What it does
The Conveyancers Licensing Act 2003 establishes a complete licensing, conduct and consumer-protection regime for persons who carry out conveyancing work in New South Wales. Section 4(1) defines conveyancing work as legal work carried out in connection with any transaction that creates, varies, transfers or extinguishes a legal or equitable interest in real or personal property. Examples expressly listed include the sale or lease of land, the sale of a business (including goodwill and stock-in-trade), and the grant of a mortgage or charge. Subsection (2) expands this to include preparing documents such as agreements, conveyances, transfers, leases or mortgages, giving advice, perusing or registering documents, and any other work prescribed by regulation. Subsection (4) limits the concept to work that, if performed for fee by a non-Australian legal practitioner, would constitute an offence under Part 2.1 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW).
The Act’s central prohibition appears in s 6(1): a person must not conduct a conveyancing business for fee or reward unless the person holds a licence (maximum penalty 100 penalty units). An exemption exists for Australian legal practitioners and incorporated legal practices (s 6(2)). A licensee who complies with the Act, regulations and licence conditions is protected from prosecution under the Legal Profession Uniform Law for carrying out conveyancing work (s 7(1)), although the licensee must not imply that he or she is qualified to act as a solicitor (s 7(2)).
Part 2 sets out the licensing machinery. Eligibility for a natural person requires the Secretary to be satisfied that the applicant is at least 18, fit and proper, that every partner is also fit and proper, that the applicant holds the Minister-approved qualifications, is not a disqualified person, and has paid the fee (s 8(1)). Corporate applicants face parallel requirements, including that at least one director holds an individual licence and that no director or executive officer is disqualified (s 8(2)). Qualifications are determined by Ministerial order published on the NSW legislation website and may be limited in scope (s 9). Section 10 contains an exhaustive list of 20 grounds on which a person is disqualified, ranging from dishonesty convictions within the last 10 years, mental incapacity, bankruptcy within the last three years, to failure to pay a levy to the Compensation Fund or a monetary penalty imposed under Part 9. The Secretary has limited discretion to disregard certain matters (subsections (3)–(3D)).