Between the day you sign and the day you settle, a Victorian purchase collects costs that are not in the purchase price. Land transfer duty. Registration and search fees. Adjustments for rates and levies. And, in the growth corridors, an infrastructure contribution.
Most are fixed by statute rather than negotiable, and most fall due before you get the keys.
This is for buyers in Melbourne who have a contract in front of them, or are about to. It covers the costs a Melbourne conveyancer typically walks buyers through before settlement. It is general information about how these costs work in Victoria, not advice on your purchase.
Stamp duty and other government charges
1. Land transfer duty
The largest of the eight, and the one most often underestimated.
Land transfer duty — stamp duty — is assessed on the dutiable value of the property on a sliding scale. A higher purchase price does not just cost more duty. It costs a higher rate of duty. The State Revenue Office publishes the current rate tables, and its calculator is the only figure worth relying on.
There are concession categories that reduce or remove it: first home buyer, principal place of residence, off-the-plan, and a pensioner reduction. The SRO describes first home buyer duty relief for homes up to $750,000. It also describes a $10,000 First Home Owner Grant for first-time buyers of a new home.
Whether you qualify turns on the property’s value, its type and whether you will live in it. Check the SRO’s eligibility pages rather than assuming.
Two things about timing are worth knowing. Duty is assessed on the dutiable value, generally the greater of the price you paid and the market value. A below-market family transfer therefore does not produce a below-market duty bill.
Duty is also payable at or before settlement rather than spread across the loan. That makes it cash you already have, not money you intend to borrow.
2. Foreign purchaser additional duty
If any purchaser on the contract is a foreign purchaser, additional duty applies on top of the standard duty.
This one catches people out because the test is about the purchaser, not the property. A single purchaser on a two-name contract can trigger it for that share. It is worth settling before you sign, not after, because it changes the figure you need on the day rather than adding to it later.
3. GAIC, if you are buying in a growth corridor
Tarneit, Truganina, Point Cook, Werribee, Craigieburn and the rest of the designated growth areas sit inside the Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution. It is charged per hectare, it varies by land type, and it rose for 2026-27.
The detail is in our piece on GAIC rates for 2026-27. The point to take from it here is simpler. Find out whether the land is affected before you sign. The liability and its timing depend on the transaction, not on the estate’s brochure.
4. Land registration and search fees
Smaller, unavoidable, and they moved this year.
Land Services Victoria’s lodgment and search fees are expressed in fee units and change every 1 July under the Monetary Units Act 2004. The fee unit is $17.27 for 2026-27, and fees rose on 1 July 2026. If you were quoted disbursements before that date, they were quoted on the old unit.
Adjustments and owners corporation costs
5. Adjustments at settlement
This is the line most buyers have never heard of before their Melbourne conveyancer explains it.
Council rates, water rates, owners corporation fees and the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund are usually paid for a period by the vendor. At settlement they are apportioned: you reimburse the vendor for the part of the period you will own the property.
It is a share of an existing charge rather than a new one. It still lands on the settlement statement, and it is still real money on the day.
The size of it depends on when in the rating period you settle. Settle shortly after the vendor has paid a full year and you reimburse most of it. Settle just before the next instalment falls due and you reimburse very little.
Nobody chooses a settlement date for this reason, but it explains why two buyers of similar properties see very different adjustment lines.
6. Owners corporation fees and special levies
If you are buying an apartment, a townhouse or anything else in an owners corporation, two separate things can bite.
The first is ordinary fees, adjusted as above. The second is a special levy — a one-off charge struck for a major repair such as re-roofing, cladding rectification or lift replacement. These are not small, and they are not spread over years.
Whether a levy has been struck, and who is liable for it, is what an owners corporation certificate exists to reveal. That is why it is a disclosure item rather than a surprise.
Read the certificate and the minutes behind it. A levy that has been discussed but not yet struck will not appear as a liability, and it is still coming.
Costs a Melbourne conveyancer will tell you to check early
7. Inspections and searches you choose to run
Building and pest inspections, a surveyor’s check of the boundaries, a contamination search — these are discretionary, and that is exactly why they are skipped.
EPA Victoria’s Priority Sites Register, accessible through Victoria Unearthed, shows sites carrying remedial notices about land and groundwater contamination. Land Services Victoria also introduced an Environmental Priority Sites Certificate for property transactions in 2026, so ask your conveyancer which check is appropriate for the property.
The argument for running them is not that something is usually wrong. It is that these are the only costs on this list you can still act on. Everything else is fixed by statute or by a contract you have already signed.
Send us the contract and vendor statement before you sign. The review is free and no obligation. If you decide to proceed with us, we can also provide fixed-price conveyancing and guide you through settlement, but the choice is entirely yours.
8. Penalty interest if settlement runs late
The cost nobody budgets for, because nobody plans to be late.
If you cannot settle on the due date, the contract generally allows the vendor to charge penalty interest on the balance until you do. A lender’s paperwork arriving slowly or funds that do not clear in time produce the same outcome as finance falling through entirely.
The rate is a contract term, so it is in the document you are about to sign rather than in a government schedule. Read it before you sign, not on the day you need it.
It is also the strongest argument for having finance genuinely settled rather than approximately settled. Treat a lender’s “should be fine” as an unfinished task.
When each cost lands
| Cost | When it falls due | Fixed by |
|---|---|---|
| Land transfer duty | At or before settlement | Statute — State Revenue Office |
| Foreign purchaser additional duty | With duty, if it applies | Statute — State Revenue Office |
| GAIC | Depends on the transaction and land type | Statute — growth areas framework |
| Registration and search fees | Through the settlement process | Statute — fee units, reset each 1 July |
| Rates, water and levy adjustments | On the settlement statement | Apportionment between the parties |
| Owners corporation fees and special levies | At settlement, or after if a levy is struck later | The owners corporation |
| Inspections and searches | Before you are committed | Your choice |
| Penalty interest | Only if settlement is late | The contract |
Melbourne conveyancer FAQs on settlement costs
What is the difference between a conveyancer’s fee and disbursements?
Two different things. The professional fee is for the work; disbursements are the third-party costs paid on your behalf — searches, certificates, registration fees. A quoted fixed professional fee covers the service quoted; disbursements are additional.
Do first home buyers pay stamp duty in Victoria?
It depends on the value. The State Revenue Office describes duty relief for first home buyers for homes up to $750,000, with conditions attached. Check your eligibility on sro.vic.gov.au before you budget for it either way.
Can I find out about GAIC before I sign?
Yes, and you should. Whether the land is in a designated growth area is checkable, and it is far better settled before a contract than after.
What happens if I settle late?
Usually penalty interest, charged under the contract until settlement occurs. The amount and rate are contract terms, so they are worth reading before you sign rather than after.
Are these costs different for a commercial purchase?
Often, yes — GST treatment, adjustments and disclosure all work differently. Our commercial conveyancing page sets out what changes.
Eagle Peak Conveyancing, Unit 1/21 Perpetual St, Truganina VIC 3029. Call 0485 952 616 or email support@eaglepeak.com.au.
None of these eight costs is hidden, exactly. They are all disclosed somewhere — in a contract, a vendor statement, a certificate or a government schedule. Buyers meet them late because nobody sits down with a Melbourne conveyancer and adds them up before the contract is signed.
Doing that early does not make any of them smaller. It does mean the figure you need on settlement day is the figure you already knew about.
Send us your contract and vendor statement for a free, no-obligation review before you commit to a purchase price.
