule and the City of Gold Coast register of fees and charges 2026–27. Other councils set their own search fees, so costs in Brisbane, Logan or the Scenic Rim will differ.

Not every property needs every search. A standard house purchase usually needs the title, rates, water and contaminated land searches, which together come to about $356. Adding a building records search and flood information takes that to just over $1,050. Some firms also add a small office fee for postage, printing and settlement agent costs, so check whether your quote lists this separately.

[Image suggestion: simple table graphic of search costs. Alt text: Table of Queensland conveyancing costs showing professional fees, search fees and Titles Queensland registration fees]

Layer 3: Titles Queensland Registration Fees

When you buy, the transfer of the property into your name must be registered with Titles Queensland. This fee is calculated on the purchase price and is one of the largest items on a buyer's settlement statement after transfer duty.

For 2026–27, the transfer fee is $248.04, plus $46.56 for every $10,000 (or part of $10,000) of the price above $180,000. If you are borrowing, registering your lender's mortgage costs a further $248.04.

Purchase price	Transfer registration fee	Plus mortgage registration
$650,000	$2,436.36	$2,684.40
$850,000	$3,367.56	$3,615.60
$1,200,000	$4,997.16	$5,245.20

Most Queensland settlements now happen electronically through PEXA, which charges its own transaction fee. PEXA's published Queensland fee for a single-title transfer is $146.30 (including GST), and this is usually passed on as a disbursement.

Transfer Duty: The Biggest Cost That Isn't a Conveyancing Fee

Transfer duty (still often called stamp duty) is not a conveyancing cost, but your solicitor will calculate it, lodge the transfer documents for assessment and make sure it is paid on time. It is usually the single largest upfront cost of buying.

Queensland applies different rates depending on how you will use the property. The examples below use the current rates published by the Queensland Revenue Office:

Purchase price	Investor (general rate)	Owner-occupier (home concession)	First home buyer (established home)
$650,000	$22,275	$15,100	Nil
$850,000	$31,275	$24,100	$24,100 (no first home concession above $800,000)
$1,200,000	$49,525	$42,350	$42,350

A few points worth knowing:

• First home buyers of established homes: no duty is payable up to $700,000, with the concession phasing out between $700,000 and $800,000.
• First home buyers of new homes: for contracts dated on or after 1 May 2025, eligible buyers pay no transfer duty on a brand-new home, with no value cap.
• Eligibility changes: for transactions from 1 August 2026, first home concessions require the buyer to be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or specified foreign retiree.
• Foreign buyers: an additional 8% foreign acquirer duty applies to residential property.

Duty concessions come with occupancy and eligibility conditions, and getting them wrong can mean a reassessment later. This is one of the areas where advice at the contract stage pays for itself.

What Sellers Pay in Conveyancing Costs

Sellers do not pay transfer duty or the transfer registration fee, so their costs are lower overall. Since 1 August 2025, however, the seller's side of a Queensland sale has more work at the front end. Under the Queensland seller disclosure scheme, sellers must give the buyer a disclosure statement and prescribed certificates (such as the title search, survey plan, pool safety certificate where relevant, and a body corporate certificate for units) before the buyer signs the contract.

A seller's conveyancing costs typically include:

• The professional fee, including preparing or reviewing the disclosure statement
• The searches and certificates needed for disclosure
• Registering the release of mortgage with Titles Queensland ($248.04) if you have a home loan
• Electronic settlement fees for the discharge

Because a defective disclosure statement can give the buyer a right to terminate the contract right up to settlement, this is not the place to cut corners. Our guide to selling a residential property in Queensland explains the process in more detail.

Worked Example: Buying an $850,000 Gold Coast Home

Here is how the numbers come together for an owner-occupier buying an $850,000 house on the Gold Coast with a home loan (not a first home buyer):

Item	Estimated cost
Professional fee (illustrative range, including GST)	$1,100 to $2,200
Core searches (title, rates, water meter, contaminated land)	$355.96
PEXA transfer fee	$146.30
Transfer registration fee	$3,367.56
Mortgage registration fee	$248.04
Transfer duty (home concession rate)	$24,100.00
Estimated total	About $29,300 to $30,400

Optional searches such as a building records search and flood information would add about $700. Lender fees, building and pest inspections, insurance and moving costs are not included.

The takeaway: the solicitor's professional fee is typically well under a tenth of the upfront cost of buying. Saving a few hundred dollars on that line is small next to the cost of a missed special condition, an incorrect duty concession or an unreviewed body corporate record. For a broader checklist of buying costs, see our guide to buying a residential property in Queensland.

How to Compare Conveyancing Quotes

When you compare quotes, ask each firm the same questions so you are comparing like with like:

1. Is the professional fee fixed or hourly, and does it include GST?
2. Which searches are included, and are they listed at cost as disbursements?
3. Does the fee include contract review before you sign, or only work after the contract is signed?
4. What happens if something goes wrong, such as a finance extension, a delayed settlement or a dispute? Are those charged separately?
5. Who will actually handle your file, and can they escalate to an experienced property lawyer if an issue comes up?

The last question is the one most cheap quotes skip. A firm that handles only volume conveyancing may need to refer you elsewhere if a dispute arises, which adds cost and delay. A full-service firm can deal with the issue in-house. Our property and conveyancing FAQs cover more of the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should conveyancing cost in Queensland?

For a standard residential purchase or sale, a professional fee of roughly $900 to $2,000 plus GST is common, with searches and disbursements of around $300 to $1,100 on top. Buyers also pay Titles Queensland registration fees and transfer duty, which are government charges rather than conveyancing fees. Complex matters such as off-the-plan, rural or commercial property cost more.

Is conveyancing cheaper when selling than buying?

Usually, yes. Sellers do not pay transfer duty or the transfer registration fee, and there is no lender mortgage to register. Since 1 August 2025, though, sellers must provide a disclosure statement and prescribed certificates before the buyer signs, which adds some upfront work and search costs to a sale.

Can I do my own conveyancing in Queensland?

You can technically act for yourself in your own transaction, but it is rarely a good idea. You would need to manage searches, settlement adjustments, duty assessment, electronic settlement and your lender's requirements yourself, and mistakes can be expensive or delay settlement. Most lenders also expect a legal representative to be involved.

Are search fees included in a conveyancing quote?

It depends on the firm. Many quotes show a low headline fee with searches listed separately as disbursements, while others bundle common searches into a package price. Always ask for an itemised list so you can see exactly which searches are included and what they cost.

Is stamp duty part of conveyancing costs?

No. Transfer duty is a state tax assessed by the Queensland Revenue Office. Your solicitor arranges for it to be assessed and paid as part of the conveyancing process, but it is separate from their professional fee and is usually the largest single cost of buying.

Get a Clear Conveyancing Quote

The cheapest conveyancing quote is not always the cheapest outcome. At OMB Solicitors, our property team is led by Simon Bennett, a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in Property Law, and we have been helping Gold Coast buyers and sellers since 1968. We will give you a clear, itemised quote so you know what you are paying for before you commit.

To discuss your purchase or sale, contact our property team or call (07) 5555 0000.

Fees quoted are current Queensland and City of Gold Coast fees for the 2026–27 financial year and are a general guide only. Government fees change each year, and your actual costs will depend on your property and circumstances. This article is general information, not legal advice.