Conveyancing

Quick answer: Yes, you can. The Queensland land register is public and anyone can search it without giving a reason. A current title search costs $25.71 and names the registered owner. You can search by street address, by lot on plan, or by the owner’s name. What you will not get is an address or a phone number, and there is no free way to see an owner’s name in Queensland.

Here is how to actually do it, what it costs, and the part most people get wrong at the end.

Can you find out who owns a property in Queensland?

Yes, and you do not need a reason.

Section 35 of the Land Title Act 1994 says a person may, on payment of the fee, search and obtain a copy of the indefeasible title of a lot. There is no eligibility test, no requirement to explain why you want it, and no need to be involved in a transaction. Neighbours, journalists, researchers, prospective buyers and the merely curious all have the same right of access.

That is a deliberate feature of the Torrens system. The register only works as a public record of ownership if the public can actually read it.

How do you find out who owns a property in QLD?

Three routes, depending on what you are starting with.

If you have the street address. Order a current title search using an address search. Titles Queensland’s own portal, OTIS, has one, as do the approved search distributors. This is the normal path and it takes a couple of minutes.

If you have the lot on plan or title reference. Go straight to the search. This is the cleanest route because it removes any ambiguity about which parcel you mean.

If you only have the address and want to check the parcel first. Use Queensland Globe, which is free, to convert the address into a lot on plan. This matters more than it sounds for units and townhouses, where a street address can sit across a footprint lot, common property and individual lots within a building format plan. Getting the parcel right before you pay is worth the extra minute.

One current caveat: Titles Queensland published an alert in April 2026 about address searches in OTIS returning affected results for newly created lots entered after 18 April 2026. If the property is in a brand new subdivision, search by lot on plan instead.

Can you search by owner name in Queensland?

Yes. This surprises people, including plenty of people in the industry.

The Queensland titles registry supports name searches, and the easiest public route to one is through an approved search distributor. CITEC Confirm, which is a Queensland Government commercialised business unit, lets you search by surname and given name with wildcards and returns a list of matching titles. InfoTrack offers the same for professional accounts, and its consumer arm sells an ownership search directly to the public. Titles Queensland can also run a bespoke investigative search of the register, charged by the hour.

You can tell the name search exists because the Queensland Government says so when explaining how to hide from it. Its guidance on suppression directions states that an approved application removes a person’s details from “name searches in the Titles Registry”.

But understand the limits before you rely on it. A name search matches the name as recorded on the register. It will miss property held through a company or a trust the person controls, property registered under a former or differently spelled name, and anything covered by a suppression direction. It is a name-matching tool, not an asset-tracing tool, and a nil result does not prove somebody owns nothing.

Is there a free way to find out who owns a property?

No, and this is where most searches stall.

Queensland Globe is genuinely free and genuinely useful. It will give you the lot on plan, the property area, the local government area, the real property description and the land valuation. What it will not give you, anywhere, is a name. Owner details are not among the fields it displays, and there is no name search option in it.

The same is true across the free government tools. There is no legitimate free source of a Queensland registered owner’s name. Free gets you to the parcel. The name costs $25.71.

If you find a site offering free owner details, be careful about what you are actually being sold and where the data came from.

What it costs

A current title search is $25.71 through Titles Queensland and returns in seconds. For the full fee list, the difference between a current and a historical search, and what each one includes, see our guide to the Queensland title search.

What does the search actually tell you about the owner?

A name. That is it.

A Queensland current title search shows the registered owner’s name and the tenancy, so you will see whether co-owners hold as joint tenants or tenants in common, and the shares if they are tenants in common. Under section 28 of the Land Title Act, the register records the name of the person who holds a registered interest. Names, not addresses.

There is no postal address, no email, no phone number. So “I will just write to the owner” does not follow from a title search the way people assume it will.

It also tells you about the registered legal owner and nobody else. Not the occupier. Not the tenant. Not the beneficial owner behind a trust. If you are checking a landlord, the registered owner and the lessor named on your lease can legitimately be different people.

Two sections worth reading before you draw conclusions. Unregistered dealings shows instruments lodged but not yet registered, so a property that has already sold can still show the old owner. Administrative advices can show a priority notice, which usually means a transaction is underway.

What if the owner is a company, deceased, or a trustee?

A company. The title gives you the company name. From there, an ASIC company extract gives you the directors, the registered office and the shareholders. The same distributors sell it.

A deceased owner. The title can still show a deceased person’s name until a transmission by death is registered, or until a death is recorded against a joint tenancy. On a historical search you will often see a “TRANS DEATH” dealing. If you are dealing with a deceased estate, the current title search is the right starting point because it tells you how the person held the interest, which decides what happens next.

A trustee. The registered owner is the trustee, not the beneficiaries. A title search will not tell you who benefits from a trust, and there is no public register that will.

How do you find previous owners of a property?

A historical title search ($37.88) shows the interests registered against the title since Queensland’s Automated Titles System began in 1994.

To go back further you need an image of the pre-1994 paper certificate of title ($25.71). Image quality varies depending on the age and condition of the original when it was scanned.

A useful shortcut: look at the title reference. References starting with 1, 2 or 3 are pre-1994 paper titles that have since been imaged. References starting with 5 or higher are computer titles created since 1994 and fully covered by a historical search.

Titles Queensland’s own guidance is that establishing ownership at a particular point in time often needs a combination of products, typically a historical search plus the imaged paper title. For research going back beyond the registry’s imaged holdings, Queensland State Archives holds the older land tenure and land title office records.

What can you legally do with the information?

This is the section nobody writes, and it is the one that matters if you are searching for a commercial reason.

The register is open, but what you do with a name you took off it is regulated in three separate places.

The Property Data Code of Conduct. This is Queensland-specific and has been in force since 2009. Under it, using personal identification information, meaning names and service addresses, for unsolicited direct marketing by mail, telephone or other means is expressly prohibited. Owners can apply to have their details suppressed from information brokers’ databases and can complain to the Code’s oversight committee.

Australian Privacy Principle 7. The OAIC’s guidance is almost written for this situation. Publicly available personal information can be used for marketing only with consent or where consent is impracticable, and the recipient must be given an easy way to opt out. The OAIC expressly includes mail, hand-delivered material and door-to-door marketing. It also warns that some public registers carry their own restrictions and tells businesses to check with the relevant body, naming state land title offices.

The Do Not Call Register Act and the Spam Act, which cover the phone call, the email and the SMS that often follow.

The practical translation: pulling owner names off the register to letterbox-drop or doorknock potential off-market vendors runs straight into a Queensland industry code that prohibits exactly that. Look it up before you build a campaign on it.

What if you cannot find the owner?

Consider that they may have taken steps not to be found.

Under section 188 of the Land Valuation Act 2010, the Valuer-General can grant a suppression direction where there is a risk to someone’s safety, expressly including harassment, stalking or other threats to personal security. A preference for privacy on its own is not enough, and applicants have to make a statutory declaration and are encouraged to provide supporting evidence such as police reports or domestic violence orders. A direction lasts five years and is renewable.

Where one is granted, the person’s name and address are removed from public land valuation rolls, from name searches in the Titles Registry, and from state and local government land records open to public inspection.

So a nil or partial name search result does not necessarily mean nothing is owned. It may mean someone has a serious reason to be invisible, and working around that is not something we would help with.

A word of caution

A title search tells you who is registered as the legal owner. It is not due diligence and it never was.

Contamination, flooding, planning and zoning, transport and resumption proposals, tree and fence orders, and building approval history all sit on different registers, and a search of the title will not touch any of them. We have set out what a Queensland title search shows and misses separately, and if you are actually buying, that is the more useful read.

Buying in Queensland and want the searches done properly? See our standard fees or get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

Can I find out who owns a property for free in Queensland?

No. Queensland Globe is free and will give you the lot on plan, the area and the land valuation, but it does not display owner names and has no name search. There is no free public source of a Queensland owner’s name.

Can you search property by owner name in Queensland?

Yes. The titles registry supports name searches, most easily accessed through an approved search distributor. It matches the name as it appears on the register, so it will miss property held through companies or trusts, or under a different spelling.

Does a Queensland title search show the owner’s address?

No. It shows the owner’s name and the tenancy. There is no postal address, email or phone number on a current title search.

How do I find out who owned a property before?

Order a historical title search ($37.88) for dealings since 1994, and an image of the pre-1994 paper certificate of title ($25.71) to go back further. Title references starting with 1, 2 or 3 are pre-1994 titles.

Can I use the owner’s name to contact them about buying their property?

Be careful. The Queensland Property Data Code of Conduct prohibits using names and service addresses taken from this data for unsolicited direct marketing by mail, phone or other means, and Australian Privacy Principle 7 covers mail and door-to-door marketing. Get advice before running any campaign built on register data.

Why can’t I find the owner in a name search?

Possible reasons include the property being held by a company or trust, a different or former name on the register, a spelling variation, or a suppression direction granted on safety grounds.

TLDR: Selling a house in Queensland typically costs somewhere between 3% and 5% of the sale price once you add up agent commission (the big one), marketing, your seller disclosure documents, conveyancing, and bank discharge fees. On an $800,000 sale that’s roughly $25,000-$40,000. Some costs are negotiable, some are fixed, and one - the ATO clearance certificate - is free but will cost you 15% of your sale price at settlement if you forget it.

Everyone talks about the cost of buying. The costs of selling get discovered one invoice at a time. Here’s the full list for Queensland sellers, in descending order of pain.

1. Real estate agent commission - the big one

Commission in Queensland is deregulated and negotiable. Around Brisbane and the South East, 2.5%-3% of the sale price plus GST is the common range for a standard residential sale, sometimes with tiered incentives above an agreed target price. On an $800,000 sale, 2.75% + GST is about $24,200. It’s usually payable at settlement out of the deposit. Negotiate it like the five-figure line item it is - and read the agency agreement (a Form 6) before signing, not after.

2. Marketing and advertising

Usually charged on top of commission: professional photography, floor plans, signboard, and the portal listings (realestate.com.au and Domain are the bulk of it). Expect $1,000-$4,000 for a typical suburban campaign, more for premium tiers. Auction? Add auctioneer fees, commonly $400-$1,000.

3. Seller disclosure costs (Form 2) - the new must-do

Since Queensland’s seller disclosure regime commenced, sellers must give buyers a completed Form 2 disclosure statement with prescribed certificates before the contract is signed. Assembling it costs real money:

• Title search and registered plan copies - roughly $50-$100 combined
• Body corporate certificate (units and townhouses) - commonly $100-$300 depending on the scheme and urgency
• Pool: a current pool safety certificate if you don’t have one - inspection around $150-$300 plus any rectification work

Get the Form 2 wrong and the buyer may have termination rights - the expensive kind of wrong. Our seller conveyancing service prepares the disclosure correctly the first time; our Form 2 disclosure guides cover the traps in detail.

4. Conveyancing

At Empire Legal a residential sale is a fixed $1,600, quoted up front, with the standard searches included. Your side of the legal work: reviewing the contract before signing (free with us for sellers), preparing the transfer documents, calculating settlement adjustments, discharging your mortgage and attending settlement on PEXA. Every standard search is included, so a surprise legal bill is not one of your selling costs. Full pricing here.

5. Bank fees to discharge your mortgage

Your lender charges a discharge/settlement fee, commonly $150-$500, plus the Titles Queensland registration fee for the release of mortgage. On a fixed-rate loan, ask about break costs before you list - they can run to thousands and dwarf every fee on this page.

6. The ATO clearance certificate - free, but don’t skip it

Since 1 January 2025, every Australian-resident seller needs a foreign resident capital gains withholding (FRCGW) clearance certificate from the ATO, whatever the sale price. No certificate at settlement = the buyer must withhold 15% of the price and send it to the ATO, and you wait for your own tax return to get it back. The certificate is free and usually issues quickly, but apply as soon as you decide to sell. Full details in our ATO clearance certificate guide.

7. Settlement adjustments (not a fee, but budget for it)

Council rates, water and body corporate levies are adjusted between buyer and seller at settlement so each side pays for their period of ownership. If you’ve paid the quarter in advance you’ll get some back; if you’re behind, it comes out of your proceeds.

Worked through, it is less abstract than it sounds. Say your council rates are $2,400 a year, paid quarterly, and you settle 40 days into a quarter you have already paid. The buyer reimburses you for the 50 or so days they will own the property in that quarter, so roughly $330 comes back to you at settlement. Body corporate levies work the same way and are usually the bigger number in a unit sale.

It cuts the other way too. If your rates notice is sitting unpaid, it is deducted from your proceeds at settlement, not politely invoiced afterwards. The same applies to any outstanding water consumption reading.

None of this is a cost of selling in the strict sense, because you were always going to owe it. It matters because it changes the number that actually lands in your account on settlement day, and that is the number most sellers have already spent in their head.

8. The maybes: CGT, staging, repairs

• Capital gains tax - generally none on your main residence, real money on an investment property. Talk to your accountant before you sign a contract, not at tax time. Not sure what the bill looks like? Use our capital gains tax calculator for property to get an estimate before you commit.
• Styling/staging - commonly $2,000-$6,000 for a full furniture package; agents push it because it works.
• Pre-sale repairs and compliance - smoke alarm upgrades to the interconnected photoelectric standard, minor works flagged by your building record.

What it looks like on an $800,000 Brisbane sale

Commission at 2.75% + GST ~$24,200 · marketing ~$2,500 · Form 2 certificates ~$150-$400 · standard-fee conveyancing · bank discharge ~$350 · clearance certificate $0 · total in the $28,000-$32,000 zone before any CGT or staging. Call it 3.5-4% of the price - which is exactly why the “cheapest conveyancer” decision on a five-figure cost base is a false economy when a Form 2 error can hand the buyer an exit.

What is actually negotiable

Three of the costs on this page move if you push, and three do not.

Negotiable: agent commission is not a fixed rate in Queensland, and there is no legislated scale. Rates vary by suburb and by how much competition the agent has for your listing. Marketing is negotiable in structure as well as amount, so ask whether it is payable up front or deducted at settlement, and what happens to it if the property does not sell. Staging is optional and sometimes the agent will part fund it.

Not negotiable: the Titles Queensland and council search fees are statutory. Your bank’s discharge fee is set by the bank. And the ATO clearance certificate is free but mandatory in practice on any sale at or above the threshold, so there is nothing to negotiate and everything to lose by skipping it.

The one people get backwards is conveyancing. It is the smallest controllable number on the list and the one with the largest downside if it goes wrong, which is a poor thing to shop on price.

Selling? Get the legal side locked in first

We review your agency agreement and contract before you sign, prepare your Form 2 disclosure, and run settlement on a standard fee with no surprises - it’s why 16,000+ Queenslanders have used Empire Legal for their sale. Call 07 3088 7675 or email info@empirelegal.com.au.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to sell a house in QLD?

Typically 3%-5% of the sale price all-in: agent commission (usually 2.5%-3% + GST), marketing ($1,000-$4,000), seller disclosure certificates, standard-fee conveyancing, and bank discharge fees. On $800,000, budget roughly $28,000-$32,000.

What is the biggest cost when selling?

Agent commission, by a wide margin - usually 80% or more of your total selling costs. It’s negotiable, so negotiate.

Do sellers pay stamp duty in Queensland?

No - transfer duty (stamp duty) is the buyer’s cost in Queensland. Sellers pay commission, marketing, disclosure, conveyancing and bank fees instead.

Do I really need an ATO clearance certificate to sell?

Yes. Since 1 January 2025 it applies to every sale by an Australian resident regardless of price. Without it, 15% of your sale price is withheld at settlement. It’s free - apply early.

What does seller conveyancing cost?

At Empire Legal, a standard fee quoted before you commit - see our pricing page. The quote is the bill; that’s the point of standard fees.

Can I sell without a real estate agent to save commission?

Legally yes, and you’ll still need the Form 2 disclosure, contract and conveyancing done properly. Most private sellers save the commission and give some back in price - but for the right property and seller it can work.

Is real estate agent commission negotiable in Queensland?

Yes. Queensland has no legislated commission scale, so the rate is whatever you and the agent agree in the agency agreement. What actually moves it is how much competition the agent has for your listing. Get more than one appraisal before you sign anything.

Who pays the council rates and water at settlement?

Both of you, split by the day. Rates, water and body corporate levies are adjusted at settlement so each side covers their own period of ownership. Pay a quarter in advance and some of it comes back to you; fall behind and it comes out of your proceeds instead.

Does the ATO clearance certificate cost anything?

No, it is free. What is expensive is not having one: 15 per cent of the sale price is withheld at settlement without it. Cheapest item on the list, most costly one to forget.

Do I need a building and pest inspection to sell my house?

No. That is the buyer’s cost and the buyer’s decision. Some sellers commission one anyway to head off a renegotiation later, but nothing obliges you to and it does not form part of your seller disclosure.

When do I actually pay the agent’s commission?

Normally at settlement, deducted from the proceeds or from the deposit the agent holds in trust, rather than as an invoice you pay separately. Marketing is the one to check, because some agencies want it up front and others deduct it at settlement.

Quick answer: An easement is a registered right for someone else to use part of your land for a specific purpose - a driveway, a drain, sewer or power lines - even though they do not own it. In Queensland easements sit on the title, they run with the land, and they pass to you when you buy. Most are harmless. A few will stop you building where you wanted to.

Spotted the word easement on a title search and wondered what you are actually buying? You are not alone. Here is the plain-English version.

What is an easement?

An easement gives one party the right to use a defined part of someone else’s land for a set purpose. The classic example is a neighbour whose only access to the road runs across your driveway. The land stays yours. Their right to cross it is registered against your title and survives the sale.

Two pieces of jargon worth knowing. The land that carries the burden is the servient tenement. The land that gets the benefit is the dominant tenement. On a title search you will see the easement recorded with a registered dealing number and, usually, a survey plan showing exactly where it runs.

What are the common types of easement in Queensland?

• Right of way - vehicle or foot access across your land, often to a landlocked lot behind you.
• Drainage and sewerage - stormwater or sewer infrastructure running under the property, frequently in favour of the local council.
• Electricity and services - powerlines, substations or underground cable, usually benefiting Energex or Ergon.
• Support and party wall - common in townhouses and duplexes where structures rely on each other.
• Easement in gross - benefits an authority rather than a neighbouring lot. Most utility easements are this type.

How do I find out if a property has an easement?

A title search shows registered easements on the second page under encumbrances. That tells you one exists and gives you the dealing number, but it does not tell you where it runs or how wide it is. For that you need the registered easement document and the survey plan.

This matters more than people expect. A title search that simply says “easement” is not enough to know whether it crosses the back corner or runs straight through where you planned the pool. Ordering and reading those documents is part of what we do on every purchase.

How do you do an easement search in Queensland?

Three documents, three fees, and you need all three. These are statutory fees current from 1 July 2026 and they are not subject to GST.

1. A current title search ($25.71). This tells you an easement exists and gives you the dealing number, the lot that benefits from it, and the survey plan that defines it. A typical entry reads “Easement No 123456789 burdening the land to Lot 1 on RP 145762 over Easement A on RP 123457”. What it will not do is draw the easement or tell you what it permits.

2. An image of the registered dealing ($50.16). This is the easement instrument itself, and it is the only document that tells you the purpose, the rights granted and who is responsible for what. Nothing else answers those questions.

3. An image of the survey plan ($27.56). This shows where the easement actually runs, how wide it is, and which part of the block it takes out.

Members of the public can order all three online from Titles Queensland. Approved search distributors pay lower statutory rates, but Titles Queensland frames those channels as being for legal and property professionals.

Most people stop after the title search. That is the mistake, because knowing an easement exists tells you almost nothing useful. For what else that search does and does not cover, see what a Queensland title search shows and misses.

Is there a free easement search in Queensland?

Partly, and it is worth knowing exactly how far free gets you.

Queensland Globe is free and carries an Easement Parcels layer drawn from the state cadastral database. It will show you the easement polygon, so you can see its shape and roughly where it sits on the block. That is genuinely useful and it costs nothing.

What Globe will not show you is the easement’s purpose, who benefits from it, the dealing number, or the terms. Those fields do not exist in the layer. It also will not draw the layer until you zoom in past roughly 1:100,000.

Two traps. An easement over the whole of a lot does not need a survey plan, so there may be nothing for Globe to draw even though a registered easement exists. And a plan can designate a “proposed easement” that was never granted - section 83A of the Land Title Act 1994 says the designation does not create an easement and is not evidence of an intention to create one.

So free tells you something is probably there and roughly where. It cannot tell you what it is, who holds it, or what it lets them do, and there is no free way to read the instrument.

For underground services generally, Before You Dig Australia is free and worth using before any excavation. Note that Brisbane City Council expressly says Globe, BYDA and its own community maps will not be accepted as evidence of a pipe’s location in a build-over application.

Can you build over an easement?

Usually not, and this is where easements stop being a technicality. You generally cannot build a permanent structure over an easement without the consent of whoever benefits from it. A council or utility will rarely agree, because they need access to maintain what is underneath.

Sheds, pools, decks, extensions and even some fencing can all be caught. Buyers regularly discover this after settlement, once plans are drawn and money is spent.

There is a hard legal backstop most buyers have never heard of. Section 65 of the Building Act 1975 says an assessment manager must not approve a building development application on land subject to a registered easement unless each registered holder of the easement has consented to the building work. A private certifier legally cannot sign off your extension over an easement without that consent.

In practice that means a formal referral. For sewer and water, Urban Utilities runs a Build Over Asset referral, which wants architectural plans, engineer-certified drawings showing clearances, a title search obtained within the last six months, the survey plan and the easement dealings. For stormwater in Brisbane, the council is the referral agency and responds within ten business days of a complete lodgement. Neither is a formality.

One absolute worth knowing: Urban Utilities will not permit buildings or their footings over pressure water infrastructure. That is not a negotiation.

How close can you build to an easement in Queensland?

There is no single setback distance from an easement boundary in Queensland, and anyone who quotes you one number is guessing.

The distance that applies to you comes from three places: the terms of your registered easement, the Queensland Development Code where infrastructure is involved, and the asset owner’s own standards.

Queensland Development Code MP 1.4 is mandatory statewide and covers building over or near sewers, water mains, stormwater drains and combined sanitary drains. It stops applying once you are more than 3 metres from the infrastructure centreline for a house or class 10 structure, 5 metres for a larger building, 5 metres for driven piles, or 10 metres for ground anchors. Within those distances its acceptable solutions include footings at least 1 metre from the connection, no excavation within 600 millimetres of the pipe wall, and a clear zone 1.5 metres wide and 2.4 metres high along the infrastructure.

The asset owner’s standards can be stricter. Urban Utilities applies clearances that vary by asset type, pipe diameter, material and footing type, ranging from around 0.6 metres to 5 metres. Bored piers near a small sewer main sit at 1 metre. Driven piles are 5 metres from all sewer and water assets. Do not rely on a single figure you read somewhere.

Powerlines are different again, and those distances are statutory. Schedules 4 and 5 of the Electrical Safety Regulation 2013 set minimum clearances that must be maintained vertically or horizontally. An unroofed deck needs 3.7 metres vertically from a bare low voltage line and 4.6 metres from high voltage up to 33kV. Energex makes the point plainly: council building approval does not guarantee anyone has checked the distance to the powerlines, and if a breach is found after construction the owner wears the cost of fixing it.

What are the easement rules in Queensland?

Five that matter for a homeowner.

The instrument governs. Almost everything about an easement - the purpose, the rights, the obligations, who pays for what - comes from the registered document, not from a general rule. This is why reading it is not optional.

It runs with the land. An easement binds every future owner. Buying the property means buying the easement.

You cannot create one by long use. Section 182 of the Property Law Act 2023 says no interest can be created by prescription or through the doctrine of lost modern grant. Decades of driving across a neighbour’s land creates nothing in Queensland.

You cannot build over one without consent. Section 65 of the Building Act 1975, as above.

A court can impose one, but it is expensive. Section 180 of the Property Law Act 2023 lets a court impose a statutory right of use where it is reasonably necessary for the effective use and development of your land. You have to show you made reasonable attempts to obtain it by agreement and that the other side unreasonably refused or could not be located. Compensation is payable, and the costs of the proceeding fall on the applicant unless there are special circumstances.

Who is responsible for maintaining an easement?

It depends on the terms of the registered easement document, which is why reading it matters. As a general rule the party with the benefit maintains the thing they use - the driveway, the pipe, the line - and must make good any damage caused by accessing it. The owner of the burdened land must not obstruct it.

Be careful with general rules here. There is no statutory default in Queensland allocating maintenance between private neighbours, and no automatic obligation to make good damage. Well-drafted easements deal with both as express terms, which means the answer for your property is in your document rather than in the law.

There is one statutory rule, and it runs the opposite way to what most people expect. Under section 85B of the Land Title Act 1994, if your land is burdened by an easement in favour of a public utility provider and it is not a public thoroughfare easement, you may be able to recover from that provider a reasonable contribution towards the cost of keeping the easement area in a condition appropriate for its enjoyment. That right can be excluded or amended by agreement, which is another reason to read the instrument.

Where the document is silent, a court can order it amended to include terms about use, repair or maintenance under section 181 of the Property Law Act 2023.

Can an easement be removed?

Sometimes, and it is rarely quick. An easement can be surrendered by agreement with the benefiting party and removed from the title, or extinguished by court order where it no longer serves any purpose. Both routes cost time and money, and neither is something to assume you can do after you buy. Treat a problematic easement as permanent when you are deciding whether to sign.

The practical routes are worth naming. Surrender by agreement under section 90 of the Land Title Act 1994, using a Form 10. The step people forget is that every registered mortgagee and lessee of the benefited lot has to consent. Merger, where one person ends up owning both lots - but the easement is only extinguished if the owner asks the registrar to extinguish it or a single title is created, so simply buying the other lot does not do it. Or a court order under section 181 of the Property Law Act 2023, where the grounds include that the easement is obsolete, that it impedes a reasonable use of your land, that it provides no practical benefit of substantial value, or that the benefit has been abandoned.

Does an easement reduce property value?

Often not at all. A narrow sewer easement along a back boundary on a large block affects very little. But an easement that sterilises the buildable part of the land, or a right of way that puts a neighbour’s traffic beside your bedroom window, absolutely affects both value and saleability - and it will affect it again when you come to sell.

The question is never “is there an easement”. It is “where does it run, how wide is it, and what does it stop me doing”.

What should a buyer do about an easement in QLD?

Before the contract goes unconditional: get the title search, get the registered easement document and the survey plan, overlay it against the site plan and anything you intend to build, and ask whether the easement is consistent with what you were told at the inspection. If an easement is not disclosed and it should have been, you may have rights - but they are far easier to exercise before settlement than after.

Easements are one of several things that can sit on a title. For the full picture of what else can burden a Queensland property, see our guide to what appears on a QLD title search.

Frequently asked questions

Buying in Queensland and want someone to actually read the easement document rather than tick a box? See our standard fees or get in touch.

Does an easement transfer to a new owner?

Yes. A registered easement runs with the land and binds every future owner. Buying the property means buying the easement.

Can I fence across an easement?

Only if it does not obstruct the right being exercised. A fence across a right of way will usually be a breach. A fence along the edge of a drainage easement is often fine. Check the easement terms.

Is an unregistered easement enforceable in Queensland?

Sometimes, but not for the reason most people expect. Queensland abolished easements by long use: section 182 of the Property Law Act 2023 says no interest can be created by prescription or through the doctrine of lost modern grant, so decades of driving across a neighbour’s land creates nothing on its own. What can still bind you is an easement that was left off the register by mistake, because section 185 of the Land Title Act 1994 makes an omitted or misdescribed easement an exception to indefeasibility. A court can also impose a statutory right of user where land would otherwise be unusable. It is one reason a title search alone is not a complete answer.

Who pays to repair damage caused by accessing an easement?

Generally the party exercising the right, but the registered document governs it. Read it before you assume.

How do I do an easement search in Queensland?

Order a current title search ($25.71) to confirm an easement exists, an image of the registered dealing ($50.16) to read its terms, and an image of the survey plan ($27.56) to see where it runs. All three can be ordered online by members of the public through Titles Queensland.

Is there a free easement search in Queensland?

Queensland Globe is free and shows an Easement Parcels layer, so you can see the shape and position of an easement at no cost. It does not show the purpose, the holder, the dealing number or the terms, and there is no free way to read the easement instrument.

How close can you build to an easement in Queensland?

There is no single statutory setback from an easement boundary. The distances that apply come from the easement terms, Queensland Development Code MP 1.4 where sewer, water or stormwater infrastructure is involved, and the asset owner’s own standards. Powerline clearances are set separately under the Electrical Safety Regulation 2013.

Do I need consent to build over an easement in QLD?

Yes. Section 65 of the Building Act 1975 prevents an assessment manager approving building work on land subject to a registered easement unless every registered holder of the easement has consented.

Can you get an easement by using land for 20 years in Queensland?

No. Section 182 of the Property Law Act 2023 abolishes the creation of interests by prescription and by the doctrine of lost modern grant.