Under Queensland law you have 5 working days (from the working day you receive a copy of the fully executed contract) during which you may choose to not proceed. Be aware that if you exercise this right you will forego a termination penalty of 0.25% of the price. You may choose to waive your cooling off period by having your lawyer complete a Certification Form.

To protect you of course! Before you sign the actual contract you'll be asked to acknowledge receiving various statements from the agent relating to your rights (including seeking advice from lawyers and property valuers) and disclosures from the agents. Many of these originated to overcome the activities of 'marketeers' some years ago, when these groups sold Sunshine State property to frost-bitten Victorians at artificially inflated prices.

A range of eligibility criteria apply but provided you can tick the boxes you'll receive $7000 under this Federal Government scheme to encourage home ownership. The payments are handled by each State's piggy bank - for more info go to the website.

Sellers have to declare if there's one already in the home (nominated on the contract), and if not the buyer must have a safety switch installed within 3 months of settlement. It's also law that all dwellings must have at least one smoke alarm outside sleeping areas and one per floor. See www.fire.qld.gov.au for all the info.

Yes, in our view, definitely yes. We occasionally see DIY kits about but given the complexity of the relevant laws and the plethora of government bodies involved in regulating property ownership or impacting on it we consider a lawyer's fees money well spent. Southerners note all "conveyancers" in Queensland are solicitors - we don't yet have a separate service provider.

Easements are a right held by one person to make use of the land of another, eg. drainage, sewerage or a driveway to a second property on a block of land behind another. These are often held by councils, railways, etc and will show on the property's title details. Your lawyer will check and advise.

Premier Bligh takes her cut in state stamp duty (click to calculate) and Brisbane City Council charge a fee to update their rates invoices for you! Don't forget connection fees for phones, electricity etc. Building and pest inspections may cost as much as $600-900 and if you're borrowing to buy your bank is likely to want application fees.

It consists of each owner of a lot (eg. townhouse, duplex, apartment, villa or unit) in a community titles scheme. Upon your purchase of a lot you automatically become a member of the body corporate. A body corporate is generally responsible for the management and maintenance of the scheme's common property, eg. lawns, access roadways, stairs and infrastructure such as pipes and wiring.

If you're buying in more than one name you can choose how the ownership is shared. "Joint Tenants" means it's held in equal shares and if one dies, his or her share of the property passes to the surviving owner/s. "Tenants in common" allows for shareholdings in the property that aren't equal and on the death of one owner, the deceased's share passes to his or her heir/s, who assume the role of tenant in common with the other existing owner/s.