What it costs to sell a home in Queensland: the seller's ledger

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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A sale price is one number. What a seller keeps is that number less a column of others, and most of the column is settled before the home is ever advertised. Some lines are negotiated with an agent. Some are fixed by a government agency. Some depend on the home itself: whether it has a pool, whether it is in a body corporate, whether its smoke alarms are the right kind. And a few arrive only on settlement day, when the rates are divided and the lender is paid out.

This guide walks down that column line by line. It does not quote a going rate for anything, because Queensland sets almost none of these amounts and they differ by agency, suburb, property and year. What it gives instead is the kind of cost, who sets it, when it falls due and the published rule that governs it, so that a seller can ask for each figure in writing and know what the answer should cover. Tax on any gain is a separate subject and is noted only where it touches the ledger.

Office of Fair Trading guidance on commission and settlement; Titles Queensland fee information.

The ledger at a glance

The lines fall into three groups by timing: what is paid or committed before a buyer exists, what is taken out of the proceeds at settlement, and what depends on the particular property.

The agent's commission

For most sellers commission is the largest line, and it is the one with the least regulation of its level. The Office of Fair Trading states that Queensland agents are free to negotiate any commission with a client. There is no maximum and no prescribed scale.

What the regulator controls is the paperwork. The commission must be set in writing at the time the agent is appointed, on the prescribed appointment form, and the guidance says it cannot be changed after signing. The figure must include GST and the appointment must clearly say that it does. A percentage quoted in conversation without GST is not the percentage that will be deducted.

The appointment must also state when the commission is payable and whether it is payable if the sale does not complete, and in what circumstances. That last item matters more than its position on the form suggests. The Office of Fair Trading notes that commission may still apply if a sale is not executed, depending on what the appointment provides. A seller comparing two agents on rate alone, without comparing the trigger for payment, is comparing half of the term.

The structure is open. A flat percentage of the sale price, a fixed sum, or a tiered arrangement that pays a higher rate above an agreed price are all permitted, provided the form records it. The type of agency chosen also affects when commission is owed: under an exclusive agency it is payable whoever finds the buyer, under a sole agency not if the owner sells privately, and under an open listing only to the agent who was the effective cause of the sale, according to the Office of Fair Trading.

Marketing and advertising

Marketing is usually a separate line from commission, and it is the line most likely to be owed even when a home does not sell. Photography, floor plans, a signboard, online listings, print advertising and, for an auction, the auctioneer are the common components.

The rule is again about disclosure. The appointment must set out, alongside the commission, any other expenses such as advertising and marketing, and the dates on which they are due, the Office of Fair Trading says. If the form makes the marketing budget payable on signing or on invoice, it is owed regardless of the result. If it makes it payable at settlement, the agency is carrying the cost until then, and the form will say what happens if the home is withdrawn.

There is a further protection that sellers seldom use. The appointment must declare any rebate, discount or other benefit the agent receives from a third party, and the statement the agent provides after settlement must report any such payment "that relates to the sale (including how much)", in the words of the Queensland Government's guidance. If an agency buys advertising at a volume discount, the seller is entitled to know the size of it.

Because marketing is priced by each agency and each supplier, the only reliable figure is the itemised schedule attached to the appointment. Asking for that schedule before signing, with each item and its due date, is the ordinary way to find out what this line will be.

Disclosure documents and searches

Since 1 August 2025 a Queensland seller has had a cost that did not exist before: assembling the disclosure documents required by the Property Law Act 2023. Before a buyer signs a contract, the seller must give the buyer a completed seller disclosure statement, Form 2, together with the prescribed certificates that apply to the property, according to the Queensland Government.

The certificates are where the money goes. The government's list starts with a title search and a survey plan, which every sale needs. It continues with any notices affecting the property under environmental, building and planning legislation, any tree application or order, a pool safety certificate where one applies, and, for a lot in a community titles scheme, the community management statement and a body corporate certificate.

Each of these is issued by a different body, and each sets its own fee. Titles Queensland supplies title searches and plans and notes that its fees are updated on 1 July each year, so a seller listing in late June and one listing in early July may pay slightly different amounts for the same search. A body corporate certificate is produced by the body corporate for the scheme. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland, in a release of 1 July 2025, advised sellers to budget for both the cost and the time of preparation, and pointed out that there is no government-funded statewide tool that gathers the searches in one place.

Two features of this line are worth knowing. It is paid before there is a buyer, and it is not refunded if the home does not sell. And it has a shelf life in practice: the information must be accurate when it is given to the buyer, so a search ordered for a campaign that stalls may need to be ordered again.

Legal and conveyancing work

The Queensland Government's guidance for sellers treats appointing a solicitor as one of the steps to take before a home goes on the market, alongside appointing an agent. The seller's lawyer typically reviews or prepares the contract, checks the disclosure documents, deals with the buyer's lawyer, arranges the release of any mortgage and attends to settlement.

There is no set scale for this work. A firm may quote a fixed fee for a standard sale or a fee plus outlays, the outlays being the searches and registration fees paid on the client's behalf. When comparing quotes, the point to check is whether the disclosure searches described above are inside the quote or in addition to it. Under the disclosure scheme a seller may also need the lawyer earlier than before, because the documents have to be ready before the contract and not after it. That changes when the bill starts, though not necessarily its size.

A complicated title adds to this line: an estate, a company or trust as owner, a sale under a power of attorney, an unregistered easement, a tenancy that continues after settlement. Each brings extra documents for the lawyer to prepare or verify.

Pool safety

A home with a swimming pool or spa brings a line that sellers of other homes never see. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission, which regulates pool safety, sets out two paths for a seller.

The first is to give the buyer a current pool safety certificate before settlement. For a pool that is not shared, a certificate is valid for two years; for a shared pool, such as one in a unit complex, it is valid for one year and is the responsibility of the pool's owner, usually the body corporate. A certificate can only be issued by a licensed pool safety inspector. The QBCC says there is no set charge for an inspection: inspectors set their own rates.

The inspection fee is often the smaller part. If the pool does not comply, the inspector issues a nonconformity notice, and the owner has three months to fix the problems and ask the same inspector back. Fencing, gates, latches and anything climbable near the barrier are the usual subjects, and the cost of the repair is whatever the repair costs.

The second path is to sell without a certificate. In that case the seller completes a Form 36, a notice of no pool safety certificate, gives it to the buyer before settlement and lodges it with the QBCC. The obligation then passes: for a non-shared pool, the buyer has 90 days from settlement to obtain a certificate. This moves the cost off the seller's ledger and onto the buyer's, and a buyer who understands that will usually price it into an offer.

Smoke alarms

Smoke alarms are the compliance line most likely to surprise a long-term owner. The Queensland Fire Department states that a dwelling being sold must already have interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms, and that the seller must complete the upgrade before ownership transfers. The obligation applies where the contract of sale was signed after 31 December 2021.

The standard is specific. Alarms must be photoelectric, comply with Australian Standard 3786-2014, be interconnected so that all sound together, and be either hardwired or powered by a non-removable ten-year battery. They are required in every bedroom, in hallways that connect bedrooms to the rest of the home, and on each storey.

A home that has not been sold or rented since the rules came in may still have one or two older alarms, and bringing it up to the standard means buying and installing several. Insurance Business reported on 19 May 2026 that professional installation in a four-bedroom home typically costs between $800 and $1,000, citing industry estimates; the actual figure depends on the number of rooms and on whether hardwired or battery units are used. Where hardwired alarms are installed, a licensed electrician issues a certificate of testing and compliance.

The seller confirms compliance in the transfer documents. The Fire Department explains that the declaration is made on the property transfer information form, known as Form 24, which is normally prepared by the conveyancer. Every remaining owner-occupied home in the State must meet the same standard by 1 January 2027, and electricians quoted by Insurance Business warned of pressure on supply and on installers' time before that date. A seller who leaves the work to the last week before settlement is relying on someone being available.

Presentation, repairs and valuation

The Queensland Government's guidance lists two optional items among the things to consider before a sale: renovating and improving the home, and obtaining a professional valuation.

Neither is required. Presentation spending covers everything from cleaning and gardening to painting, repairs and hired furniture, and it is discretionary in a way the lines above are not. The same guidance points sellers to the obligations that apply to work carried out before a sale. A formal valuation by a registered valuer is a paid service, distinct from an agent's appraisal, which must be backed by a comparative market analysis of at least three similar properties sold within five kilometres in the past six months.

One cost in this group is not optional. A seller must hand the home over vacant and clean at settlement, the government's guidance says. The buyer may inspect in the days before settlement and can ask for a delay if agreed repairs have not been done.

What is settled on the day

Three lines are calculated at settlement itself.

Rates are apportioned. The seller is responsible for council rates up to and including the day of settlement, and the buyer from the following day, according to the Queensland Government. If the seller has paid the current period in advance, the buyer reimburses the unused part; if the rates are unpaid, the seller's share is deducted. Water charges and, in a body corporate, levies are adjusted on the same principle. This is a line that can run in the seller's favour.

The mortgage is released. Where there is a loan secured on the home, the lender is paid from the proceeds and a release of the mortgage is registered on the title. Lenders charge their own discharge fees, set out in each loan contract, and Titles Queensland charges lodgement fees for dealings registered on a title, under a schedule that changes each 1 July. A fixed-rate loan repaid early may also carry a break cost, which is a matter for the loan contract.

The agent is paid. The deposit is held in the agent's trust account, and at settlement the agent deducts the commission and any unpaid expenses and forwards the balance. The seller is then owed a written statement within 42 days, or within 14 days on request, showing every amount received and paid.

What sits outside the ledger

Two things are missing from the column above, on purpose.

The first is transfer duty. It is charged on the purchase and, in an ordinary home sale, it is the buyer's line, not the seller's. It reappears in a seller's finances only if the seller is also buying the next home.

The second is tax. A sale can give rise to capital gains tax for some owners, particularly investors, and the rules on exemptions, cost base and timing are federal and specific to each owner's circumstances. It can be the largest number in an investor's calculation and none at all in an owner-occupier's, which is why it belongs in a discussion of tax and not in a list of selling costs.

From 1 July 2026 there will also be an identity check by the agent under federal anti-money laundering law, which the Real Estate Institute of Queensland has been preparing its members for since February. It asks a seller for documents and a little time, not a fee.

Putting the ledger together

A seller who wants a figure for the bottom of the column can build one before signing anything, because every line can be asked for in writing.

1. From each agent: the commission including GST, when it is payable, and an itemised marketing schedule with due dates.
2. From the solicitor: a quote that says whether disclosure searches and registration fees are included.
3. From the body corporate, for a unit or townhouse: the fee for the body corporate certificate.
4. For a pool: an inspector's quote, and a decision between a certificate and a Form 36.
5. From an electrician: a quote for bringing the smoke alarms up to the standard, if they are not there already.
6. From the lender: the payout figure and discharge fees as at the expected settlement date.

The total will differ for every home. A freestanding house with no pool, compliant alarms and no mortgage has a short ledger: commission, marketing, searches and legal fees. A unit with a shared pool, an old alarm and a fixed-rate loan has a longer one. In both cases the rule that protects the seller is the same: amounts owed to the agent bind only as written on the appointment, and the agent must account for every dollar after settlement.

Queensland fixes almost none of a seller's costs. What it fixes is that each one must be put in writing before it can be charged.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property 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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