What conveyancing actually costs in Melbourne, and why the cheapest quote rarely is

“How much is conveyancing?” is the most common question a property lawyer gets, and the honest answer is: which part?

A purchase has three layers of cost. Most people shopping for a conveyancer compare the smallest layer, decide on that, and then get a settlement statement with numbers they have never seen before. So let me show you the whole statement.

The three layers

Only the first layer is set by the firm. The second is set by councils, water authorities and the State Revenue Office. The third is set by Parliament. A quote that only shows you the first is not wrong, exactly. It is just a quote for the smallest number on the page.

A real settlement statement

Here is what the settlement statement looks like for a $900,000 established house in Melbourne, bought by someone who is not a first home buyer, with a 10% deposit paid at contract. Figures are indicative for 2026; the certificate fees vary by council and authority.

Look at the proportions. On this purchase the duty and registration fee are around $51,000. The disbursements are a few hundred dollars. The professional fee, whoever you use, is a small fraction of the government charges.

Which raises the obvious question: if the fee is the smallest line, why is it the only line people compare?

Why the cheapest quote usually is not

Because the fee is the only line that is easy to compare. And because a low headline fee is the easiest thing in the world to construct. Here is how it is done.

Neither is dishonest. They are quotes for different things. The problem is that the first looks like the second until something goes wrong, and in property, something goes wrong often enough that we price for it.

Where the money is actually saved

Not at settlement. Settlement is logistics. The money is saved, or lost, in the two weeks before you sign.

A contract review is where we find the special condition that lets the vendor rescind if their own purchase falls through. The sunset clause that gives a developer another two years. The off-the-plan variation clause that lets the floor plan shrink by 5% without compensation. The missing building permit for the extension. The owners corporation minutes with a six-figure levy in them.

Each of those is a negotiation, a price adjustment, or a decision not to proceed. Each is worth more than any conveyancing fee you will ever pay. And each happens before the moment at which a transfer-only service starts work.

Four questions to ask any provider

Ask every firm the same four questions and compare the answers rather than the fee.

1. Does the fee include reviewing the contract and section 32 before I sign, with written advice? If the answer is "we can look at it", that is a no.
2. What are the disbursements, estimated in writing? A firm that does hundreds of settlements a year knows what a Stonnington rates certificate costs. "At cost" without a number is a sign they have not thought about your file yet.
3. What happens to the fee if settlement is delayed, rebooked or fails? This is where cheap quotes become expensive ones. Ask for the extras list.
4. Who is responsible for my file, and are they a lawyer? Not "who will I talk to". Who carries the file, and what happens if the other side defaults or a dispute starts.

The answers will cluster. Some firms will answer all four clearly and quote a fixed fee that covers them. Others will answer the first with a hedge and the third with a list. Choose accordingly.

What we do, for the record

Our conveyancing is a fixed fee, quoted in writing before we start, covering the contract and section 32 review, the transfer and settlement. Disbursements are estimated in the same letter. If you are a first home buyer, the duty calculation is in that letter too, so there is no surprise on the settlement statement.

We review a contract within 24 hours of receiving it, including weekends, because auctions are on Saturdays. More than 3,000 settlements have gone through the firm since 2010, and the ones I remember are not the ones that settled on time. They are the ones where a clause we found before signing turned a bad purchase into a good one, or into no purchase at all.

That is what you are paying for. The transfer is the easy part.