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

Lease Folio
 

Leases  for shopping complexes, office buildings and retirement villages

Special format manual folios, commonly known as SD2 leases, were created in some instances for shopping complexes, office buildings, retirement villages etc. that were affected by numerous leases and sub-leases etc. All special format manual folios have now been converted to Lease Folio computer titles.
 
What is a head folio?

A head folio exists for the fee simple folio for the land. A head folio will show information relating to the complex such as a description of the name and the address of the complex. The head folio will also include standard notifications affecting the land such as easements, restrictions, mortgages, caveats and leases.

What is a Lease Folio (LF)?

A LF is a page that exists within a head folio of the Register, ie. a standard Torrens folio. Each complex will be allocated a lease folio number (eg. LF100) and separate lease folio indexes will be allocated for each lettable premises relating to a particular office, shop, unit within that complex (eg. 1/LF100, 2/LF100).

The LF is the folio for a lettable premise and its purpose is to support examination and registration of commercial and retirement village leases. A LF title will show information relating to its premises description (eg. Shop 1, Smithfield Centre) and also make reference to its corresponding head folio. It is not its own title, but forms part of a head folio. A LF cannot exist on its own and can only co-exist with a head folio.
 
Requirements for Lease Folio Leases

When completing a Lease form, the lease description at Marginal Note (A) must include the head title, full premises description, reference to LF and where it is a retirement village lease, the most current memorandum.

NOTE: A mortgagee’s consent is required for a lease over a LF where the head title is encumbered.
 
Searching Lease Folios

A free search on complexes for their respective LFs and premises is available through the NSW LRS Online Portal under ‘Find records’ > ‘Specialised searches’ > ‘Index of premises in a complex’.

Other searches which can be made through an information broker include:

  • Details of leases in a complex: shows all registered leases and their details over every LF in that title and
  • Details of caveats and other dealings in a complex: shows any unregistered dealings affecting the LF, or any caveats registered over the LF.

 Staff processing information

All dealings affecting a computer title with a Notation (NB) 'Refer all dealings to SD2', must be referred to SD2 without connection to any delayed case.
 

Publication Date: August 2024