South Australia home settlement: conveyancer, duty and transfer fees

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Kooky

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Between the day a contract for a South Australian home is signed and the day the buyer walks in with the keys, very little happens in public. The work goes on in a conveyancer's files: an identity is verified, charges on the property are checked, rates are split to the day, duty is calculated and paid, a transfer is prepared and a registration fee is worked out from the price. Then, on a date written into the contract, money and title change hands.

This guide follows that stretch in order, using what the state's own bodies publish: the timetable, the tasks the buyer's conveyancer carries out, the adjustment of rates and taxes, the way stamp duty is assessed and paid through RevenueSA Online, the transfer registration fees that apply from 1 July 2026, settlement day itself, and what follows it. It also says plainly where those sources stop, which matters most for the question of a late settlement.

South Australian Government property settlement page, updated 18 March 2026; Land Services SA transfer registration fees as at 1 July 2026.

Who describes settlement in South Australia

Four public bodies describe parts of the process, and none describes all of it. The South Australian Government's property settlement page, provided by the Attorney-General's Department and last updated on 18 March 2026, sets out the timetable, the conveyancer's tasks and the handover. The Law Handbook of the Legal Services Commission of South Australia has a short settlement page in its chapter on buying a home; its footer carries a revision date of 18 June 2014.

RevenueSA, the state's revenue office, explains how stamp duty is assessed and paid on two pages read for this guide, one on RevenueSA Online, last modified on 8 October 2026, and one on stamp duty on land, last modified on 6 October 2026. Land Services SA publishes the registration fees, in a table headed "Transfer Registration Fees" as at 1 July 2026 and in Customer Information Bulletin 420, dated 14 May 2026.

The statutes these pages name are the Real Property Act 1886, under which transfers are registered, and the Stamp Duties Act 1923, the Stamp Duties Regulations 2013 and the Taxation Administration Act 1996 for duty.

What settlement means and when it falls

The state government's page defines settlement as the legal process of transferring a property from the seller, called the vendor, to the buyer, called the purchaser. The Law Handbook defines the settlement date more narrowly, as the date when the balance of the purchase price is exchanged for the certificate of title. The two definitions describe the same event from two sides: one the whole process, the other the moment it completes.

The date is a term of the contract. The state government's page says settlement usually happens 4 to 12 weeks after contracts are signed, that buyer and vendor can negotiate the date, and that the date is recorded in the contract. The Law Handbook puts it slightly differently: the usual time is 30 days, and it can be longer, up to three months, to allow for other events to take place. The two sources agree on the outer edge and differ on what is usual, so the only figure that binds a particular sale is the one in its contract.

A worked example, with dates chosen for illustration: a contract is signed on Monday 6 July 2026. Four weeks later is Monday 3 August 2026 and twelve weeks later is Monday 28 September 2026, which marks out the usual range on the state government's page. Thirty days after signing, the Law Handbook's usual period, is Wednesday 5 August 2026. Nothing in either source prevents the parties from agreeing a date outside those points.

Each side has its own conveyancer

According to the state government's page, the buyer must arrange a conveyancer or solicitor to act for them. The Law Handbook describes the scene at settlement: the purchaser and the vendor are each represented by a conveyancer, who prepares the documents needed to transfer the property.

The choice belongs to each party. The Law Handbook says land agents cannot decide who does the conveyancing, and that where either party is unsure whom to use, the agent may suggest two or three names. It also addresses the idea of sharing one practitioner: if both parties use the same solicitor or conveyancer and a dispute arises, each will need to appoint someone else to avoid a conflict of interest.

The pages read for this guide describe the buyer's side in detail and the vendor's side only in outline. What they say of the vendor's side is what must be delivered at settlement: a title cleared of the vendor's mortgage and of any caveat or other interest, and possession of the property.

The buyer's conveyancer, task by task

The state government's page lists what the buyer's conveyancer does. Read in order, the list is close to a timetable of the weeks before settlement.

1. Obtain the buyer's authorisation to act, and verify the buyer's identity using identification documents.
2. Check outstanding charges on the property, and calculate the rates and taxes the buyer must pay.
3. Calculate the total amount the buyer needs to cover all expenses.
4. Liaise with the buyer's lender on the mortgage documents.
5. Pay stamp duty, registration fees and other transaction fees on the buyer's behalf, using funds supplied by the buyer.
6. Search, prepare and sign documents for the buyer, and represent the buyer at settlement.
7. Arrange the Memorandum of Transfer and lodge it with the Land Titles Office.

Two of these deserve a note. The first step puts authority and identity ahead of everything else on the list. The last step names the document that actually moves the land. The page describes the Memorandum of Transfer as the document that transfers the land from the vendor to the buyer.

The fifth step explains why a buyer is asked for money before settlement day. Duty and fees are paid by the conveyancer, but with the buyer's funds, so the third step, the calculation of the total, is the figure a buyer needs early. On the pages read, that total is made of the balance of the price, the buyer's share of adjusted rates and taxes, stamp duty, the registration fee and other transaction fees.

Checking charges and searching the records

The pages say little about which searches are made, and this guide does not fill the gap from elsewhere. What the state government's page says is that the conveyancer checks outstanding charges and searches documents on the buyer's behalf. The purpose appears on the Law Handbook's page: at settlement outstanding rates and taxes are paid, and mortgages, caveats or other interests are discharged, so that the incoming owner gets clear title. A charge that has not been found cannot be paid out, which is why the checking comes before the arithmetic.

Land Services SA's Bulletin 420 shows that these inquiries carry fees of their own. It lists fee notices made under the Legislation (Fees) Act 2019 and published in the Government Gazette on 14 May 2026, among them the Real Property (Fees) Notice 2026 and the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) (Fees) Notice 2026. It also refers to SA Water's Certificate of Charges and Special Meter Reading fees, which it says would be published later, pending advice from SA Water. The bulletin gives no amounts for any of these. The Form 1 search is not described on any page read for this guide.

Adjusting rates and taxes to the day

A property's running costs do not stop for a sale, so they are divided. The state government's page says costs such as rates are adjusted between vendor and buyer at settlement, and gives the dividing line: the vendor is responsible up to and including midnight before the settlement date, and the purchaser is responsible from the settlement date. The buyer's conveyancer calculates the rates and taxes the buyer must pay.

The page does not set out the arithmetic. A worked example shows the principle, with every figure assumed for illustration: council rates of A$2,190 for a rating year running from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, which is 365 days and so A$6 a day; a settlement date of 1 October 2026; and a simple daily split. The vendor's period runs from 1 July to 30 September, which is 31, 31 and 30 days, or 92 days. The buyer's period is the remaining 273 days. The vendor's share is 92 times A$6, or A$552, and the buyer's share is 273 times A$6, or A$1,638. The two shares add up to A$2,190.

Which way money moves depends on what has been paid. If, in this example, the vendor had already paid the whole year, the buyer would owe the vendor A$1,638 at settlement. If nothing had been paid, the vendor's A$552 would be allowed to the buyer, who takes over the bill. How a particular charge is treated depends on the contract and on the figures the conveyancers obtain.

Land tax is handled separately in the state government's page. It describes land tax as an annual state government tax, and says a home bought as the buyer's principal place of residence may be exempt. One deadline is attached to a particular kind of buyer: if land is bought on behalf of a trust, RevenueSA must be advised within one month of the purchase.

Stamp duty through RevenueSA Online

The state government's page describes stamp duty as a state government tax on property transfers, paid for the buyer by the conveyancer, and notes that first home buyers who are building or buying a new home may be eligible for relief. RevenueSA's stamp duty page says duty is charged either at a flat rate or at an ad valorem rate, meaning by value, depending on the document.

The assessment itself happens in RevenueSA Online, which RevenueSA describes as its online service for registered stamp duty conveyance users. Every user accepts terms of use, and conveyance users also sign a user agreement. Registered users can do four things there: self-determine certain documents, lodge documents for assessment by the Commissioner of State Taxation, enter Commonwealth Reporting data, and pay duty and related fees. The right to self-determine needs a separate application, which RevenueSA says takes about three weeks to process.

Self-determination means the registered user calculates the duty and pays it. RevenueSA says there is no limit on the dutiable value of a document that can be self-determined, and that it can select any document for audit. When the user accepts the figures on the calculation confirmation screen, a Document ID is assigned and the Certificate of Stamp Duty is generated. In the same system the user can pay any foreign ownership surcharge, enter the Commonwealth Reporting data and pay Land Titles Office fees and the fee for a new certificate of title.

Documents off the approved list go to the Commissioner. The user answers requisitions, which are requests for information, online, and receives an email when a requisition or a notice of assessment is issued. Outstanding fees must be paid before the certificate can be accessed.

Commonwealth Reporting is a duty of its own. RevenueSA's stamp duty page says vendor and purchaser details have been legally required for Commonwealth reportable transactions since 1 July 2019.

A paper route remains. For manual lodgement, the stamp duty page asks for either a transfer form signed by both parties or a fully executed contract, with no outstanding pre-conditions, together with the transfer form, and recommends allowing 10 business days for processing. Against a settlement date four weeks after signing, that is a large part of the available time.

Who owes the duty, and what must be kept

The person at the keyboard is not the person who owes the tax. RevenueSA's page cites section 4 of the Stamp Duties Act 1923, under which the parties who executed the instrument are jointly and severally liable for the duty.

Payment is tightly timed. Self-determined documents are paid by an electronic payment authority, which is a direct debit, or by BPAY, and RevenueSA says payments are debited at the end of each business day. A self-determined payment can be cancelled only on the day it is authorised, before 5pm Australian Central Standard Time. After that, a Document ID cancellation and refund application is needed.

On penalties, the RevenueSA Online page says only that penalty tax and interest are determined case by case. Neither RevenueSA page read for this guide states a deadline for paying duty or a rate of interest. One timing point does appear on the stamp duty page: changes to the treatment of qualifying land and residential land took effect on 15 September 2026, and RevenueSA says it is updating its website and guidance progressively, with more detail in Information Circular 103.

The transfer registration fee for 2026-27

Registering the transfer has its own price, which RevenueSA's stamp duty page calls a Transfer Registration and Administration Fee, payable to Land Services SA. Bulletin 420 says the 2026-27 fees took effect on 1 July 2026 and that the fees in the fee notices are exempt from GST, while GST applies to some administrative and miscellaneous product fees.

The fee rises with the consideration, which is the price. Land Services SA's table as at 1 July 2026 starts at A$204 for a consideration up to A$5,000, then A$228 up to A$20,000 and A$251 up to A$40,000. From A$40,001 the table moves in bands of A$10,000. The first of those bands costs A$353, and each later band on the table costs A$105 more than the one before it.

The steps can be checked. The band ending at A$500,000 is the 45th band after the one ending at A$50,000, and 45 times A$105 is A$4,725; added to A$353 that gives A$5,078, the figure on the table.

Because the fee moves in steps, a small difference in price can cross a line. A worked example: a home sold for A$650,000 falls in the band that ends at A$650,000 and carries a fee of A$6,653. The same home sold for A$650,500 falls in the next band and carries A$6,758, which is A$105 more. On the A$650,000 sale the fee is a little over 1 per cent of the price, since 1 per cent would be A$6,500.

The table read for this guide ends at A$1,070,000 and states no formula for higher prices. Bulletin 420 points lodging parties to Notice to Lodging Parties No 276 for new charges and regulatory amendments under the Real Property Act 1886.

Settlement day, keys and registration

The Law Handbook lists what takes place at settlement. Outstanding rates and taxes are paid. The purchase price is collected. Any mortgages, caveats or other interests are discharged so that the incoming owner receives clear title. Any mortgage securing the purchase price, which is the buyer's own loan, is registered at this time. The keys are made available to the purchaser, and possession is handed over.

For the buyer the order matters. The state government's page says the buyer can collect the keys after settlement, not before, and that earlier access may be negotiable through the vendor's solicitor or conveyancer. Early access is therefore a matter of agreement between the parties and not something the buyer can count on.

The condition of the property on the day is governed by the contract. The state government's page says the vendor must hand the property over in the condition it was in when the contract was signed, allowing for reasonable use and maintenance. Whether the buyer has a right to a pre-settlement inspection depends on the wording of the contract. After settlement the position reverses: most contracts, the page says, make the purchaser liable for repairs and damage, unless they were caused by the vendor's negligence.

Settlement and registration are two events. The state government's page says registering the formal transfer of ownership can take up to two weeks after settlement. In the timetable example above, a settlement on Monday 3 August 2026 could be followed by registration as late as Monday 17 August 2026.

The same page raises title insurance as something a buyer may consider. It says a policy can protect against disclosed and unknown risks to the ownership and use of the property until the property is resold, and it adds a caution that coverage can be very limited, so the terms of any policy need to be read with care.

What the official pages leave unsaid

The largest gap concerns delay. Neither the state government's settlement page nor the Law Handbook's settlement page says what happens when a party is not ready on the settlement date. Neither mentions default interest, a notice requiring completion, or any period of days after which the other party may act. On the sources read, those matters are left to the terms of the contract, and this guide states no rule about them.

Electronic lodgement is the second gap. The state government's page says only that the Memorandum of Transfer is lodged with the Land Titles Office, and RevenueSA's page that registration fees can be paid through RevenueSA Online for self-determined documents. How a settlement is conducted electronically in South Australia is not described on these pages.

Three smaller points remain open: the deadline for paying stamp duty; the transfer fee on a consideration above A$1,070,000 and the amounts of the other 2026-27 registration and search fees, none of which Bulletin 420 states; and the Law Handbook's revision date of 18 June 2014, which is the oldest date among the sources.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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