Conveyancers

Crown land is often forgotten when dealing with real property. Extensive work is being conducted by DENR to ensure Crown land data is entered into the Property Interest Reporting system so that it may be accessed more readily by land agents and conveyancers.

This is an ongoing process and while all efforts are being made, it is important to consider that there may be unlisted Crown land interests when dealing with real property, especially near the coast and River Murray. This may include annual licences for pumps and pipelines, access and jetties.

Issues for licences

In most cases the licences will be administratively tied to adjacent land and will be frequently identified through the Property Interest Reports (Section 7 Searches).

A survey of licensed land is not required.

Licences are renewed upon payment of the annual fee.

Issues on licence transfers

Check with the relevant DENR regional office whether a transfer is permitted prior to submitting an application.

An application for consent to transfer requires a three week turn around time. The application needs to be lodged with a copy of the memorandum of transfer.

Please ensure completed applications are submitted with the appropriate application fee and correctly signed.

Contracts relating to the transfer of the tied land should reflect the existence of the licence and be subject to the approval to transfer the licence.

The new licence will not be issued in the purchasers name until such time as the land to which it is tied has transferred.

Stamp Duty on the consideration will need to be addressed, albeit that it will normally be in association with the tied land.

Issues on lease transfers

Shack sites are held by way of Non-Transferable Life Tenure leases. Upon the death of the last registered lessee the shack must be removed by the estate.

Find out more about transferring a Crown land lease.