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Buying or selling property is unlike almost any other transaction most Australians will ever make. The sums involved are significant. The stakes — financial security, housing, years of savings — are real. You trust the conveyancer or solicitor handling your matter to know what they are doing. That trust is not unreasonable. It is the entire basis of the professional relationship.
When that trust is broken — when a conveyancer misses a title defect, fails to flag a zoning restriction, or lets a settlement deadline slip without warning — the consequences can ripple far beyond the transaction itself. Properties are lost. Deposits are forfeited. Buyers are left holding titles they cannot use or sell.
If that is what happened to you, you may have a claim for professional negligence. Fair Go Australia works with specialist professional negligence lawyers who handle exactly these cases — across every Australian state, on a no-win-no-fee basis.
Definition
Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring property ownership. It covers contract review, title searches, verification of encumbrances and restrictions, settlement coordination, and registration of the transfer. It sounds procedural — and much of the time it is. But it requires skill, attention to detail, and a genuine understanding of property law in the relevant state.
Conveyancing negligence occurs when a licensed conveyancer or solicitor performing conveyancing work fails to meet the standard of care expected of a reasonably competent practitioner — and that failure causes you financial loss. Both licensed conveyancers (regulated under state Conveyancers Acts) and solicitors can be found negligent in a conveyancing matter. The duty of care applies equally to residential and commercial property transactions.
Common Scenarios
Not all conveyancing errors are obvious straight away. Some surface months or years after settlement — when you try to build on your land and discover an easement that was on the register all along, or when a buyer pulls out because of a title defect your conveyancer should have identified before exchange.
Title searches, council rates certificates, easement registers — these exist precisely to surface problems before exchange. A conveyancer who skips or misreads these searches may leave their client with a property burdened by encumbrances they had no idea existed.
Settlement dates are not suggestions. A conveyancer who fails to meet a settlement date — through disorganisation or oversight — can expose their client to penalty interest, deposit forfeiture, or the complete collapse of the transaction.
An overpaid duty, a missed first home buyer concession, a wrong exemption applied — stamp duty errors are rarely minor. For some buyers, a missed concession runs to tens of thousands of dollars.
If the title carries a defect that makes the property difficult or impossible to sell or mortgage, a competent conveyancer should catch it before settlement. Proceeding without raising the issue is a serious breach of duty.
A heritage overlay, a right of way, a covenant restricting use, a zoning classification that rules out your planned development — these are material facts that can drastically affect value. If your conveyancer failed to identify them before exchange, that failure may give rise to a claim.
Settlement can occur and yet if the transfer is not properly registered, your legal ownership is incomplete. A conveyancer who allows a title registration error to pass undetected has failed in one of their most fundamental obligations.
Eligibility Checklist
Four legal elements need to be established for a professional negligence claim to succeed. Working through them honestly is the quickest way to assess whether your situation gives rise to a viable claim.
A conveyancer owes a duty of care to their client. If you engaged a conveyancer or solicitor to handle your property transaction, this element is almost always satisfied from the moment the retainer is formed.
The breach must have caused your loss — not merely coincided with it. This is often the most contested element. Where the loss is purely financial, courts consider proximity principles from Perre v Apand Pty Ltd (1999) 198 CLR 180.
The conveyancer's conduct fell below the standard expected of a reasonably competent practitioner. Courts assess this objectively — not whether they tried their best, but what a competent conveyancer in the same circumstances would have done. This is the standard from Rogers v Whitaker (1992) 175 CLR 479.
You suffered actual, measurable financial harm. Inconvenience alone is not sufficient. The loss must be quantifiable — whether that is the difference in property value, wasted transaction costs, or the expense of fixing a problem that should have been caught.
If all four elements are present in your situation, the next step is a free case evaluation to confirm whether the claim is viable and what recovery is realistic.
The Process
Understanding the process removes uncertainty. Here is what to expect — step by step — from evaluation through to resolution.
A confidential, no-obligation assessment of your situation. A specialist professional negligence lawyer will review what happened, work through the four elements, and give you an honest view of whether the claim is worth pursuing.
Specialist lawyers assess whether the standard of care was met, by reference to professional practice standards, applicable Conveyancers Acts, and the terms of the retainer. An independent expert may provide a supporting opinion.
If the matter does not resolve through negotiation or mediation, proceedings may be issued in the relevant state court. This is not the default outcome — the majority of claims settle — but it is available where the other side does not engage reasonably.
Engagement letter, contract of sale, property search results, written advice from the conveyancer, settlement statements, and evidence of financial loss. If you no longer have everything, lawyers can often obtain documents through discovery.
Many claims resolve without going anywhere near a courtroom. Most conveyancers hold professional indemnity insurance, and their insurer will typically engage once a properly framed demand is received. Specialist lawyers know how to structure that approach.
On a no-win-no-fee arrangement, legal fees are only deducted from a successful outcome. You carry no upfront financial risk in pursuing the claim.
Time Limits
Limitation periods are strict. Missing them permanently extinguishes your right to claim. In most Australian states, the clock runs from the date you knew — or reasonably should have known — about the negligence. In a conveyancing matter, that is often not the settlement date. It may be years later, when a defect surfaces, a restriction becomes relevant, or a buyer raises a problem you had never encountered before.
In New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, the ACT, and the Northern Territory, the general limitation period is three years from the date of discovery. In Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania, the period for general economic loss claims can extend to six years. Each state’s Civil Liability Act intersects with its Limitation Act to define the precise rule applicable to your situation.
If you are unsure whether your limitation period is still open, do not assume it has passed. Get advice now.
Act before time runs out
In most Australian states, professional negligence claims must be commenced within 3–6 years of the date you became aware — or reasonably should have become aware — of the negligence. In a conveyancing matter, this may be years after the original settlement date. Missing the deadline permanently extinguishes your right to claim. If you are unsure whether your limitation period is still open, contact our team for a free assessment as soon as possible.
What You Can Recover
Compensation in a professional negligence claim aims to restore you to the financial position you would have been in had the negligence not occurred. What that looks like in practice depends entirely on what you actually lost.
The most common head of damage — where the property is worth less than you paid for it because of a defect or restriction the conveyancer should have identified.
Where the error can be corrected but doing so comes at a price — for example, negotiating the removal of a caveat, resolving a title dispute, or commissioning a survey that should have been done before settlement.
Where a failed or defective transaction cascaded into further harm — a chain of contracts collapsing, finance costs accumulating, or alternative accommodation becoming necessary — these losses may also be recoverable.
Legal fees, stamp duty, building inspections, and finance costs incurred in connection with a transaction that should not have proceeded on those terms — or at all.
Where you are forced to sell at a loss because of the legal complication or title issue the conveyancer failed to identify before you were committed to the purchase.
Where the client was exposed to penalty interest or incurred finance holding costs because the conveyancer failed to meet settlement deadlines.
Why Fair Go Australia
Professional negligence is all Fair Go Australia does. This is not a generalist firm that handles wills and family law on one floor and occasional negligence claims when they walk in the door. Every lawyer working with Fair Go Australia focuses exclusively on professional negligence — which means the case law, the insurer dynamics, and the specific failure patterns in conveyancing matters are not new territory.
Most conveyancers are required to hold professional indemnity insurance. That means there is a real, funded party to negotiate with — but it also means the other side has experienced insurance lawyers from the outset. Specialist representation matters in that context.
The no-win-no-fee model means you carry no upfront financial risk. The free case evaluation means you do not have to commit to anything to find out where you stand. Australia-wide coverage means it does not matter which state the property was in.
The free case evaluation is confidential, carries no obligation, and takes no financial risk. We respond to all enquiries within 1 business day.
We respond to all enquiries within 1 business day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our goal is to help people in the best way possible. this is a basic principle in every case and cause for success. contact us today for a free consultation.
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