Can You Do Your Own Conveyancing in NSW, or Should You Hire a Pro?

Technically, yes. Practically? For most people, it is going to be very difficult.

We understand why people ask whether they can do their own conveyancing in NSW. When you are already paying a deposit, stamp duty, building and pest reports, moving costs and what feels like 47 other expenses, saving another professional fee can sound appealing.

But conveyancing is a little more involved than filling in a few forms and turning up on settlement day.

Is DIY conveyancing legal in NSW?

There is no general rule that says you must engage a solicitor or licensed conveyancer when buying or selling property in NSW.

You can act for yourself.

The difficulty is that acting for yourself means taking responsibility for the entire conveyancing process, including understanding the contract, identifying title issues, negotiating amendments, complying with contractual deadlines, completing searches and enquiries, calculating settlement adjustments and dealing with the electronic settlement process.

And that last part is important.

Property settlements in NSW are now conducted electronically through PEXA. Individuals generally cannot simply open a PEXA account and conduct their own electronic conveyance in the same way that a registered solicitor or licensed conveyancer can. The NSW Registrar General’s guidance on self-represented parties sets out how narrow the exception is: you can act for yourself provided both parties are unrepresented, and there is no mortgagee involved on either side of the transaction, and a properly completed Exception form is required.

In other words, if either side has a conveyancer or a bank, that exception is already gone.

So while you may be legally entitled to represent yourself, completing the transaction without professional assistance is not necessarily as straightforward as the term “DIY conveyancing” suggests.

What does a conveyancer actually do?

A good conveyancer does considerably more than process paperwork.

If you are buying, we review the contract before you commit to the purchase and explain what you are actually agreeing to.

That can include reviewing the title and any easements, covenants or restrictions affecting the property, identifying unusual or particularly onerous special conditions, negotiating changes to the contract, advising on the cooling-off period and deposit, ordering relevant searches and enquiries, liaising with your lender and the other side, calculating settlement adjustments, and making sure the transaction is ready to settle when it should.

For sellers, the work starts even earlier. A contract for sale needs to contain prescribed documents and satisfy NSW disclosure requirements before the property can be marketed for sale.

Those requirements are specific. NSW Government guidance on selling a property lists the property certificate, registered plan and dealings, a drainage diagram, a current section 10.7 zoning certificate from the council and a statement of the buyer’s cooling-off rights, plus pool compliance documents where a swimming or spa pool is involved. Fail to attach them and the purchaser may be entitled to rescind the contract within 14 days of exchange.

Most of this happens quietly in the background.

When a conveyancing matter runs smoothly, it can look deceptively simple. That’s generally because someone is making sure it stays that way.

Where can doing your own conveyancing go wrong?

The biggest risk is usually not something obviously alarming in the contract.

It’s something you don’t realise is important.

A drainage easement might affect where you can build your future extension or pool.

A restriction on title might limit what you can do with the property.

A special condition might shift responsibility for something that would ordinarily sit with the seller.

There may be an issue with an unapproved structure, a land tax adjustment, a delayed finance approval, an outstanding special levy or a settlement deadline that has consequences if it isn’t met.

None of these necessarily means you shouldn’t buy the property.

They simply need to be identified, understood and dealt with appropriately.

That’s a large part of what you are paying a conveyancer to do.

What about searches?

This is another area where DIY conveyancing can become more complicated than expected.

There isn’t one universal bundle of searches that every purchaser needs.

The appropriate enquiries depend on the property.

Buying a strata apartment in the Eastern Suburbs or Inner West, for example, raises different issues from buying a house on the Central Coast, a new development in Western Sydney, or an older property on the North Shore or Northern Beaches.

The important part isn’t simply ordering searches. It’s knowing which enquiries are relevant and what to do with the information when it comes back.

Isn’t DIY conveyancing cheaper?

On paper, yes. You aren’t paying a professional conveyancing fee.

Whether it represents good value is another question.

Property is probably one of the largest financial transactions you will ever enter into. The professional fee for conveyancing is relatively small when compared with the purchase price and the potential cost of discovering an issue after you have become legally bound.

There is also the time involved.

You will need to deal with the selling agent, the other party’s conveyancer or solicitor, your bank or broker, government authorities and settlement requirements while also keeping track of contractual deadlines.

For someone who deals with property transactions every day, those processes are familiar.

For someone who buys or sells property once every five or ten years, there can be a fairly steep learning curve.

Can I do some of the conveyancing myself and get help with the rest?

You can certainly do your own research and be actively involved in the process.

In fact, we encourage it.

Ask questions. Read the contract. Understand the property you’re buying. Look at the plans. Tell your conveyancer what you intend to do with the property, particularly if you’re planning renovations, extensions, a pool or redevelopment.

But there is a difference between being an informed buyer and being responsible for conducting the legal transaction yourself.

If your main motivation for DIY conveyancing is saving money, it is worth getting a quote from a licensed conveyancer first and deciding whether the saving genuinely justifies taking on the work and risk yourself.

So, should you do your own conveyancing in NSW?

For most people, we wouldn’t recommend it.

Not because every property transaction is extraordinarily complicated. Many aren’t.

The problem is that you often don’t know which matter is going to become complicated until you’re already in it.

At MG Conveyancing, residential property is what we do every day. We act for buyers and sellers across Sydney and the Central Coast, including the Inner West, Eastern Suburbs, Northern Beaches, North Shore, Western Sydney, Gosford and surrounding Central Coast areas.

Our job is to identify the issues that matter, explain them in plain English and keep the transaction moving without you having to become a conveyancer in the process.

If you’re considering buying a property, send us the contract before you sign. We’ll review it, explain the important bits and let you know if there is anything we think you should address before committing.

And if you’re selling, we can prepare your contract and manage the conveyancing from the beginning through to settlement.

Because there are probably better ways to spend your weekends than learning how to do conveyancing.