On 11 October 2021, the Real Property Amendment (Certificates of Title) Act 2021 commenced, which abolished the Certificates of Title (CTs) and the control of the right to deal (CoRD) framework. All existing CTs have been cancelled and CTs will no longer be issued. Existing CTs will not need to be produced, and CoRD holder consent will not be required, for a dealing or plan to be registered. All existing Guidelines subject to this change are currently being reviewed and will be updated to reflect these changes. For further information regarding the abolition of CTs, please see https://www.registrargeneral.nsw.gov.au/property-and-conveyancing/eConveyancing/abolition-of-certificates-of-title

Exemptions by Surveyor General

In accordance with clause 91 Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017, the Surveyor General may exempt a plan from complying with a requirement of that regulation. The exemption may be granted in part or in full with or without conditions. An application for an exemption should be made at Spatial Services.

The survey must show the exemption number on the plan and Administration Sheet following the Surveyor’s Reference and a copy of the letter of exemption must be lodged with the plan.

Where conditions are imposed, the surveyor must also provide a report evidencing that the specific conditions have been complied with.

Application for exemption

Further details regarding exemptions can be found in section 3.34 Surveyor General’s Direction No.7. A link to the application for exemption can be found in Appendix F Surveyor General’s Direction No.7.

Policy 3 Exemptions

Item 3.34.3 Surveyor General’s Direction No.7 provides for an exemption from complying with clauses 12(2)(a) and 12(3)(a) Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017 in accordance with “Policy 3”. This may be applied to a plan which satisfies certain criteria:

  • the registered base plan (dominant plan) must be on an MGA orientation derived from the connection to established survey marks

  • the subject plan must be of a minor nature and form part of the existing cadastre within the dominant plan.

If these criteria are met the subject plan may adopt an MGA orientation by connecting to 3 unestablished permanent survey marks shown in the dominant plan. This is an exemption to adopting an orientation from established marks which are within 300 metres (urban) or 1000 metres (rural) of the subject land.

If Policy 3 is to be invoked, the adopted datum line and verifying line connections must be shown on (not calculated from) the dominant plan. Bearing and distance comparisons with the dominant plan must be shown on the subject plan.

If a surveyor intends to apply this policy the notation “Exemption Policy 3” should appear after the Surveyor’s Reference on the plan and Administration Sheet.

Policy 4 Exemptions

Item 3.34.4 Surveyor General’s Direction No 7 provides for an exemption for complying with clause 12(2)(a) Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017 in accordance with “Policy 4”. This exemption is aimed primarily at large projects being staged subdivisions that propose to adopt, for all stages, a longer datum line more appropriate to the whole of the survey project.

This exemption policy applies only to surveys that are required to comply with clause 12(2)(a); that is, an urban survey that is within 300 metres of 2 established survey marks.

A survey plan proposing to adopt a Policy 4 Exemption must meet the following criteria:

  • the survey must initially be required by the Regulation to comply with clause 12(2)(a)

  • the survey must be part of a multi-stage subdivision.

If a surveyor intends to apply this policy the notation “Exemption Policy 4” should be placed after the Surveyor’s Reference on the plan and the Administration Sheet.

Policy 5 Exemptions

Item 3.34.5 Surveyor General’s Direction No 7 provides details of Exemption Policy 5. This policy exempts surveyors from placing boundary marks only on the existing road frontage boundaries of surveyed lot(s) that define areas of land required for road purposes pursuant to the Roads Act 1993. Exemption Policy 5 replaces the previous “LASRA” exemption policy.

A survey plan proposing to adopt a Exemption Policy 5 must meet the following criteria:

  • the survey plan must intend to acquire land for road purposes under the Roads Act 1993

  • any lot intended for road purposes to which the Exemption Policy 5 is to apply must be a proposed widening of an existing road.

If the above criteria are met, then Exemption Policy No.5 may be applied, subject to the following conditions:

  • all boundaries other than those to which the Policy 5 exemption applies must be marked in compliance with the Regulation and

  • for each lot to which the Policy 5 exemption applies, the reference marks required to be either connected to, or placed and connected to, by Clauses 29, 30 and 31 of the Regulation must refer to corners of the proposed road boundary, not to corners of the existing road boundary intended to become defunct.

This is required as, in the majority of instances, existing reference marks referring to those corners of the existing road boundary proposed to become defunct are within the area of proposed road works and thus likely to be disturbed or destroyed.

If a surveyor intends to apply this policy the notation “Exemption Policy 5” should be placed after the Surveyor’s Reference on the plan and Administration sheet.

Policy 2020-94 Exemptions

Item 3.34.6 Surveyor General’s Direction No 7 provides details of Exemption Policy 2020-94. The exemption allows a survey plan with a date of survey between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020 (inclusive) to adopt, as orientation of the datum line, the grid bearing derived from the MGA94 coordinates of two survey marks.

A survey plan proposing to apply a Policy 2020-94 Exemption must meet the following criteria:

  • an “accurate MGA orientation” must be adopted (see section 3.2.2 “Accurate MGA orientation”)

  • the date of survey must be between 01 January 2020 and 30 June 2020 (inclusive).

The coordinate schedule to be shown on a survey plan applying a Policy 2020-94 Exemption must be of the form shown in 4.6 Appendix F – MGA94 coordinate schedule for Exemption Policy No. 2020-94. See Surveyor General’s Direction No. 7. All MGA coordinates shown on the survey plan must be MGA94 coordinates and must show the datum statement in the coordinate schedule as “GDA94”. Where applicable, the height schedule to be used in conjunction with a survey plan applying a Policy 2020-94 Exemption can be that shown in Table 13 - Approved height schedule (showing Class & PU), or that shown in Version 3.1 of the SG’s Direction (showing Class & Order). See Surveyor General’s Direction No. 7.

Where a Certificate of Currency (Plan Form 6CC) is furnished for a survey plan that is proposing to apply a Policy 2020-94 Exemption with a date of survey within the above stipulated period (1-1- 2020 to 30-6-2020 incl.), the Policy 2020-94 Exemption will still apply if 2 or more of the permanent survey marks used in the survey remain in place. If 2 or more of the permanent survey marks used in the survey do not remain in place, the Policy 2020-94 Exemption does not apply and the survey plan must be updated as per the Certificate of Currency requirements on Plan Form 6CC; and would require the survey plan, where required by the Regulation, to adopt an orientation derived from MGA2020 coordinates.

Note that a Policy 2020-94 Exemption is an exemption only from the definition of the term “MGA” within Clause 5(1); all other clauses of the Regulation must be complied with.

When the plan is lodged and it is considered that the survey does not comply with the “Exemption Policy 2020-94” criteria above, then the surveyor will be required to adopt MGA2020 coordinates as specified by the Regulation.

If a surveyor intends to apply this policy the notation “Exemption Policy 2020-94” should be placed after the Surveyor’s Reference on the plan and Administration Sheet.

All NSW legislation can be accessed at www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/