We hear from a lot of people looking to purchase or sell a property that they don’t understand the costs of conveyancing, and why do costs vary so much from one professional to another.
We cannot stress enough that conveyancing is fraught with legal minefields and pittfalls, and going with the cheapest professional fee offer is not necessarily always the best choice for you.
There are also several expenses related to a conveyancing matter that must be paid in the purchasing of certificates and stamping of transfers. These costs are mandatory and unavoidable. Costs will vary depending on whether you are purchasing or selling, and whether the subject property is a vacant lot, a single dwelling home, off the plan, house and land package or a strata property.
Some examples of costs include:
Selling a home
- Standard terms 2017
- Title certificate
- DP or SP/CP plans
- Dealings, s88
- For strata, By-Laws
- Planning Certificate
- Drainage diagrams
- s47 Land Certificate
The total expenses incurred in purchasing certificates for a typical single dwelling home are generally around $350 and for a strata property are around $550. However, these are only estimates.
The above expenses are incurred in addition to the cost of your professional’s time in interviewing you about your sale, drafting the Contract, advising you about the terms of the Contract, conducting the conveyance when you find a purchaser and finalising the settlement.
We charge a fixed rate of $1,550 (plus GST) for professional costs plus disbursements in a typical conveyance.
Purchasing a home
- Council rate s603 certificate
- Water/sewerage s66 certificate
- For strata, s184 levies certificate
- Stamping of transfer for Office of State Revenue
- And in some case, other certificates may be required from authorities such as (for example) local land services, heritage, cultural heritage unit, water authority BAS, department of defence
- In some contracts the vendor may seek to pass on a portion of their land tax liability to the purchaser.
Almost all matters require the purchase of a council and water/sewerage rates notice. The total expenses in purchasing these certificates vary between municipalities. For a single dwelling home the cost of purchasing a council and water/sewerage rates notice is generally around $160, while for a typical strata property the cost may be closer to $300.
The above expenses are incurred in addition to the cost of your professional’s time in negotiating amendments to your contract, liaising with your financial institute, preparing your stamping requirements, identity verification requirements, preparing settlement adjustments, booking and attending to settlement.
We charge a fixed rate of $1,550 (plus GST) for professional costs plus disbursements in a typical conveyance.
*If you require us to make further enquiries of authorities this is charged at an hourly rate of $275 (inc GST) plus the expenses imposed by authorities for the provision of this information. For example, if a building certificate is required the cost of this approximately $350 plus the cost of a surveyor report, plus our professional costs.