DIY Conveyancing in Queensland, Australia
"Conveyancing" refers to conveying, or transferring, property between two people. Queensland is a large state in northeastern Australia that contains well-known cities like Brisbane and Cairns as well as a lot of rural landscape, both coastal and inland. Most people who convey property in Queensland do so by hiring a lawyer. There are two types of lawyers in Australia: solicitors and barristers. Solicitors are the proper type of lawyer to hire for conveyancing, as they conduct a title search and put together the legal paperwork. While this is complicated work, you can save about $1,000 if you do it yourself.
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Instructions
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Decide whether you want to do-it-yourself -- and learn how much money you could save by DIY -- by using the Queensland Conveyancing Costs Calculator.
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Download electronic copies of the legal paperwork from Australia's website for the National Electronic Conveyancing System.
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3
Visit the website of the Queensland Office of State Revenue. Click on the link for "Transfer Duty" in the center of the page, then click on the link for "Stamp Duty." This will pull up a chart describing how much transfer tax, or "stamp duty," you will owe the state.
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Calculate the exact Stamp Duty you will owe by using the Queensland Office of State Revenue 's Duty Calculator. This is especially helpful if the chart you saw referred to in the previous seems too complex or confusing.
The "Duty Calculator" link is on the upper right-hand side of the Duty Chart page.
This will show you how much you should be prepared to pay the state.
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Contact your local government office to request a copy of your title. Also ask for documentation of any liens against your title, if applicable. Read through the title carefully, and look for any special restrictions or requirements you must meet prior to conveying it. Most titles will not have any special requirements, but you should always check, just in case.
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Ask your city council to conduct a boundaries-documentation search for you, called "Council Property," which is a standard search in all conveyancing. In Brisbane, this search will cost you $162 AUD; in Cairns and Townsville it will be slightly cheaper (about $10 less).
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Contact Queensland Transport and Telco Cable, and ask them to do a document search for the cabling and transport lines of your property. This will cost $121.44 AUD regardless of your location within the state.
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8
Contact your local water-management office and your local property tax office (which is different from your state tax office). Inform both offices that you will be conveying property and give the name of both the giving and receiving parties.
Some cities or towns will make you meet certain requirements, such as giving a minimum advance notice.
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Visit your local Newsagent office, which can be found in most city centers or town squares, and buy a Queensland conveyancing kit for about $100 AUD. This will contain the paperwork you need to fill out.
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Submit the paperwork in the kit to your local city hall or town hall, and pay stamp duty (tax) on the conveyance. You will need to include your Queensland Transport certificate, your Council Properties search results, and other papers as outlined in the kit.
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Go to your local court and ask for a Court Register Service, which is free in Queensland (It costs money in some other states). This will help you register your conveyancing. You will have to provide a receipt of your paid stamp-duty tax.
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Tips & Warnings
The calculator in Step 1 shows you the entire cost of conveyancing; the calculator in Step 4 shows you Queensland Stamp Duty rates only.
Do-it-yourself conveyancing is inherently risky, if you have not been professionally trained to deal with legal language, fine print and other legal details.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit brisbane city, queensland image by manic35 from Fotolia.com
