HQF Lawyers helps buyers, sellers and investors with property and conveyancing across the Gold Coast, Coolangatta and Northern New South Wales.
Whether you are buying your first home, selling an investment property or transferring a title, we handle the legal side of the transaction so you can move forward with confidence.
Good legal advice early prevents disputes later. Property transactions move quickly, and the contract you sign sets out obligations that can be difficult to change once it is signed.
We help local buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants meet their deadlines, understand exactly what they are agreeing to, and protect their position before problems arise.
Buying a property is one of the largest commitments most people make. We review the contract and its special conditions with you before it becomes unconditional, so you understand what you are agreeing to and what happens at each stage. Our aim is simple: no surprises between signing and settlement
When you are selling, small delays can put a sale at risk. We prepare your contract, respond to buyer enquiries and keep the transaction moving toward settlement – on time and without last-minute surprises. You stay informed at each step, and we deal with the legal detail so you can get on with your move.
Never done this before? Here’s the journey – we handle each stage with you.
Before you sign, we review the contract and its special conditions and explain them in plain English, so you know what you are committing to and what to watch for.
Most contracts are subject to conditions such as finance and building and pest inspections. We track these with you so nothing is missed while the contract is still conditional.
We arrange the relevant title, rates and other searches to check there is nothing about the property that should concern you before you are committed.
Once the conditions are satisfied, the contract becomes unconditional and both sides are locked in to complete the sale.
On the settlement date, funds change hands, documents are exchanged and the property becomes yours (or, if you are selling, the sale is complete).
Straightforward answers to the questions we hear most.
Where the answer differs in Queensland and New South Wales, we’ve set both out.
It depends which state the property is in. In Queensland, paid conveyancing work must be done by a solicitor, or by staff working under a solicitor’s supervision – there is no separate licensed conveyancer profession here. In New South Wales you can use either a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer. A solicitor can also advise on matters beyond the conveyance itself, such as how the property should be held, or a dispute about the contract.
It is a short window after the contract is formed in which the buyer can terminate without giving a reason. In Queensland it is generally five business days, starting on the day you receive the contract signed by both parties and ending at 5pm on the fifth business day. If you terminate in that window the seller may keep up to 0.25% of the purchase price and must refund the rest of the deposit within 14 days. It does not apply to every contract – a sale at auction is one exception.
Settlement is the day the balance of the price is paid and the property changes hands. Beforehand we check the figures, adjust rates and other outgoings between you and the other party and coordinate with your lender. Settlement is now completed electronically in most cases, so there is no meeting to attend and the agent releases the keys once settlement is confirmed.
The buyer pays transfer duty. Duty is a state tax, so the rates, the concessions and the eligibility rules differ between Queensland and New South Wales, and they change regularly – Queensland’s concession settings were adjusted again in the 2026–27 state budget. We do not publish figures here for that reason. Queensland duty is administered by the Queensland Revenue Office and New South Wales duty by Revenue NSW and we can give you a figure for your transaction once we have the contract.
From 1 July 2026, law practices doing conveyancing work are required to verify their clients’ identity under Commonwealth anti-money-laundering legislation and in some matters to ask about the source of funds. We will ask for identity documents at the start of the matter, including where you have used us before. Dealing with this early avoids delay close to settlement.
Yes. Queensland and New South Wales run different systems: the seller’s disclosure obligations differ, the point at which the contract binds you differs and the way cooling-off rights are given up differs. If you bought last time in one state, do not assume the same steps apply in the other.
Talk to us early and we’ll guide you through it, from contract to settlement – across Queensland and New South Wales.
