Conveyancing in Labrador

Labrador sits on the Broadwater between Southport and Runaway Bay, and it has one of the more mixed property profiles on the Gold Coast. Older detached homes on standard blocks, walk-up unit buildings put up in the 1970s and 1980s, newer townhouse complexes, and a genuine waterfront strip all sell in the same suburb. A large share of the stock is tenanted, and a meaningful share of the buyers are not Australian residents. Each of those facts changes the legal work.

Buying a tenanted property in Labrador

If a property is subject to a residential tenancy at settlement, you are not buying an empty house. The tenancy continues, and from settlement you step into the position of lessor on the terms already agreed. That means the existing rent, the existing fixed term and the existing agreement, not the ones you would have negotiated. If the term has months left to run, vacant possession is not available to you simply because you would prefer it.

The things that need to be handled before settlement are the tenancy agreement and any renewals, the entry condition report, the rent paid to date so the adjustment at settlement is right, and the bond, which is transferred through the Residential Tenancies Authority rather than passed across between the parties. Where a seller has agreed to give vacant possession instead, the notice they must give the tenant takes time, and that timing has to line up with the settlement date rather than the other way around. Tenancy details also form part of what the seller has to disclose before you sign.

Older unit blocks and what the body corporate records actually tell you

Many Labrador unit buildings are three-storey walk-ups from the 1970s and 1980s. They are often good value and they are often under-funded. The single most useful thing a buyer can do is read the body corporate records before the contract goes unconditional: the sinking fund balance against the age of the building, whether a sinking fund forecast exists and when it was last updated, whether any special levy has been struck or discussed in the minutes, and what the levies have done over the last few years.

Salt air does not negotiate. Concrete spalling in balconies and slab edges, corroded balustrades and roof and membrane replacement are the recurring large items in buildings of this age near the water, and they are paid for by the owners. A scheme with a healthy fund has already priced that in. A scheme with almost nothing in the fund has not, and the bill lands on whoever owns the lot when the work is finally done. We also check whether your car space and any storage are part of the lot or an exclusive use area granted by by-law.

Waterfront, pontoons and land you may not actually own

On the Broadwater frontage and the canal pockets, the boundary in the title is rarely where a buyer assumes it is. Tidal land below the high water mark is generally state land, and a pontoon, jetty, ramp or retaining structure sitting on or over it usually depends on some form of permit or allocation rather than on ownership. Those approvals are not always current, they are not always transferable as a matter of course, and they are not always mentioned in the listing.

Before you pay a waterfront premium it is worth establishing what the title actually includes, what structures are approved and under what instrument, who is responsible for maintaining the revetment wall, and whether the local authority or the state holds any interest over the frontage. That is a search question with a real answer, and it is much cheaper to ask during the contract period.

Overseas buyers, FIRB approval and the foreign acquirer duty surcharge

The Gold Coast attracts a genuine share of overseas buyers, and Labrador is one of the suburbs where that shows up. A foreign person buying residential land in Australia generally needs Foreign Investment Review Board approval before acquiring an interest, and the rules on what a foreign person may buy differ between new dwellings, established dwellings and vacant land. Signing first and applying afterwards is not a safe order to do things in.

Queensland then adds additional foreign acquirer duty on top of ordinary transfer duty for foreign acquirers of residential land, which can be a very large number on a Gold Coast purchase and is regularly missed in a buyer budget. The trap catches more people than expected, because the definition of a foreign person can pick up companies and trusts with foreign interests as well as individuals. Our guide to additional foreign acquirer duty and FIRB explains how the two sit together. If there is any chance either applies to you, raise it before you sign.

Seller disclosure applies to every Labrador sale

Since 1 August 2025 a seller must give the buyer a Form 2 seller disclosure statement and the prescribed certificates before the buyer signs the contract. For a lot in a community titles scheme the body corporate certificate forms part of that, and where the property is tenanted the tenancy details are part of what has to be disclosed.

If the seller does not give the disclosure at all, a buyer may be entitled to terminate at any time before settlement. If the disclosure was given but is inaccurate or incomplete about a material matter, a buyer may be entitled to terminate, but only where further conditions are also met. We explain the practical effect in our guide to Form 2 buyer rights and on our seller disclosure page. For a standard house or unit purchase, see our residential conveyancing service.

Labrador buyers and sellers can call us on 07 3088 7675 or request a fixed-fee quote. Our Paradise Point office is a short drive up the Broadwater, and we act across the coast, including Southport, Runaway Bay and the wider region covered by our Gold Coast conveyancing page.