Insurables — Australian business risk, sourced and dated

Conveyancers: public liability requirements in Australia

Cover for legal liability to third parties for personal injury or property damage arising from business activities.

Data as at

Verified requirements, by state

  • Licence liability condition: Yes. The Conveyancers Licensing Act 2003 (NSW) provides that "it is a condition of a licence that the holder be insured as required by any such regulations", so professional indemnity cover is a licence condition rather than a commercial choice. The amount and terms are set by regulation rather than in the Act itself, and should be checked against the current regulation rather than assumed. NSW · effective 2006-12-15 NSW Fair Trading · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At licence application and at renewal. Evidence takes the form of a certificate of currency in the licence holder's name, or in the name of the employer where the conveyancer works for a licensed firm rather than on their own account. NSW · effective 2006-12-15 NSW Fair Trading · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: NSW Fair Trading, under the Conveyancers Licensing Act 2003 (NSW). A conveyancer's licence authorises certain legal work on property transactions — the sale or lease of land, the sale of a business, the grant of a mortgage or other charge on property — without the holder being an admitted lawyer. NSW · effective 2006-12-15 NSW Fair Trading · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes, with a stated minimum set by Ministerial Order: conveyancers must maintain at least $2 million in professional indemnity insurance at all times. "At all times" is the operative phrase — this is a continuing condition, not an application hurdle. VIC · effective 2008-07-01 Consumer Affairs Victoria · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: Insurance details are updated through Consumer Affairs Victoria's online licensing system when applying for a licence to conduct a conveyancing business and on each renewal of the cover. VIC · effective 2008-07-01 Consumer Affairs Victoria · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: Consumer Affairs Victoria, under the Conveyancers Act 2006 (Vic). VIC · effective 2008-07-01 Consumer Affairs Victoria · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: There is no conveyancer licence for a condition to attach to, but the person actually doing the work carries compulsory cover, and that is the substantive answer for a Queensland consumer. Section 353 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 bars a regulatory authority from granting or renewing a practising certificate unless satisfied the lawyer will be covered by complying professional indemnity insurance for its currency, with the requirements set by regulation. Section 354 makes it continuing, and criminally so: a practitioner must not engage in legal practice, or represent that they are entitled to, unless they comply. The prescribing regulation was not retrieved, so no amount is recorded here. QLD · effective 2026-08-25 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: For the solicitor doing the work, satisfaction of the regulator at grant and at each renewal of the practising certificate, plus a continuing obligation. Lapse does not automatically suspend the certificate; instead practising while uninsured is an offence carrying a substantial penalty or imprisonment. That is a different mechanism from Western Australia, where a settlement agent who lets cover lapse is simply deemed not to hold their certificate. QLD · effective 2026-08-25 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: There is no conveyancer licence in Queensland. Section 24 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 is an exhaustive statement of what the chief executive may issue — an auctioneer licence, a real estate agent licence and a resident letting agent licence — and the word conveyancing does not appear anywhere in the Act. The work is done by Australian legal practitioners: section 24 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 bars a person from engaging in legal practice unless they are one. Be precise about the mechanism, though: conveyancing is not reserved by name in that Act either. It is captured because it constitutes legal practice. QLD · effective 2026-08-25 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes, and Western Australia does something no other jurisdiction surveyed does: a compulsory group insurance policy and a statutory compensation fund operate side by side, not as alternatives. Section 35 of the Settlement Agents Act 1981 lets the Commissioner enter a Master Policy Agreement with an appointed insurer for fidelity insurance and professional indemnity insurance, and sets the minimum cover for each agent at the sum of $250,000 for each claim. The Commissioner has entered one, with cover placed through a commercial insurer, and has determined that all settlement agents must hold a current certificate of insurance under it. Running in parallel, Part V establishes the Settlement Agents Fidelity Guarantee Account, funded by a prescribed fidelity guarantee fee. Section 35(9) preserves an agent's right to take out additional cover on top. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: A certificate of insurance under the Master Policy, produced to the Commissioner on first issue and again as a replacement whenever a certificate ceases to be in force, plus at renewal or on a new licence application. The consequence of lapse is the sharpest mechanism found anywhere in this dataset. Section 35(7) does not suspend the licence — it provides that a licensee who fails to hold or produce the certificate is taken not to be the holder of a triennial certificate until they comply. Since the triennial certificate is what authorises practice, the right to trade disappears by operation of law, with no regulator decision, notice or hearing. The Commissioner's former power to waive the requirement was removed when automatic mutual recognition came in, so there is no discretionary escape either. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: The Commissioner for Consumer Protection licenses settlement agents under the Settlement Agents Act 1981 — settlement agent is Western Australia's term for a conveyancer. Practising authority runs through a triennial certificate rather than an annual licence, which turns out to matter a great deal for what happens when cover lapses. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. The Act requires professional indemnity insurance under an approved scheme, with the operative detail in the Conveyancers Regulations. The minimum amount was not retrieved and is deliberately not stated here. SA · effective 1995-09-01 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Cover under the approved scheme, evidenced at licensing. The precise timing was not established. SA · effective 1995-09-01 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Consumer and Business Services, under the Conveyancers Act 1994 (SA). SA · effective 1995-09-01 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes, and Tasmania attaches the sharpest consequence of any jurisdiction on this site. Section 13 requires all conveyancers to be covered by an approved policy of professional indemnity insurance to a prescribed minimum of $2 million — and if a conveyancer's insurance lapses or is cancelled, their licence is DEEMED SUSPENDED. No decision, no hearing, no notice: the licence simply stops. TAS · effective 2005-01-01 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: Evidence annually. Because suspension is automatic on lapse, the practical obligation is to never let the policy gap, not merely to renew it eventually. TAS · effective 2005-01-01 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: The Tasmanian conveyancing regulator, under the Conveyancing Act 2004 (Tas). TAS · effective 2005-01-01 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence liability condition: Not applicable. With no conveyancer licence class in the ACT there is no licence for an insurance condition to attach to. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Not applicable. No conveyancer licence exists in the ACT. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Conveyancing is not a separately licensed occupation in the ACT. The Agents Act 2003 licenses real estate agents and stock and station agents; the word conveyancing does not appear anywhere in it. There is no ACT Conveyancers Act. The repealed Conveyancing Act 1919 was property law rather than an occupational licensing scheme, and its subject matter now sits in the Civil Law (Property) Act 2006. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes, and there are two separate financial protections rather than one. Section 108B(1) provides that an agent must not carry on business as an agent unless the agent is insured under an approved indemnity insurance policy, and section 22(1)(d) makes it a condition of the grant that the Board be satisfied the applicant will be so insured for the whole period of the licence. The policy has to be one the Board has approved under section 108C. Separately, section 106(1) requires every licensed agent to pay an annual contribution to the Agents Licensing Fidelity Guarantee Fund, with a further contribution for each agent's representative employed. Section 108E confirms the two do not displace each other — the professional indemnity policy does not derogate from claims on the Fund. NT · effective 2026-08-25 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: The Board has to be satisfied at grant. Renewal is lighter than you might expect: section 32(2) asks only for the form, the fee and the licence period, and the Registrar must renew unless there is a fit and proper concern, so there is no express re-evidencing of the policy at renewal. That does not make lapse safe. Carrying on business uninsured is a continuing offence under section 108B, and failing to take out or maintain the insurance is an express disciplinary ground under section 67(1)(ja). NT · effective 2026-08-25 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: The Agents Licensing Board of the Northern Territory licenses conveyancing agents under the Agents Licensing Act 1979. Section 17(1) provides that a person, company or firm must not carry on business, or hold themselves out, as a real estate agent, business agent or conveyancing agent unless licensed as such. A conveyancing agent also needs a further endorsement on the licence to perform the conveyancing services listed in section 31A(1). NT · effective 2026-08-25 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25

By state and territory

Licensing is a state matter, so the requirement behind this cover changes at the border. These pages track the licence question in each jurisdiction.

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources