Conveyancing solicitor, Lidcombe and Sydney
Buying or selling in New South Wales, with the price published before you commit. A solicitor, so the advice covers the parts that are not conveyancing — a guarantee, a trust, a family arrangement, the withholding at settlement.
What we do here
- Buying an established home or apartment
- Buying off the plan
- Selling, including with a tenant in place
- First home buyers
- Transfers between family members
- Commercial and industrial property
What it costs
The fees below are professional costs and include GST. Disbursements are extra. They are the searches, certificates, registration and transfer duty (still widely called stamp duty), which are set by others and charged to you at cost. You get an estimate of them in writing before you commit.
If you are comparing quotes, ask whether the figure includes GST and whether an administration charge is added.
Indicative ranges for common matters, including GST, disbursements extra. Your fee is confirmed in writing before work begins. Full list for this area.
Buying on a temporary visa, or from overseas
Most temporary visa holders are foreign persons for these purposes.
- Established homes are off the table. From 1 April 2025 foreign persons, including temporary residents, cannot buy an established dwelling. The ban was to run to 31 March 2027; the 2026–27 Budget announced an extension to 30 June 2029.
- FIRB approval comes first. A new dwelling, including off the plan, can generally still be bought with approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, which charges its own application fee.
- Surcharges. NSW charges surcharge purchaser duty on top of transfer duty, at 9 per cent from 1 January 2025, and surcharge land tax while you own it, at 5 per cent from the 2025 land tax year.
Questions people ask
A licensed conveyancer can do a straightforward transfer and will usually quote less. A solicitor is worth the difference where anything sits outside the transfer itself — a personal guarantee, a trust or company buyer, a family arrangement, a dispute about the deposit, or a question about tax withheld at settlement.
Before you sign anything. If you are at an auction there is no cooling off at all, so the contract has to be read beforehand or not at all.
It removes your cooling off period, and agents ask for it when there is competition for the property. It is signed by your own solicitor or licensed conveyancer, not by you, and they have to certify that they explained the contract and the effect of giving it up. Get the building report and the finance sorted first, because once the certificate is given the five days are gone.
If you use the cooling off period to walk away, the vendor keeps 0.25 per cent of the purchase price and refunds the rest of the deposit. On a $900,000 purchase that is $2,250. Five business days on an ordinary residential purchase, ten on an off-the-plan contract, and none at all at auction.
Most contracts carry a special condition charging interest on the balance for each day you are late, commonly between 8 and 10 per cent a year. If a notice to complete is served and expires, the other side can terminate. On a purchaser default the vendor can keep or recover the deposit up to 10 per cent of the price, even if you only paid 5.
Guides on this
What's happened?
Not sure where you stand?
The assistant works out the area of law and whether a time limit is running, then sends it to the solicitor the same day.