Is a conveyancer as good as a solicitor in Australia?

In New South Wales, NSW Fair Trading states that conveyancers and solicitors are equally qualified to do conveyancing, and both must be insured. The practical difference is scope: a solicitor can also act on legal issues outside the transfer itself.

Can a conveyancer act for me in Queensland?

Queensland does not run a licensed conveyancer scheme like New South Wales or Victoria, and the Queensland Government's own home buyer guidance is written around appointing a solicitor. In practice a Queensland buyer instructs a solicitor, or does the conveyancing personally.

Do I have to use a conveyancer or solicitor at all?

No state requires it, and both NSW and Queensland confirm you may do your own conveyancing. Both also warn about the risk: you carry full responsibility for the transaction and you will struggle to buy the level of insurance a licensed practitioner holds.

Guide

Conveyancer or solicitor? It depends which state you are buying in

Updated 2026-08-15

This is the question most cost comparisons skip, and it is the one that decides who you can even ring for a quote.

New South Wales: licensed conveyancers, and they are equals

NSW Fair Trading is unambiguous on both points. "While you can do your own conveyancing, most people engage a licensed conveyancer or solicitor", and "Conveyancers and solicitors are equally qualified to do conveyancing." On licensing: "In NSW, conveyancers must be licensed with NSW Fair Trading", and "Solicitors, like licensed conveyancers, must also have professional indemnity insurance for your protection" (NSW Fair Trading). Fair Trading also tells buyers to check the licence before choosing a conveyancer.

Victoria: conveyancers are licensed by Consumer Affairs Victoria

Victoria runs its own licensing regime for conveyancers through Consumer Affairs Victoria, which handles applications, renewals, annual statements and the education rules that sit behind the licence. So in Victoria, as in New South Wales, a buyer genuinely chooses between a licensed conveyancer and a solicitor.

Queensland: the guidance points at a solicitor

Queensland is the outlier, and it is the most useful thing to know if you are moving interstate. The Queensland Government's page for home buyers is headed "Appointing a solicitor" and advises you to "find a firm that specialises in property or conveyancing", to "ask for a detailed quote for the work you want done", and notes that "some conveyancing solicitors may charge a set price" (qld.gov.au). Its property ownership page adds that "you may do your own conveyancing or have it done for you" but that "you should get legal advice even if you plan to do your own conveyancing" (qld.gov.au).

Queensland has no licensed conveyancer scheme equivalent to the New South Wales or Victorian ones, so a firm trading in Queensland under a name containing the word conveyancing will in practice be a law practice. Check the Queensland Law Society's register of solicitors if you want to be sure who you are dealing with.

Everywhere else

Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory each run their own arrangements, and the job does not even carry the same title in all of them. We are not going to guess at the detail we have not checked: ask the fair trading or consumer protection agency in the state you are buying in, or simply ask us for quotes and see who is licensed to act there.

Choosing between the two where you have a choice

Price. NSW Fair Trading notes plainly that "fees will vary between solicitors and conveyancers". It does not say one is systematically cheaper, and neither will we without evidence.
Scope. A conveyancer handles the transfer. If your matter carries a legal question outside it, a family trust, a deceased estate, a dispute with the vendor, a solicitor can act on both.
Insurance and recourse. Both must hold professional indemnity insurance in NSW, and both are checkable on a public register.
Doing it yourself. Legal in NSW and Queensland, and both governments warn against it. Fair Trading's caution is blunt: "If you do your own conveyancing, you take on all the responsibility for the sale progressing in a legal manner."

Nothing here is legal advice, and the position on who may act is set by state law that can change. Confirm with the regulator in your state before you engage anyone.