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Costs & fees
When you ask what conveyancing costs, the honest answer is: it depends on what's in the quote — and the single most useful thing you can learn is how to read one. Every conveyancing bill has two very different parts: the conveyancer's professional fee, which is their charge for the work, and disbursements, which are third-party costs they pay on your behalf and pass on. Confusing the two is how buyers end up comparing quotes that aren't actually comparable, or feeling stung by a bill that's higher than the headline number suggested. This guide frames the whole cost so you can compare fairly, spot the quote that's cheap for the wrong reasons, and know exactly what you're paying for. The figures below are typical ballpark ranges; for current, state-specific rates, follow the explainers linked throughout.
Key takeaways
- Two parts, one bill: your total is the conveyancer's professional fee plus disbursements — always look at both.
- The fee is what varies most: it's what the conveyancer charges for their work, and it's where quotes genuinely differ.
- Disbursements are largely fixed: they're third-party costs passed on at cost, so they should look similar across quotes.
- "Fixed fee" means the fee, not the total: it locks the professional fee, but disbursements still sit on top.
- Compare like with like: the cheapest headline fee isn't the cheapest job if disbursements or exclusions are hidden.
As a rough guide, the cost of a conveyancing purchase in Australia falls into three parts. These are typical, indicative ranges only — your actual quote depends on the property, the state and how complex the transaction is, and government charges are calculated separately.
| Cost category | Typical range (AUD) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Professional fee | $800 – $2,500 | Legal work, contract review, settlement coordination |
| Disbursements | $200 – $600 | Title search, council certificates, PEXA platform fee |
| Government charges | Varies by state | Registration fees and transfer (stamp) duty — calculated separately |
The professional fee is the part that varies most between conveyancers; disbursements are passed on at cost and look broadly similar across quotes. Transfer (stamp) duty is much larger than either and is set by your state — see how costs differ by state.
Almost every misunderstanding about conveyancing cost dissolves once you separate the two components. A conveyancing bill splits in two: the conveyancer's professional fee, which they set and which you can compare and sometimes negotiate, and disbursements, which are third-party costs passed straight through to you at cost. The explainer on fee versus disbursements unpacks each side — and the takeaway is that when a quote looks unusually low, check whether it's the fee that's low or whether disbursements have simply been left off.
Fixed-fee conveyancing is common and reassuring, but it's worth knowing exactly what it fixes. A fixed fee means the conveyancer's professional fee is agreed upfront and won't change with the hours worked — so it doesn't creep as the file gets busier. What it usually does not include is disbursements, which are still charged on top at cost, and it may exclude certain non-standard work. So a fixed fee gives you certainty over one part of the bill, not the whole bill. The explainer on what a fixed-fee quote means spells out what's typically inside and outside the fixed price — read it before you assume the quoted number is your total.
Disbursements are the costs your conveyancer incurs with third parties to get the transaction done — things like title and property searches, council and other authority certificates, and the government lodgement and registration fees. Because they're passed on at cost, they should look broadly similar from one conveyancer to the next, and they're largely outside anyone's control. The explainer on disbursements lists what typically appears. The useful mental model: the fee pays the person, the disbursements pay everyone else — and a quote that's silent on disbursements is an incomplete quote.
| Cost | Paid to | Conveyancer margin? | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional legal fee | Conveyancer/solicitor | Yes — covers the legal work | $800–$2,500 (fixed fee) |
| Title search | State land registry | No — passed through at cost | At cost — varies by state |
| Council & water certificates | Council / water authority | No | At cost — varies by state |
| PEXA / electronic settlement fee | PEXA / Sympli | No | At cost — varies by state |
| Verification of identity | ID verification provider | No | At cost — varies by state |
A low headline can hide a higher real cost. When you weigh up quotes, watch for these:
State also plays a part — what conveyancing costs can differ across QLD, NSW and VIC because the searches and lodgement fees differ; the state comparison explainer has the detail.