Commission Invoice Timing in Queensland: When to Send and What to Include

You’ve just had a contract go unconditional. The deposit is in trust, settlement is four weeks away, and the seller is happy. The last thing on most agents’ minds at this moment is the invoice — but getting the timing and content of that invoice wrong is one of the most reliable ways to slow down your own payment, invite a dispute, or find yourself chasing funds that have already left settlement.

Commission invoice timing for Queensland real estate agents is not a complex area of law, but it demands precision. The Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) (POA) sets out clear conditions for when and how commission is recoverable, and the practical mechanics of invoice delivery have a direct effect on whether a cheque is drawn in your favour at settlement or whether you’re chasing a vendor who has already pocketed the proceeds.

The Legislative Foundation: What the POA Actually Requires

If an agent has been validly appointed to sell a property in accordance with a Property Occupations Form 6 Appointment and Reappointment of a Real Estate Agent, the agent is ordinarily entitled to receive commission from their seller client upon completion of the contract of sale pursuant to the terms of the appointment.

That entitlement, however, is conditional. Section 104 of the Act sets out the requirements which must be satisfied for an appointment to be valid and enforceable. In terms of commission payable, this section provides that the appointment must include a statement about the fees, charges and any commission payable for the service, and when the fees, charges and any commission for the service become payable. If those details are absent or ambiguous in the Form 6, the appointment itself may be ineffective — and an ineffective appointment means the agent has no legal right to claim commission at all.

The appointment is ineffective from the time it is made if the appointment does not comply with section 104 of the Act. This is worth sitting with. Non-compliance doesn’t render the appointment voidable from a future date — it is ineffective from the moment it was executed. A Form 6 that fails to specify when commission becomes payable is not a minor paperwork oversight. It is a document that provides no legal basis for a commission claim.

In accordance with the Property Occupations Act 2014, agents must specify a commission amount that is GST inclusive and specify when commission is payable. There is no government cap on real estate commission in Queensland — the rate is entirely negotiable — but the timing trigger must be stated with precision. Your Form 6 should set out the exact event that “earns” the commission. This could be on formation of an unconditional contract, on settlement, or another clear milestone.

The distinction between these triggers has real cash-flow consequences. An agent whose Form 6 specifies commission on an unconditional contract has a right to invoice the moment conditions are waived or satisfied. An agent whose Form 6 ties commission to settlement must wait — but also has the security of knowing the funds will be drawn at settlement rather than needing to be collected separately after the fact.

When the Trigger Event Occurs: Reading Your Form 6 Correctly

Before an invoice is issued, the agent must confirm which trigger event has actually occurred. This sounds obvious, but it is where many invoicing errors originate. Two scenarios create consistent confusion.

The first is the cooling-off period. Timing can also be influenced by the cooling-off regime for residential private treaty sales in Queensland. Buyers generally have a 5 business day cooling-off period (auctions are a common exception). If your Form 6 says commission is earned on an unconditional contract, be aware of when a contract becomes unconditional in light of cooling-off and special conditions. A contract signed by both parties does not automatically become unconditional at that moment. Until the buyer’s cooling-off period has expired (or been waived), a private treaty residential contract remains terminable by the buyer, and the right to commission tied to an “unconditional contract” has not yet crystallised.

The second source of confusion is the interplay between special conditions — finance, building and pest inspection, due diligence — and the word “unconditional.” A contract with an outstanding finance condition is not unconditional. Commission tied to an unconditional contract is not earned until every condition has been either satisfied, waived, or allowed to expire without exercise. Issuing an invoice before this point is premature, and if the contract subsequently falls over, the invoice has no legal basis.

The timing can matter a lot if a contract collapses before settlement. Under most standard Form 6 appointments, commission is recoverable in circumstances beyond simple completion at settlement. Commission may still be payable if the vendor defaults under the contract of sale and it is terminated by reason of that default; if the buyer defaults and the deposit is liable to be forfeited; or if both parties decide to terminate an unconditional contract by mutual agreement. Agents should review their Form 6 carefully against the specific circumstances before assuming commission is or is not recoverable when a contract collapses.

The Practical Timing: When to Issue the Invoice

The operative question for most agents is not when the legal entitlement arises — it is when the invoice should actually be sent to ensure payment flows at settlement.

It will assist agents in recovering their full commission promptly if a deposit of at least 3% (not more than 10%), or an amount enough to cover the commission, is obtained at the time a contract of sale is entered into. Thereafter, it is important that agents send an invoice for their commission to both parties’ conveyancing solicitors well in advance of the settlement date for the contract of sale so that a cheque can be drawn at settlement for the agent’s commission.

That guidance from the REIQ is the industry standard for a reason. Settlement is a tightly orchestrated process. Both the vendor’s and the buyer’s conveyancers are calculating adjustments, preparing statements, and arranging funding. An invoice that arrives on the morning of settlement — or worse, after settlement has occurred — may not be accommodated. The settlement funds will have been calculated and distributed without reference to your claim.

Industry practice suggests sending the commission invoice to both conveyancing solicitors at least 10 to 14 business days before the scheduled settlement date. For complex transactions or where settlement involves overseas parties or multiple simultaneous settlements, earlier is better. The conveyancers need time to include your commission in the settlement statement and confirm the figure with their clients.

When a property is sold at auction, commission is typically tied to the hammer fall, with settlement following after the standard period agreed at auction (commonly 30 days, though this is negotiable). The invoice should follow promptly after the auction — certainly within a few business days — so that settlement preparation can proceed with the commission figure confirmed.

Commission Invoice Timing Queensland Real Estate Agent: What to Actually Include

A commission invoice for a Queensland property sale is not a standard tax invoice — it must reflect the specific legal and factual basis on which the commission is claimed. A document that omits key information may be rejected by a conveyancer or disputed by a vendor.

The following elements are required on every commission invoice:

• Agency details: Full legal name of the agency, ABN, and GST registration number. Without an ABN and GST registration, the document is not a valid tax invoice and cannot support the vendor’s tax records.
• Licence details: The real estate agent’s licence number issued under the POA. This confirms the agency is authorised to charge commission.
• Property address: The full street address and lot on plan description of the property sold.
• Vendor name: Matches the name on the Form 6 and the contract of sale.
• Form 6 reference: The date of the appointment, confirming the authority under which commission is claimed.
• Contract details: The date the contract was entered into, the sale price, and the date the trigger event occurred (e.g., the contract became unconditional, or the settlement date if commission is settlement-triggered).
• Commission amount: The dollar figure calculated in accordance with the Form 6 — whether a flat fee, percentage of sale price, or tiered structure. The property agent must not claim commission worked out on an amount more than the actual sale price of the property.
• GST: Stated separately. Your Form 6 should clearly state the commission structure, confirm whether GST is included or excluded, and set a precise trigger for when commission is earned. The invoice must reflect however commission was specified in the Form 6 — but the invoice itself must show the GST component separately as a tax invoice.
• Total payable: The GST-inclusive total.
• Payment instructions: Where the funds should be directed at settlement — typically the agency’s trust account or general account depending on whether the deposit has already been received.
• Invoice date: The date the invoice is issued.

The commission figure must be calculated on the actual final sale price. This is not merely a matter of professional practice — it is a legislative requirement. A property agent who performs, for the payment of a commission, a service of selling property must not claim commission worked out on an amount more than the actual sale price of the property. If a contract is renegotiated after initial execution — not uncommon where building inspections reveal defects or finance amounts shift — the invoice must reflect the amended price.

Commission Disputes and What Happens When a Vendor Refuses to Pay

Even with a flawless Form 6 and a correctly timed invoice, some vendors dispute commission at settlement or refuse to authorise payment. Understanding your options before you are in this situation is far more useful than learning them under pressure.

If a seller client refuses to pay commission owing, agents should first explore conflict resolution through negotiation and discussion with their client at an early stage, in order to avoid litigation and potentially incurring significant legal costs. However, if the matter cannot be resolved at an early stage, agents may commence a minor debt claim to recover commission through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), depending on the value of the commission sought.

QCAT has jurisdiction to hear minor civil disputes for amounts up to $25,000. Commission disputes on residential properties at standard market values will frequently exceed this threshold, in which case the matter would proceed in the Magistrates Court or higher. The cost of litigation and the time involved makes prevention far more effective than cure — which is precisely why the invoice timing and Form 6 compliance processes exist.

One important practical protection is the deposit. It is recommended that the total deposit under the sale contract equals or exceeds the commission, such that if the buyer defaults and has to forfeit the deposit, the deposit will cover the commission and the vendor is not out of pocket. This equally serves the agent: if commission is drawn from the deposit held in trust at settlement, there is no reliance on the vendor making a separate payment after the proceeds have been distributed.

Agents should also be alert to the risk of a vendor instructing the conveyancer to exclude the commission from settlement funds. Unless there is a valid dispute in progress, the agent’s right to commission crystallised at the trigger event. A conveyancer acting on instructions to withhold payment does not extinguish the debt — but it does create a recovery scenario rather than a clean settlement outcome.

Conjunction Sales and Multi-Agent Commission Splits

Where a property is sold under a conjunction arrangement — typically a selling agent and a presenting agent — the commission invoice process has an additional layer. The invoice issued to the vendor’s conveyancer is ordinarily the listing agent’s invoice for the full commission amount. The conjunction split between the listing agent and the presenting agent is an internal matter between the two agencies, governed by the conjunction agreement they have in place.

The vendor pays the commission agreed in the Form 6. How that commission is then divided between agencies is not the vendor’s concern and should not appear on the primary commission invoice. The two agencies settle the split separately, either through internal accounting or by the listing agency paying the presenting agency their agreed share after settlement funds are received.

Each agency in a conjunction arrangement should ensure it has its own documentation in place before settlement — specifically a signed conjunction agreement that specifies the split and the payment timeline. Delays in resolving the internal split are common and entirely avoidable with the right paperwork.

Entitlement Under Open Listings and After Exclusive Agency Expiry

Commission entitlement — and therefore the basis for an invoice — is more complicated when the appointment is an open listing or when an exclusive agency period has expired.

If the exclusivity period has expired or it is a non-exclusive appointment, the agent’s appointment is likely “open.” Section 20 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 will apply, under which the appointed selling agent is entitled to remuneration only if he or she is the effective cause of sale.

The term “effective cause of sale” is not defined in the POA. The common law generally provides for a real estate agent to be entitled to commission, and it is for the agent to establish the necessary causal relationship. This is a factual question that turns on the nature and continuity of the agent’s involvement. An agent who introduced a buyer, then had no further involvement in negotiations, may face significant difficulty establishing that they were the effective cause of the eventual sale — even if the same buyer ultimately purchased the property.

The burden of proof lies with the agent seeking to recover the sales commission. The agent must convince the court that it was their ongoing efforts that influenced the buyer’s decision to purchase the property. This has direct implications for invoice timing: an agent issuing a commission invoice on an open listing should be confident of their effective cause position before doing so. An invoice sent prematurely or without sufficient basis invites a dispute that may be difficult to resolve in the agent’s favour.

What This Means for Queensland Agents

Commission invoice timing in Queensland is governed by the Form 6 appointment, and every invoicing decision flows back to what that document says. Before a contract is even signed, the Form 6 must specify the trigger event with precision — whether that is execution of an unconditional contract, satisfaction of conditions, or settlement.

Once the trigger event occurs, act promptly. Send the commission invoice to both conveyancers well before settlement — 10 to 14 business days as a working rule — and ensure it contains every required element: agency and licence details, property and contract references, the exact GST-inclusive commission amount calculated on the actual sale price, and clear payment instructions.

For conjunction sales, confirm the internal split documentation is in place before settlement, and keep the split arrangement entirely separate from the primary invoice to the vendor.

Where a vendor disputes payment or instructs the conveyancer to withhold commission, understand that the remedy is through negotiation first, then QCAT or the courts if necessary — not through informal pressure at the settlement table. The best protection remains a watertight Form 6, a deposit sufficient to cover the commission, and an invoice delivered early enough to be included in the settlement statement as a matter of course.

Agents operating under open listings or after an exclusive period expires should satisfy themselves that they can establish effective cause before issuing an invoice — and should document their involvement thoroughly throughout the campaign to support that position if it is ever challenged.