Do you need a conveyancer to sell your house privately? (2026 guide)

Here’s one of the biggest worries we hear from people thinking about selling their own home: what happens with the legal side? Without an agent steering things, who handles the contracts, the searches, the settlement? It’s a fair question — and the answer is reassuringly simple. You use a conveyancer or property lawyer, exactly as you would with an agent. Selling privately changes who markets and negotiates your property. It doesn’t change the legal machinery that actually transfers ownership.

So let’s walk through it: what conveyancing actually involves for a seller, whether you can skip it (spoiler: don’t), who’s allowed to do it in your state, what it’ll cost you in 2026, and the disclosure obligations you can’t afford to get wrong. Think of this as general guidance to help you understand the process — not legal advice for your specific sale.

What is conveyancing, in plain terms?

In plain terms, conveyancing is the legal process of transferring a property from the seller to the buyer. It covers preparing and reviewing the contract of sale, running the title and property searches, ticking off your disclosure obligations, sorting the adjustment of rates and taxes between both parties, and coordinating settlement so the money and the title change hands the way they’re supposed to.

Put simply: if marketing and negotiation are the visible part of selling a house, conveyancing is the part that makes the sale legally real. And it happens no matter how you sell — through an agent, through a platform like PropertyNow, or entirely on your own.

Do you still need a conveyancer if you sell privately?

Yes — in almost every case, you should. Going private means you’re not handing over a fat commission to an agent, but it doesn’t change a single one of the legal requirements involved in transferring property. A good conveyancer or property lawyer is the person who keeps you out of trouble: the missed disclosure, the botched adjustment, the small error that hands your buyer a reason to walk away. Those mistakes are easy to make and expensive to fix.

One thing that surprises a lot of first-time private sellers: the buyer and the seller each have their own conveyancer. The same person can’t act for both sides. So even selling on your own, you’ll have someone firmly in your corner — and the buyer will have theirs. Exactly as it works in any sale.

Can you legally do your own conveyancing? In some states, technically, yes. But honestly? It’s rarely worth it. The documents, the timeframes and the disclosure rules are strict, and one slip can delay your settlement, land you a penalty, or give the buyer grounds to cancel altogether. On a transaction worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, saving a few hundred by going it alone is a false economy.

What does a conveyancer do for a seller?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. As a seller, your conveyancer typically:

Prepares the contract of sale and the required vendor disclosure documents for your state
Obtains the necessary certificates and searches (title, council, water, land tax)
Reviews any conditions or special clauses before you sign
Calculates the adjustment of rates and taxes between you and the buyer
Liaises with the buyer’s conveyancer and your bank to discharge any mortgage
Coordinates settlement and confirms the funds reach you correctly

In a private sale, that very first point — preparing the contract — matters more than people realise. There’s no agent producing a contract in the background, so your conveyancer is the one making sure it’s correct and complete from day one. Get that right and the rest of the process runs a whole lot smoother.

Arrange your contract before you go to market — it’s often the law

If you take one thing away from this article, make it this: get your contract of sale and disclosure documents prepared before you advertise — not after a buyer turns up. It’s the step private sellers most often overlook, and it can bite.

In several states, it’s not optional — it’s the law. In New South Wales, a residential property can’t legally go on the market until a contract of sale — prepared by a lawyer or licensed conveyancer, with the prescribed disclosure documents attached — has been drawn up. Advertise without one and you’re committing an offence that can attract fines. In Victoria, the Section 32 Vendor Statement has to be ready and handed to the buyer before they sign. In Queensland, a mandatory Seller Disclosure Statement (brought in under the Property Law Act 2023, in effect from August 2025) must reach the buyer before they sign the contract or before the hammer falls at auction. Other states have their own versions. Skip this and, at best, your listing isn’t compliant — at worst, your sale unravels later.

And even where it isn’t strictly required, getting the contract sorted upfront is just good sense. Picture it: you’ve found a keen buyer, they’re ready to sign — and now everyone’s twiddling their thumbs for a week while the paperwork gets drawn up. That’s exactly the kind of gap where an eager buyer goes cold or keeps shopping around. Have everything ready, and you can move the moment they say yes. So the rule of thumb is simple: line up your conveyancer and your contract as part of getting ready to list, not as an afterthought once the offers start coming in.

Who can legally do conveyancing? It depends on your state

Here’s where things genuinely differ depending on where your property is — so it pays to know the lay of the land before you start.

In most of the country — New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory — you can use either a licensed conveyancer or a solicitor. Conveyancers do property work and nothing else, so they’re often the cheaper pick for a straightforward sale. Solicitors carry broader legal authority, which earns its keep if your sale gets complicated.

Queensland and the ACT play by different rules: conveyancing there must be handled by a qualified solicitor. There’s no licensed-conveyancer pathway, so the work goes through a law firm — which is part of why conveyancing tends to cost a little more in those two places than in states where conveyancers and solicitors compete for your business.

One bit of local lingo worth knowing: over in Western Australia, conveyancers are usually called “settlement agents”. Same job, different name.

How much does conveyancing cost in 2026?

For a standard residential sale, you’re generally looking at professional fees of roughly $700 to $2,500, plus disbursements of around $300 to $800 — those are the out-of-pocket costs for title searches, council and water certificates and the like. All up, that’s somewhere between about $1,000 and $3,300, depending on your state, your property and how messy (or not) the sale turns out to be.

Here’s roughly how it shakes out around the country:

NSW: often the higher end — roughly $1,000–$3,000 in metro areas, less in regional NSW.
Victoria: commonly $600–$1,400 in professional fees; sellers pay a little more because of the Section 32 vendor statement (more on that below).
Queensland: commonly $500–$1,300, though as a solicitor-only state, complex sales can sit higher.
SA, WA, TAS and the ACT: broadly $700–$1,600, with the ACT often higher as another solicitor-only jurisdiction.

One thing to watch: some providers dangle a tempting headline fee (you’ll see plenty of “from $899” type ads) that conveniently leaves out the disbursements — so the bill that lands is bigger than the one you were sold. Always ask for a written, fixed-fee quote with disbursements included, so you’re comparing apples with apples. And grab a couple of quotes before you commit; it only takes a few minutes and can save you real money.

Your disclosure obligations as a seller (by state)

Every state expects you, the seller, to disclose certain things about the property before contracts are signed — and getting this wrong is one of the few things that can genuinely sink a sale. Which is exactly why you want a professional handling it.

The documents go by different names depending on where you are. Victoria has the Section 32 Vendor Statement (under the Sale of Land Act 1962), covering title, encumbrances, zoning, rates and any notices affecting the property. New South Wales requires a contract with prescribed vendor disclosure documents like a title search, plan and zoning certificate. Queensland uses its Seller Disclosure Statement, and South Australia a Form 1. The other states have their own equivalents. Whatever it’s called, the substance is the same: a formal rundown of what a buyer needs to know before they commit — and if it’s missing or wrong, the buyer may be able to cancel the contract.

The thread running through all of it: leave these documents to your conveyancer or solicitor rather than cobbling them together yourself — because when something’s wrong, it’s you, the vendor, who wears the consequences.

Where does the buyer’s deposit go in a private sale?

Here’s a practical one that trips people up. In an agent-led sale, the buyer’s deposit usually lands in the agent’s trust account. No agent? Then the deposit goes into the trust account of your solicitor or conveyancer instead — a regulated account built precisely for holding money safely until settlement.

Two things to take from that. First, sort it with your conveyancer early — confirm they’ll hold the deposit in their trust account so the buyer knows exactly where their money’s sitting. It’s bread-and-butter stuff for them, but worth nailing down before offers start landing. Second, and this one’s important: never, ever ask a buyer to pay their deposit into your own personal bank account. Deposits belong in a regulated trust account, full stop. Asking otherwise is a giant red flag that’ll spook any switched-on buyer and put everyone at risk. Don’t do it, and if you’re a buyer reading this, don’t agree to it.

Why professional conveyancing matters even more in a private sale

In a traditional sale, the agent soaks up a bit of the reassurance role — the familiar middle-person coordinating signings and keeping things ticking along. Sell privately and your conveyancer naturally picks up more of that, which is genuinely a win for both sides of the deal.

For you, it means you’re never really going it alone. There’s a professional handling the contract, the signing and the settlement, with your interests front of mind the whole way through. And for your buyer? Seeing a qualified solicitor or conveyancer running the legal side is hugely reassuring — it tells them this is a proper, above-board sale, not some informal handshake deal to be nervous about. That confidence matters. Good conveyancing is a big part of what makes a private sale feel safe and legitimate to everyone at the table.

How conveyancing fits when you sell privately

When you sell privately, conveyancing simply sits alongside the sale as its own separate, professional step — same as it does with an agent. You handle the marketing and negotiation (solo, or through a private-sale platform), and a licensed conveyancer or solicitor takes care of the legal transfer. The choice of who you use is entirely yours — just get them on board early so your contract and disclosure documents are good to go when the offers roll in.

Some private-sale platforms let you fold contract preparation into the process to save you the legwork. With PropertyNow, for instance, you can add state-based contract preparation right at checkout — current pricing is on our add-ons page. You pay the contract preparation fee upfront, and the conveyancing professional fees and disbursements are usually settled later from your sale proceeds. However you go about it, the headline’s the same: the legal work gets done by a qualified professional, not left on your shoulders.

Is there a conveyancer PropertyNow recommends?

If you’d like a recommendation, we work with LawLab, a national property law firm with a fully online process and electronic signing. Because they’re lawyers rather than licensed conveyancers, they can act anywhere in Australia — including Queensland and the ACT, where conveyancing must be done by a solicitor. This is entirely optional and you’re under no obligation to use them; the choice of who handles your conveyancing is always yours. (If you do sign up through our referral, we may receive a small referral fee, at no extra cost to you.)

The bottom line

Selling privately doesn’t mean flying solo on the legal stuff. You still need a conveyancer or property lawyer for the contract, the disclosures and the settlement — the “private” part is the marketing and negotiation, not the law. So: know who’s allowed to do conveyancing in your state, budget somewhere in the $1,000–$3,300 range, get a written fixed-fee quote, and have your disclosure documents prepared properly and early. Do that, and the legal side of a private sale is no scarier than it’d be with an agent — you’ll just have a lot more money left in your pocket at the end of it.

Ready to sell your home privately?

PropertyNow lets you list on the major property portals with licensed agent support — and you can add state-based contract preparation at checkout, so the legal side is sorted from the start. Sell your own home without paying a percentage commission.

Get Started

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a conveyancer to sell a house privately in Australia?

In almost all cases, yes. Selling privately changes who markets and negotiates the property, but the legal process of transferring ownership is the same. A conveyancer or property lawyer handles the contract, searches, disclosures and settlement, and protects you from costly errors.

Can I do my own conveyancing when selling privately?

In some states it’s technically possible, but it’s rarely advisable. The contracts, timeframes and disclosure rules are strict, and a mistake can delay settlement, expose you to penalties or let the buyer cancel the sale. The cost of a professional is small relative to that risk.

Which states require a solicitor rather than a conveyancer?

Queensland and the ACT require conveyancing to be carried out by a qualified solicitor. In NSW, Victoria, SA, WA, Tasmania and the NT, either a licensed conveyancer or a solicitor can do the work.

How much does conveyancing cost to sell a house in 2026?

Expect professional fees of roughly $700 to $2,500 plus disbursements of $300 to $800, for a typical all-in cost between about $1,000 and $3,300. The exact figure depends on your state, the property and the complexity of the sale. Always request a written fixed-fee quote that includes disbursements.

Does the buyer or seller pay for conveyancing?

Each party pays for their own. The buyer and seller engage separate conveyancers, because the same professional cannot represent both sides of the transaction.

Where does the deposit go when you sell privately?

Without an agent, the buyer’s deposit is paid into the trust account of the seller’s solicitor or conveyancer, rather than an agent’s trust account. Confirm this arrangement with your conveyancer before taking offers. A seller should never ask a buyer to pay the deposit into their own personal account — deposits belong in a regulated trust account.

When should I engage a conveyancer when selling privately?

Before you go to market, not after you find a buyer. In several states, having your contract of sale and disclosure documents prepared before advertising is a legal requirement — for example, NSW generally requires a contract before a property is advertised, and Victoria requires the Section 32 statement before the buyer signs. Preparing early is also good practice: it means no delays once a buyer is ready to commit.