Your conveyancer got it wrong.
A sale that fell over. A deposit gone. A property you cannot use as planned. If a licensed conveyancer or a property lawyer made the mistake, Sutton Laurence King Lawyers can review the file, tell you where you stand, and pursue the claim.
Experienced
A litigation team that regularly runs professional negligence claims
Practising
Our property team settles more than 1,000 conveyances a year, so we know what should have happened on yours
Direct
We deal with the practitioner and their insurer so you do not have to
Fast
Strict time limits apply and we move quickly
A conveyancing mistake rarely announces itself. It surfaces as a sale that falls over, a bank that will not settle, a bill nobody mentioned, or a problem you only discover years later when you try to sell. By then the practitioner has closed the file. The evidence sits in that file, and time limits run whether or not you know where you stand.
What counts as conveyancing negligence?
Licensed conveyancers and lawyers owe you the same core duty: to handle your transaction with the care and skill of a competent practitioner. In simple terms, three things usually need to be true.
They were acting for you
You engaged the conveyancer or lawyer for the sale, purchase or transfer.
They made a mistake
A defective section 32, a missed search, wrong advice, a missed deadline. Something a competent practitioner would not have done.
The mistake caused it
The lost sale, the refused finance, the bill or the problem with the property traces back to that mistake.
Not every disappointing transaction is negligence. Markets fall, vendors behave badly, and some problems no search would have found. The file review tells us which side of the line your matter sits on.
The file tells the story.
You do not need to arrive with a legal theory. You tell us what happened. We work out whether someone should have prevented it. Our first job is practical: what was your practitioner engaged to do, what did they actually do, and what did it cost you.
Review the file
We read the contract, the section 32, the searches and the correspondence, and compare what was done against what a competent conveyancer or property lawyer should have done.
Explain your options
We tell you whether the mistake caused what happened, what a claim could recover, what the other side may argue, and what we would do next. In plain English.
Pursue the claim
Where we can help, we put the claim to the practitioner and their professional indemnity insurer. Most matters resolve by negotiation, not a courtroom.
It does not matter whether a licensed conveyancer or a law firm handled the transaction, or whether it was a house, an off the plan apartment, a commercial property or business premises. What matters is what they were engaged to do, and what happened because it was not done properly. Conveyancer or lawyer Both owe the same duty of care, and both must carry professional indemnity insurance. We act against both. Time limits Generally six years in Victoria, and when the clock starts is not always obvious. Earlier is always easier. Insurance responds Claims are usually met by the practitioner’s insurer, not their pocket, including where the practice has since closed. Some problems can still be contained. If any of these apply, call us now rather than sending the form. The aim of compensation is to put you where you would have been if the job had been done properly. What that means depends on what happened to you. The shortfall The difference between what you got and what you should have got, such as a lower price on resale. The lost deposit A deposit forfeited because a deadline or notice was mishandled. Tax and duty Duty, land tax or GST you should have been warned about, or should never have had to pay. Wasted costs Costs thrown away on the failed transaction, penalty interest, and the cost of fixing the problem. Every matter is different. We will tell you early, and honestly, what your claim is realistically worth pursuing for. These are the situations that bring people to us. They reflect the mistakes that most often give rise to claims against conveyancers and property lawyers in Victoria. Missing owner builder documents, stale certificates, services described incorrectly. The purchaser ended the contract, and you resold later for less. The finance deadline passed without the right notice, a conditional approval was treated as final, or a rescission or default notice went unanswered until the contract was gone. An easement, a covenant or a title problem surfaced at the last minute. A proper review or search would have found it before you signed. The zoning or permit does not allow your intended use. The premises you bought to trade from cannot lawfully trade. The second dwelling cannot lawfully be lived in. Double duty on a nomination, foreign purchaser additional duty, land tax, GST treated the wrong way, or settlement adjustments handled incorrectly. Off the plan changes nobody flagged, the car park missing from the final plan, boundaries that are not where you were told. Payment details were intercepted and the funds are gone. Speed matters most here. Call your bank, then call us. Settlement, a sunset date, a notice deadline. The contract ended, or penalty interest started running, because nobody was watching the calendar. A few simple steps protect your position while you get advice. Sutton Laurence King Lawyers is a traditional Melbourne law firm. Our litigation team regularly acts in professional negligence claims, and our property team settles more than 1,000 conveyances a year. We do not need an expert to tell us what a competent conveyancer should have done on your file. We do that work every day. A conveyancing claim is won on the detail of the file: the searches that were not ordered, the advice that was not given, the deadline that was not diarised. A firm that lives in those files knows exactly where to look. “Emily Cologon at SLK Lawyers was outstanding throughout the entire sale process… Even when the transaction became complex and time-sensitive, Emily remained calm, responsive and on top of every detail.” Claims against conveyancers and property lawyers almost never make the law reports, because insurers resolve the strong ones. That is usually exactly the result our clients want. Two examples of the work: We acted for a vendor whose purchaser ended the contract because the section 32 statement was defective. By the time the property resold, the market had moved and the price was materially lower. The shortfall was the practitioner’s mistake, not the vendor’s, and we pursued it as such. We acted for the purchaser of licensed premises whose lawyer failed to identify that the property was not actually permitted to trade as a nightclub, the very use it was bought for. Our client paid for a business that could not lawfully operate as promised. Resolved claims in this area usually carry confidentiality, and Australian firms do not publish settlement amounts. What we can say is that well-prepared claims are typically resolved with the practitioner’s professional indemnity insurer, without a trial. Use the form to tell us what happened in your own words. We will review it and tell you the next step. There is no cost to send the form, and you are not committing to anything. Prefer to read first? Say so in the form and we will send our plain-English guide to professional negligence claims with our reply. Complete the form below. If documents are easier to send by email, tell us in the form and we will reply with an address. Sending this form does not create a lawyer and client relationship, and no retainer begins. We act for you only after we agree in writing. Most people who contact us are not certain. They know the sale fell over, the bill arrived or the property cannot be used as planned, and they suspect it should not have happened. That is enough to start. The file review exists to answer the question you cannot: whether someone should have prevented this. If your client’s transaction went wrong in the hands of another conveyancer or lawyer, or you have found a predecessor’s mistake and cannot act on it, send the key details. We will tell you quickly whether we can help, and we respect the referral relationship. Call Sutton Laurence King Lawyers, or tell us what happened and we will review it.
Do you have a claim?
If the transaction has not settled yet
What a claim can recover.
What happened to you?
Your sale fell over because the section 32 was defective
You lost your deposit
The bank refused to settle
You cannot use the property as planned
A bill arrived that nobody warned you about
What settled is not what you were sold
Your settlement money went to the wrong account
A critical date was missed
Before you do anything.
A litigation team that also does the work.
Why that matters
Matters like yours.
A defective section 32, a lost sale, a lower resale
A nightclub that could not lawfully be a nightclub
If a lawyer let you down in litigation, an estate, a lease or another matter, we act in professional negligence claims generally.Questions people ask.
My transaction was handled by a lawyer, not a conveyancer. Does that matter?
How long do I have to bring a claim in Victoria?
Will the conveyancer actually be able to pay?
The problem only came to light when I went to sell. Is it too late?
Do I have to go to court?
Should I just complain to the regulator instead?
How much does it cost?
Tell us what happened.
What to include
Request a file review
Not sure whether it was negligence?
For advisers and other practitioners
Did your conveyancer or lawyer get it wrong?