Can an Attorney Sell Property Under Power of Attorney in the ACT?

Your parent has moved into residential aged care in Canberra, and the family home in Belconnen or Woden sits empty. You hold an enduring power of attorney and assume you can simply list the property, sign the contract of sale, and use the proceeds to fund their care. The reality involves several additional steps that catch families off guard, and skipping any one of them can stall or void the entire transaction.

The EPA Must Cover Property Matters

The ACT's Enduring Power of Attorney form under the Powers of Attorney Act 2006 lets the principal select from four categories: property (financial), personal care, health care, and medical research. Only an EPA that includes property matters gives the attorney authority to deal with real estate. If your parent ticked personal care and health care but not property, you have no power to sell their house — full stop.

Check the original EPA document carefully. The property power is not implied or bundled with other categories. If it's missing, and the principal still has capacity, they can execute a new EPA that includes it. If capacity is gone, the only option is an ACAT management order.

Registration With Access Canberra Is Mandatory

This is where most Canberra families hit their first wall. An EPA does not need to be registered for general financial management — paying bills, managing bank accounts, handling investments. But the moment you need to transfer, sell, or mortgage real property in the ACT, the EPA must be registered as a deed with the Registrar-General at Access Canberra's Land Titles Service Centre in Dickson.

You'll need to lodge the original physical document in person by appointment. The registration fee is $184, and processing takes up to 10 business days. If the registry finds any errors — alterations without marginal signatures, incomplete witness certificates, use of correcting fluid — they issue a requisition that carries a penalty fee of $128 for simple errors or $256 for complex ones. The requisition resets the processing timeline.

Plan for this lead time. If you're listing the property with a real estate agent, start the registration process weeks before you expect to exchange contracts.

Section 34: The Self-Dealing Prohibition

Section 34 of the Powers of Attorney Act 2006 is the provision that most commonly derails family property transactions. It states that an EPA does not authorise the attorney to execute any transaction that benefits themselves, unless the EPA contains an express authorisation clause.

In practice, this means:

• You cannot buy the property yourself. An attorney purchasing the principal's home, even at market value, is a conflict-of-interest transaction unless the EPA explicitly permits it.
• You cannot use the sale proceeds for your own benefit. If you're living in the property and plan to use part of the proceeds to resettle yourself, that's a self-dealing problem.
• Joint ownership complicates things further. If you co-own the property with the principal, selling requires careful separation of interests, and the attorney's share of the proceeds must be kept strictly distinct.

ACAT has jurisdiction to review conflict transactions, order compensation, and remove attorneys who breach these rules. The penalty isn't theoretical — it happens.

Practical Steps to Sell

Once your EPA is registered and you've confirmed it covers property matters, the sale process follows the standard ACT conveyancing pathway:

1. Engage a conveyancer or solicitor. They'll handle the contract preparation and verify that your registered EPA gives you signing authority.
2. Obtain a current market valuation. Selling below market value can trigger scrutiny from ACAT or other family members who may allege the attorney failed in their duty to act in the principal's best interests.
3. Sign the contract as attorney. You sign as "[Your Name] as attorney for [Principal's Name] under Enduring Power of Attorney dated [date]" — never in the principal's name alone.
4. Keep detailed records. Document every step of the sale process, including the valuation, agent selection rationale, and all financial transactions. This record-keeping is a fiduciary obligation under the Act.

What If the Principal Objects?

If the principal still has some capacity and objects to the sale, the attorney cannot override their wishes. The Powers of Attorney Act 2006 requires attorneys to give effect to the principal's wishes unless doing so would cause significant adverse effects to the principal's interests. A disagreement about selling the family home is exactly the kind of situation that ends up at ACAT.

If the principal lacks capacity but other family members object, they can apply to ACAT to review the attorney's decision. This doesn't automatically block the sale, but it introduces delay and legal costs.

Getting It Right the First Time

The difference between a smooth property sale and a six-month dispute often comes down to whether the EPA was properly drafted and registered before the transaction began. Our Australian Capital Territory Power of Attorney Kit includes a property transaction checklist, the Access Canberra registration walkthrough, and sample gifting and self-dealing clauses that protect both the attorney and the principal.

Get the complete ACT Power of Attorney Kit to make sure your EPA is property-ready before you need it.

See more Australian Capital Territory guides →