Transfer your land title
If you own land and want to sell it, you and the buyer must complete and sign a transfer of lot form and lodge it with the Land Titles Office (LTO). If the buyer is purchasing the land as a trustee, a transfer to trustee form must be completed instead.
This puts legal obligations on both the seller and buyer.
It also means the buyer may need to pay stamp duty on the transfer.
Transfers of land can be complex. Before signing a transfer form, it is recommended that you get advice from a solicitor or licensed conveyancing agent.
Fee
A $181 fee applies.
Before you apply
Before lodging with the LTO, read the guidelines relevant to you:
What you need
There are some documents you must have for your property type.
For a residential property less than 1.8 hectares:
- with a swimming pool, you must provide one of the following:
- a compliance certificate of pool safety fencing
- a provisional compliance certificate of pool safety fencing
- an acknowledgement notice with a purchaser's declaration
- a provisional acknowledgement notice or temporary acknowledgement notice
- without a swimming pool, you must provide one of the following:
- no pool statutory declaration forms signed by all sellers PDF (752.4 KB) and by all purchasers PDF (752.9 KB)
- a statutory declaration made by a legal practitioner, a real estate agent, a real estate agent's representative or a licensed conveyancing agent.
Apply in person
To apply, follow these steps:
Step 1
Print the below forms on a single sheet of A4 paper using double-sided printing.
Transfer of lot form PDF (231.7 KB)
Transfer of lot form DOC (80.5 KB)
Transfer to Trustee form PDF (212.0 KB)
Transfer to Trustee form DOC (79.5 KB)
Step 2
Fill in the form and sign it in front of a qualified witness. All sellers and buyers must do this.
If nominating tenants in common, you must also state the shareholding applicable.
For example, owner A has a three-quarter share and owner B has the remaining quarter share.
Step 3
Take the form to your local Territory Revenue Office to assess and pay stamp duty. For contact and location details, go to the Department of Treasury and Finance website.
You may need to also provide other documents depending on the type of transaction you're involved in. Your solicitor or professional adviser can help with this.
Step 4
Submit the original form, supporting documents and pay the fee to the LTO in person or by mail.
If you have a duplicate certificate of title, you must return it to the LTO when you submit your form.
Apply online (eConveyancing for practitioners)
If you’re a legal practitioner or conveyancer, you can lodge a transfer online (eConveyancing), provided the stamp duty has been assessed and completed through the Conveyance by Return process.
Transfers assessed by the Territory Revenue Office directly must be lodged in paper.
For more information on the Conveyance by Return process, go to the Department of Treasury and Finance website.
To lodge a transfer via eConveyancing, you must be a subscriber.
If the name of the seller differs from the register, you must submit a justification for the discrepancy. Read about justification for a name discrepancy for more information.
Transfers that must continue to be lodged in paper
There are some transactions that can't be lodged online.
- Titles with a paper certificate as to title issued
- Part tenancy transfers
- Transfers from a minor
- Same name transfers, like John Smith selling to John Smith
- Transfers where the sellers are trustees of different trusts for joint tenants, tenants in common and joint tenants inter-se
- Transfers from tenants in common where the capacity of the seller is different between tenants e.g. one is a trustee and one is not
- Instruments not approved under the CBR Scheme, see more about stamp duty
- Transfers to a minor
- Same name transfers, like John Smith selling to John Smith
- Transfers where the buyers are trustees of different trusts for joint tenants, tenants in common and joint tenants inter-se
- Transfers to tenants in common where the capacity of the buyer is different between tenants e.g. one is a trustee and one is not
Lodge a transfer and transfer to Trustee
To lodge a transfer online, follow these steps.
Step 1
Access instrument and enter the land title reference (volume and folio reference). This will pre-fill the land description.
Step 2
Make sure transferor details match.
Step 3
Enter the transferee’s details, including name and address, for future service of notices.
If the transferee is purchasing the property in a specific capacity, enter the capacity. Where the capacity is a trustee, the system will automatically create a transfer to trustee form.
Step 4
Enter tenancy type as joint tenants or tenants in common (shares must be specified) if there is more than one buyer.
Step 5
Upload PDF of pool documents (if applicable).
Step 6
Attach consent (if applicable).
Step 7
Upload any other supporting documentation required for the transfer (if applicable).
Contact
For more information, contact the LTO.