Register a Commercial Lease

What is registration?

Registering a lease records it on the title of the property at the state or territory titles office. Anyone who searches the title can see it.

The main reason to register is that a registered lease binds a later buyer of the property and a mortgagee. If the landlord sells, or a lender takes possession, the tenant keeps the lease, including any options.

When a lease needs registering

The rules depend on the state and the length of the lease. As a general guide:

• In most states, a shorter unregistered lease has some protection against a buyer under the state’s land titles legislation. The limit is three years in NSW and Queensland and five years in WA for a tenant in possession, and Victoria protects a tenant in possession more widely. How options are counted differs by state.
• Longer leases, or leases where the options take the total term past that limit, generally need registering to bind a buyer or mortgagee.
• Some states’ retail leases Acts require the landlord to lodge a longer retail shop lease for registration within a set time. In NSW, see retail lease registration in NSW.
• The lease itself, or the tenant’s or landlord’s lender, may require registration.

Even when it isn’t required, registration is worth considering for a long lease, a lease with options, or where the tenant is spending a lot on fitout. We confirm the rule for your state and lease. Our guide do I need to register my lease? explains the options in more detail.

Enquire Online

What is needed to register

• The lease in a form the titles office accepts. Some states have an approved lease form or a cover form attached to the front of the lease, such as Form 7 in Queensland.
• Signatures from the landlord and the tenant, witnessed or certified as the titles office requires.
• Consent from any registered mortgagee, where the state requires it to register the lease or for the lease to bind the lender.
• A plan of the leased area if the lease is of part of a building or part of the land, where the state requires one.
• The government registration fee, and any fee the mortgagee charges for its consent. These are paid in addition to our fee.

Changes to a registered lease are registered too. That includes a deed of variation that changes a registered term, a transfer on assignment, and a surrender.

State titles offices

Each state and territory runs its own register and sets its own forms and fees.

Many dealings are now lodged electronically, but leases can be lodged that way only in some states. We lodge electronically where the titles office allows it, and otherwise handle the paper lodgement for you.