Digital survey plans to complete transition to paperless land registry

Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government

A new digital system for survey plans will deliver $300 million in productivity savings for NSW with property owners, buyers and sellers to benefit from a completely digital land titles system.

Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government said the new digital system followed the successful move to digitise the conveyancing process in October 2021 whichreduced costs, saved time and eliminated most risks associated with human error.

“Survey plans have defined land boundaries in NSW for more than 200 years and despite surveyors using the latest measurement technology, the creation and registration of survey plans tends to go back to a paper-based process,” Mr Dominello said.

“We are now taking steps to move survey plans online and mandate 100 per cent online lodging with the new digital system NSW Land Registry Services Connect by the second half of 2023.

“This is the final piece in the puzzle to make it an end-to-end paperless process, improving the quality of survey plans and enabling approvals to be faster.

“Over the next three decades the new system will save around $10 million per year for the NSW economy by reducing associated holding costs for the delivery of new land parcels and strata lots and reducing the time and costs spent on rectifying errors on survey plans.”

Mr Dominello said NSW LRS Connect was already available to Registered Land Surveyors and would be open to other industry stakeholders such as legal practitioners and conveyancers later this year, to assist in the preparation and lodging of survey plans.

“By transitioning from paper to digital survey plans we are ensuring the process of creating survey plans to registration is more secure, transparent and efficient,” Mr Dominello said

“We welcome the Industry Consultative Committee’s ongoing advice and guidance on this reform, including the Association of Consulting Surveyors NSW, Institution of Surveyors NSW, Australian Institute of Conveyancers NSW, Law Society of NSW, NSW Land Registry Services and relevant local and state government entities”.

For more information visit the Office of the Registrar General web page.

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