Conveyancers in Australia: licences by state

What the conveyancer does

The conveyancer handles the legal steps after the contract is signed. Queensland’s government describes conveyancing as “all steps necessary to ensure that the registration of the land is in the name of the buyer”. It adds: “You may do your own conveyancing or have it done for you”, and advises legal advice even then.

For the steps and the contract see the contract of sale and exchange, settlement and electronic conveyancing and land titles.

Licence by state and territory

• New South Wales: “You need a conveyancer licence under Part 5 of the Conveyancers Licensing Act 2003” for legal work on property transactions, such as “the sale or lease of land”. NSW Fair Trading administers it. It does not apply to legal practitioners, incorporated legal practices or solicitor corporations; legal practitioners are also disqualified from holding the licence.
• Victoria: the Conveyancers Act 2006 (version 022, in force from 9 September 2026). On Consumer Affairs Victoria’s page, a conveyancer is someone who carries on a conveyancing business for a fee or reward other than an Australian legal practitioner; lawyers are not required to be licensed for conveyancing work. Applications go to the Business Licensing Authority.
• Queensland: the government pages we read describe solicitors and say you may do it yourself. They say nothing about a conveyancer licence, so we state none. Complaints about a solicitor go to the Legal Services Commission.
• Western Australia: two routes. You “hold a Consumer Protection settlement agent licence” or “be a certified legal practitioner (conveyancer)”. The Act is the Settlement Agents Act 1981. Falsely claiming to be a licensed settlement agent carries a penalty of up to $100,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a body corporate.
• Northern Territory: Agents Licensing Act 1979, section 17(1): a person, company or firm must not carry on business as a conveyancing agent unless licensed. The text we read is “as in force at 1 July 2022”, so confirm it is current.
• South Australia, Tasmania, ACT: regulator pages were blocked (HTTP 403) or did not state the point, and we did not bypass them. We state no rule: ask the state regulator or law society.

How to check

Check one professional at a time, and ask which category they hold.

• NSW: the Verify NSW conveyancer register. NSW says: “Before you deal with a conveyancer or property agent in NSW, you should check they hold a current licence or certificate.” It shows name, business address, licence category and conditions, licence number, dates and any disciplinary action. The Act does not cover solicitors, so check a solicitor through the legal profession’s regulator.
• Victoria: the page “Conveyancers public register” says: “You should always confirm the conveyancer you are dealing with is licensed.” The online version shows the licensee’s name, licence number, licence type, business names, business address and licence conditions. The address of the search tool was not given on the pages we read.
• Western Australia: the online licence search lists settlement agents among its licence types.
• Northern Territory: section 109 requires a Register of Conveyancing Agents, “open to inspection during ordinary business hours” without fee. We did not find its online page.

Terms of use of the registers

• Victoria: “The registers are only as accurate as the information provided to us.” Bulk information needs a written statement of intended use, and “The BLA will not release the information for use in direct marketing or similar commercial activities.”
• Western Australia (wa.gov.au terms): “no part may be reproduced or re-used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without prior written permission”, and users must “not use any software (like bots, scraper tools etc) to access, monitor or copy the WA.gov.au website”.
• New South Wales: the register pages we read show no terms. The nsw.gov.au site says “All material on this website is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence”, and the pages do not say the register data falls under it.
• Other states: not read.

Payotte copies none of these registers.

Which professional to consult

A solicitor or, where licensed, a conveyancer (see real estate agents for the sale side and mortgage brokers for finance).

Questions to ask

• Are you a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer, and what is your licence number?
• What is the total quote, with disbursements and any GST shown separately?
• Who will handle my file, and what are the key stages?
• Are you insured, and what happens if the purchase falls through?
• Do you also act for my lender?