Registering the transfer

What the register is

In NSW, the Torrens Title Register is the main register of land held under the Real Property Act 1900. The Registrar General keeps it and records grants, folios and dealings with land. It is a system of title by registration, which means registration is what counts.

The NSW Government guarantees the system: it promises that the registered owners recorded in it are the true owners of their land, and the registered owner’s title cannot be challenged unless ownership was fraudulently registered. A title search is a copy of the folio for a property, and registering any document produces an up-to-date edition of the title.

How a transfer reaches it

1. A professional prepares the dealing

   A document for a land transaction is called a dealing. A dealing under the Real Property Act 1900 has to be lodged electronically, by a professional who is registered with an Electronic Lodgment Network Operator (an ELNO).

2. It is lodged in the ELNO’s workspace

   A structured dealing is checked automatically against business rules to make sure all the information it needs is there. The ELNO collects the fee and passes it to NSW LRS.

3. The duty is paid

   NSW LRS registers the transfer only once all the duty, plus any interest or penalties, has been paid, so legal ownership cannot pass before then.

4. NSW LRS registers it, or asks for more

   If there are no issues, NSW LRS emails an information notice that the dealing is registered and marks it completed in the workspace. If there is an issue, it sends a requisition.

The fees

NSW LRS says the fees for its services involving a land title, plan or property information are regulated, calculated as the NSW regulations set out, and the same whether the work is done electronically or on paper. It updates them at the start of each financial year; the 2026/2027 fees came into effect on 1 July 2026.

* On the NSW LRS list, an asterisk means the fee includes a $5.35 levy for the Torrens Assurance Fund. The full list for 2026/2027 is a PDF on the same page.

An extra fee can be payable directly to NSW LRS after lodgment: when there are errors and it asks for changes, or when it finds more is due. Its example is a single document removing two mortgages from a title, which attracts the fee twice. NSW LRS invoices the lodging party, and the invoice must be paid before the document can be registered.

Caveats and priority notices

Caveat

A warning recorded on a title that the person who lodged it claims an interest in the land. It prevents some new dealings or plans being registered until it is withdrawn, lapses, is removed by court order, or the caveator consents. NSW LRS does not verify the claim, and lodging one without reasonable cause may mean compensating a wronged party who suffers a financial loss.

Priority notice

For 60 days, or 90 if the person who lodged it extends it within those 60 days, stops plans, and most dealings not listed on it, from being registered on a title.

What you can do yourself

An individual can ask NSW LRS to search its records, buy a certified copy of a record, search historical records for free in its Historical Land Record Viewer, buy a copy of an unregistered document, lodge a power of attorney or Old System deed, lodge a Water Access Licence, pay an invoice, lodge a subpoena, or apply for a boundary determination. For any other transaction, NSW LRS says you must engage a professional. It names two kinds: a conveyancer, licensed and regulated by NSW Fair Trading, and a lawyer, who needs a practising certificate from the Law Society’s Council to practice in NSW.