A licensed conveyancer will move an Australian house for a fixed $700 to $1,800, NSW metro professional fees run $1,000 to $3,000 before disbursements, and a full-service Sydney solicitor file can pass $5,000 all-in. On the same $1.6 million Sydney sale, the agent's average 2.31 per cent commission is about $36,960, up to twenty times the legal bill. Fixed pricing pays the conveyancer the same whether they order every certificate or the bare minimum, and the courts have shown a missed one can cost six figures.
- Published fixed fees: Glenferrie Conveyancing $900 plus GST, Essia Law $1,100 including GST, Conveyancing Victoria Melbourne from $700, Sydney Conveyancing $1,800 all-in.
- State spread: NSW metro $1,000 to $3,000, VIC $600 to $1,400, QLD $500 to $1,300, SA, WA, TAS and ACT $700 to $1,600, excluding unusual disbursements.
- The average NSW agent commission is 2.31 per cent, about $36,960 on a $1.6 million house, versus $1,800 to $5,349 for the conveyancing.
- A fixed fee with variable search costs means every extra certificate comes out of the conveyancer's margin.
- In Kumar v Sydney Western Realty, a buyer won about $100,000 after a contract notice was never flagged, with 75 per cent of liability on the conveyancing lawyer.
What you actually pay: professional fee, disbursements and GST
Every conveyancing quote in Australia is three numbers stacked together: the professional fee for the legal work, the disbursements that pass through at cost, and GST. Conveyancing Victoria Melbourne advertises residential conveyancing from $700 while its all-inclusive package sits at $1,099, and the gap between those numbers is where most of the industry's pricing tension lives.[1] The professional fee is advertised and negotiable. Disbursements, the third-party search and certificate costs passed through on top, are neither. A quote that looks cheap on the professional fee can finish mid-pack once the searches are counted.
What firms reportedly charge
Published price lists make the spread concrete. In Melbourne, Glenferrie Conveyancing charges a $900 professional fee plus GST and itemises its certificates down to the cent: a $8.30 title search, a $43.41 council rates certificate, a $34.58 water information statement.[2] Glenferrie Conveyancing said: "We offer low cost fixed fee conveyancing and complete transparency so that you aren't hit with any nasty surprises."[2] Essia Law quotes $1,100 including GST for residential conveyancing.[3] Essia Law said: "At Essia Law, we offer expert conveyancing services at cheaper prices, because we don't waste your money on fancy offices."[3]
In NSW the same work costs more. Sydney Conveyancing publishes a fixed $1,800 for Sydney purchases and sales, disbursements and GST included, and $1,390 for regional NSW.[4] At the full-service end, Sydney firm Bateys puts its legal fee at $3,300 including GST and its indicative all-in range, with PEXA fees and searches, at $4,588.50 to $5,348.50.[5] Between those poles, a straightforward metropolitan purchase generally lands between $2,000 and $3,000 all-in, and higher when a solicitor runs the file end to end.
The bill changes at the border
Fee guides put NSW metro professional fees at $1,000 to $3,000, with regional NSW at $800 to $2,200, Victoria at $600 to $1,400, Queensland at $500 to $1,300 and South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT at $700 to $1,600, before unusual disbursements such as strata or heritage searches.[6] The structure of the profession moves with the price. Licensed conveyancers compete hard in Victoria and NSW, Queensland work is dominated by law firms quoting flat fees, and in Western Australia the same role is filled by settlement agents. The certificates a file needs, and what each state charges for them, shift just as much.
Same sale, two very different cheques
Set the legal bill against what the selling agent collects on the same transaction. OpenAgent puts the average NSW real estate commission at 2.31 per cent, inside a national range of roughly 2 to 2.5 per cent that runs as low as 1.3 and as high as 4.[7] On a $1.6 million Sydney house, the arithmetic looks like this.
| Cost on a $1.6m NSW sale | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Agent commission (NSW average) | $1,600,000 × 2.31% | $36,960 |
| Fixed-fee conveyancer, all-in | Published fixed price, disbursements and GST included | $1,800 |
| Typical all-in conveyancing | Metro professional fee plus searches and GST | $2,000 to $3,000 |
| Full-service solicitor file | $3,300 fee + $148.50 PEXA + searches | $4,588.50 to $5,348.50 |
| Commission vs top-end legal bill | $36,960 ÷ $5,348.50 | ≈ 7× |
| Commission vs fixed-fee conveyancer | $36,960 ÷ $1,800 | ≈ 20× |
The agent runs the campaign and carries the vendor relationship. The conveyancer carries the legal risk of the transfer itself. The market prices one at seven to twenty times the other, and the smaller cheque is the one pushed toward fixed pricing.
How fixed-fee pricing works and where the margin lives
Fixed-fee conveyancing sells certainty. The buyer knows the number before they sign, and in a market where the next operator is a search away, the number is doing the marketing. The catch sits in the cost base. The professional fee is fixed, but the file's costs are not: every certificate ordered, every requisition chased, every extra hour on a messy contract comes out of the same locked-in price. A conveyancer quoting $700 or $900 on a file that takes ten hours and a dozen certificates is running a very thin book, and the business model only works if most files stay simple.
The unit-economics problem: every extra search costs the conveyancer
That is the structural problem with fixed fees in this industry. When the fee is fixed and the searches are variable, each additional certificate is a direct hit to margin on that file. The incentive this creates does not need any individual firm to behave badly, and nothing in the published pricing above suggests any of the named firms do. It is an industry-level pressure: a pricing model that rewards ordering less investigation on exactly the work whose value is the investigation.
The professional stakes are set by the industry’s own peak body. The Australian Institute of Conveyancers, which represents licensed conveyancers through divisions in six states and territories, describes itself as committed to best practice across the profession. Best practice is precisely what a pricing model that taxes thoroughness puts under pressure.[10]
What searches reveal and what a missed one can cost
Property information certificates do the work a walk-through cannot. Council certificates surface orders and notices attached to the property, water and land tax certificates surface liabilities that follow the title, and planning certificates surface what the land can lawfully be used for. A buyer who skips them owns whatever was lurking in the title the moment settlement completes.
The courts have already priced that failure. In Kumar v Sydney Western Realty Pty Ltd (No 2) [2021] NSWDC 446, the NSW District Court awarded a first home buyer about $100,000 in damages after she bought a Toongabbie property whose advertised granny flat sat under a council notice declaring it not permitted for habitable use. The notice was in the contract; her conveyancing lawyer never drew it to her attention. The court put 75 per cent of the liability on the lawyer, holding that a conveyancing lawyer must identify contract features “unusual or inimical to the purposes of his client’s acquisition of the property” and advise on them.[9]
First Title's published claims examples run to a $140,000 rectification bill for an unapproved structure. Title insurance exists as a backstop for what slips through: on First Title's published NSW pricing, a one-off premium runs from $945.90 on a $1 million house to $1,187.01 at $2 million, and buyers should budget at the top of that range.[8] It is a side protection, not a substitute for ordering the certificates.
How much does conveyancing cost in Australia?
Professional fees run $1,000 to $3,000 in metropolitan NSW, $600 to $1,400 in Victoria, $500 to $1,300 in Queensland and $700 to $1,600 in the smaller states, before disbursements. A typical all-in metropolitan file lands between $2,000 and $3,000; full-service Sydney solicitor files can exceed $5,000.
Do fixed-fee conveyancers skip searches?
Nothing suggests any named firm does. The concern is structural: when the fee is fixed and each search is a cost against it, the pricing model itself rewards less investigation. Buyers should ask for the search list in writing.
How does the conveyancer's bill compare with the agent's commission?
On a $1.6 million NSW sale, the average 2.31 per cent commission is about $36,960. The conveyancing on the same transaction costs $1,800 to $5,349, so the commission runs seven to twenty times the legal bill.
Is title insurance a substitute for searches?
No. It is a financial backstop for unknown risks after settlement, not a substitute for ordering the standard certificates.
- Conveyancing Victoria Melbourne, published pricing
- Glenferrie Conveyancing, fees schedule
- Essia Law, conveyancing pricing
- Sydney Conveyancing, fixed fees
- Bateys Law Firm, conveyancing costs in NSW
- Which Real Estate Agent, conveyancing fees state guide
- OpenAgent, average NSW real estate commission
- First Title, title insurance cost
- Barry Nilsson, Kumar v Sydney Western Realty case note
- Australian Institute of Conveyancers, about
Important
This article provides general information about conveyancing fees and title insurance in Australia and is not legal or financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to purchase title insurance or engage any particular conveyancer. Conveyancing requirements and costs vary by state and property type. Before engaging a conveyancer or purchasing title insurance, seek independent legal and financial advice tailored to your circumstances. Prices and fee structures are current as at publication and may change.
