First home buyer conveyancing is the legal work on your first NSW purchase: reviewing the contract before you exchange, checking whether the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme removes or reduces your transfer duty, coordinating searches and your lender, and settling electronically. Eligible first home buyers pay no transfer duty on a home valued at $800,000 or less, and a concessional rate above $800,000 and below $1,000,000. Send us the contract before you sign.
It covers the legal side of your first purchase, from the contract review before exchange to registration of the transfer in your name.
Along the way we explain the special conditions, check the title and attached certificates, check whether the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme is likely to apply, work with your lender and settle through an electronic lodgment network.
Eligible first home buyers pay no transfer duty on a new or existing home valued at $800,000 or less, and a concessional rate applies above $800,000 and below $1,000,000.
For vacant land on which you will build a first home, there is no duty at $350,000 or less and a concession above $350,000 and below $450,000. Eligibility conditions apply, so we check them against your circumstances before exchange.
Before you sign anything or pay a deposit.
Once contracts are exchanged you are generally bound, apart from any cooling-off period and any conditions in the contract, so questions about finance, building reports and special conditions are best answered while you can still negotiate or walk away.
We give you a written quote after reviewing the contract and the type of property.
It lists our professional fees separately from disbursements such as title and certificate searches, and shows government charges, including any transfer duty still payable after the concession, as separate items.
| Scenario | Best option | Typical timing | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Existing home valued at $800,000 or less | Contract review plus a First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme eligibility check | Review before exchange; the contract sets the settlement date | Send the contract and your loan pre-approval details |
| First home bought off the plan | Off-the-plan contract review, including the disclosure statement and sunset date | 10 business day cooling-off; completion after the plan is registered | Send the contract and disclosure statement before you sign |
| Vacant land to build your first home | Land contract review and a check against the vacant land duty thresholds | Settlement date set by the land contract | Send the land contract and any building contract you have signed |
Published by Baulkham Hills Conveyancing, a licensed NSW solicitor practice. Last updated 4 October 2026. General information only; contact us for advice about your matter.
These thresholds have applied since 1 July 2023 and remain current for 2026-27. Revenue NSW publishes a calculator for the concessional rate, and we work from Revenue NSW's published figures rather than estimating the concession ourselves.
Each applicant must be an individual aged 18 or over, at least one applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and neither you nor your spouse or partner can have owned residential property in Australia or received the concession before. For a home bought under a contract dated on or after 1 July 2023, one buyer must move in within 12 months of settlement and live there as their principal place of residence for at least 12 continuous months. For vacant land, you must intend to build a home on it that one buyer will live in as their principal place of residence.
First Home Buyer Choice, which let buyers pay an annual property tax instead of transfer duty, closed on 1 July 2023, so a new purchase relies on the exemption and concession in the table.
| Property | No transfer duty | Concessional duty |
|---|---|---|
| New or existing home | $800,000 or less | Above $800,000 and below $1,000,000 |
| Vacant land to build a first home | $350,000 or less | Above $350,000 and below $450,000 |
Sources: First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme; First Home Buyers Assistance calculator; First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme guide: eligibility criteria; First Home Buyer Choice (previous scheme)
The NSW First Home Owner (New Homes) Grant is $10,000 and is available for a first new home only, not an existing one. The value must not exceed $600,000 for a newly built home, or $750,000 for vacant land and a building contract combined, and for contracts from 1 July 2023 one owner must move in within 12 months of completion of the purchase or the construction and live there for at least 12 continuous months.
Australian Government programs such as the 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy are arranged through participating lenders and have their own price caps and eligibility rules. Confirm the current caps on firsthomebuyers.gov.au and with your lender; we review the loan and scheme documents that affect your purchase contract.
Sources: First Home Owner (New Homes) Grant; 5% Deposit Scheme: property price caps; Australian Government Help to Buy Scheme
When you buy an existing home by private treaty, the cooling-off period is 5 business days and ends at 5pm on the fifth business day after exchange. Rescinding in that time costs 0.25% of the purchase price. Buying at auction, or exchanging on auction day after the property is passed in, gives you no cooling-off period at all.
Selling agents sometimes ask a buyer to waive cooling-off with a section 66W certificate. Only your own solicitor or conveyancer can give one, after explaining the effect of the contract, the nature of the certificate and the effect of giving it to the seller, so it suits buyers whose finance, inspections and contract questions are already resolved.
Sources: Contracts and deposits when buying property in NSW; Buying property at an auction; Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW), section 66W: Certificates
Sources: eConveyancing
No. The NSW First Home Owner (New Homes) Grant applies only to a first new home within the value caps. A home substantially renovated by the seller and not lived in since can count as new. For an existing home, the main NSW help is the transfer duty exemption or concession under the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme.
The scheme covers new and existing homes, so an off-the-plan apartment or house can qualify if you and the property meet the conditions. Owner-occupiers buying an off-the-plan home (not vacant land only) can also apply to defer any transfer duty still payable until the earliest of completion, assignment of the contract or 15 months after the contract date, provided no buyer is a foreign person and one buyer moves in within 12 months of completion and lives there for 12 continuous months.
Only when your contract review, loan approval and inspections are complete and you accept being bound as soon as contracts are exchanged. The certificate removes or shortens the cooling-off period, so you give up some or all of the right to rescind for 0.25% of the price if a problem appears after exchange.
You can use either. NSW Government guidance says solicitors and licensed conveyancers are both qualified to do conveyancing, and the transfer must be lodged electronically by a subscriber such as a solicitor or licensed conveyancer. A licensed conveyancer's licence does not cover some related legal work, such as starting legal proceedings or creating or varying a trust.
If any duty remains payable after the concession, it is generally due by the earlier of the settlement date or 3 months after the contract date; an eligible owner-occupier buying an off-the-plan home can apply to defer it. We include the amount in your settlement figures.
Ready to start? Send us the contract or property details: call (02) 9000 1408, email info@baulkhamhillsconveyancing.com.au or request a quote online.