When a new parcel of land is created or an existing parcel of land is used for a specific purpose (such as the granting of a lease or easement), a plan is prepared, lodged and registered with NSW Land Registry Services (NSW LRS). The registered plan defines land boundaries on the day of registration and creates the legal identity of the land or affecting interest.
How a plan is registered
The process for plan lodgment and registration is as follows:
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Plan preparation: The majority of plans lodged with NSW LRS, including strata plans, must be prepared by a registered surveyor.
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Lodgment: The plan is lodged with NSW LRS via the online portal or the retail office.
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Examination: A NSW LRS plan examiner reviews the plan to ensure that existing interests are preserved. This includes ensuring that the legal boundaries in the plan correspond to the boundaries marked on the ground and existing interests are preserved from one generation of title to the next.
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Registration: If all requirements are met, the plan is registered and a notice of registration is issued to the lodging agent and the surveyor (where applicable). Newly registered plans and associated titles are charted on the official digital cadastral map, showing all legal and other approved boundaries applying to land in NSW.
What is the status of my lodged plan?
You can use the NSW LRS online portal to check the status of lodged documents and plans, free of charge.
You can also check the status of NSW LRS timeframes to see which lodged plans we are currently examining. This is updated daily.
To whom will the certificate of title be issued after plan registration?
Where new certificates of title (or updates to existing certificates of title) are to be issued from the registration of a plan, the public copy will be delivered to the party who produced the certificate of title or is authorised to receive it.
Where new certificates of title have been created from existing folios of the register (for example, subdivision), the titles notice will be issued to the producing parties requesting the custody of titles be resolved. The certificate(s) of title will be held by NSW LRS until custody has been resolved.
More information
NSW LRS has a range of guides, checklists and samples to assist surveyors with the plan lodgment and registration process.
Click here to access these resources.
The Registrar General's Guidelines set out information needed by surveyors, solicitors and others in the preparation of deposited plans and associated instruments. It also has guidelines relevant to strata scheme and community scheme plans, which have their own specific requirements.