NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA
CROWN LANDS FREEHOLD (CONVERSION FROM CROWN
LEASEHOLD) ACT
As in force at 11 December 2001
Table of provisions
1 Short title ......................................................................................... 1
2 Commencement .............................................................................. 1
3 Principal Act..................................................................................... 1
5 Savings ............................................................................................ 1
6 Certain interests preserved.............................................................. 2
7 Definition.......................................................................................... 2
8 Freeholding of existing leases ......................................................... 2
9 Land is land under Land Title Act .................................................... 4
10 Freehold subject to existing interests .............................................. 4
12 Existing town lands subdivision leases ............................................ 5
13 Existing estates in fee simple .......................................................... 5
Schedule 2 Leases not automatically freehold
ENDNOTES
NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA
This reprint shows the Act as in force at 11 December 2001. Any
amendments that commence after that date are not included.
CROWN LANDS FREEHOLD (CONVERSION FROM CROWN
LEASEHOLD) ACT
An Act to provide for the conversion of certain Crown leases to freehold
and for other purposes
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Crown Lands Freehold (Conversion
from Crown Leasehold) Act.
2 Commencement
This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the
Administrator by notice in the Gazette.
3 Principal Act
The Crown Lands Act as in force at 1 January 1981 is in this Act
referred to as the Principal Act.
5 Savings
(1) A lease referred to in section 8(2) and a town lands subdivision
lease, being a lease in force immediately before the
commencement of this Act, continues, subject to subsection (2),
section 8(3), section 12 and the provisions of the lease, as a lease
under the Principal Act as amended by this Act, but an action that
can be taken in respect of a lease granted under the Principal Act
as amended by this Act can be taken in respect of a lease so
continued in force.
(2) A lease referred to in section 8(2) and a town lands subdivision
lease shall be read as though, on the commencement of this Act, a
provision had been inserted into the lease that, subject to
section 23G of the Principal Act as amended by this Act, the law
applying to the lease would be the law in force immediately before
the commencement of this Act.
(3) Where, immediately before the commencement of this Act, a
person had the right to be granted a lease of town lands in the town
of Yulara, the Minister shall grant him a lease of those lands under
the Principal Act as amended by this Act.
(4) Where, immediately before the commencement of this Act, an
amount of money was payable under the Freehold Titles Act, it
ceases to be payable if it had not then been paid and was not then
due, but:
(a) it remains payable as though that Act had not been repealed if
it was then due and had not been paid; and
(b) it is not refundable if it has been paid.
6 Certain interests preserved
Nothing is in this Act derogates the legal or equitable rights of any
person that existed in or in relation to land immediately before a
grant of an estate in fee simple in that land by or under section 8
(other than the rights of the Crown in right of the Territory as the
lessor of the land), and those rights shall continue and may be
enforced against the grantee of the land in the same manner as
they could have been enforced immediately before the grant.
7 Definition
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
certificate as to title has the same meaning as in the Land Title
Act 2000.
land register has the same meaning as in the Land Title Act 2000.
8 Freeholding of existing leases
(1) Subject to this Act, where, upon the commencement of this Act, a
person is the lessee under, or has the right to be granted:
(a) a lease under section 112A of the Crown Lands Act or under
Division 4 of Part III of the Crown Lands Act;
(b) a lease under the Darwin Town Area Leases Act;
(c) a lease under the Church Lands Leases Act; or
(d) a lease, granted under section 10 of the Crown Lands Act or
under Division 1, 2, 3 or 5 of Part III of the Crown Lands Act,
of an area of land that does not exceed 150 square
kilometres,
Crown Lands Freehold (Conversion from Crown Leasehold) Act 2
an estate in fee simple in so much of the leased land as is not a
road that is open to and used by the public is, by this Act, granted
to that person and the Registrar-General shall, without application,
without deed of grant and without charge, but subject to this Act, in
due course issue to that person, or his successor in title, if
requested, a certificate as to title thereto.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a lease:
(b) that is a lease of the whole or a part of an area of land that is
described in Schedule 2;
(c) of land in respect of which there was in force, immediately
before the commencement of this Act, an approval or consent
to subdivide granted in pursuance of an application under an
Act; or
(d) that is a lease of town lands in the town of Yulara.
(3) The Minister may, in his discretion, after the commencement of this
Act, in the name of the Territory, grant an estate in fee simple in so
much of an area of land, or part of an area of land, referred to in
subsection (2)(a), (b) or (c) as is not a road that is open to and used
by the public.
(4) Subject to subsection (5), where an estate in fee simple is granted
by or under this section, the lease of the land the subject of the
grant is surrendered and ceases to have effect.
(5) The Registrar-General shall, without charge, in due course, issue to
a person to whom an estate in fee simple in land is granted under
subsection (3), if requested, a certificate as to title in respect of the
land.
(6) Where the land register in respect of land, an estate in fee simple in
which is granted by or under this section, notifies the existence of a
part of a road across or on the land:
(a) that land notified as a road is, and shall be deemed always to
have been, excluded from the grant of the estate in fee simple;
and
(b) land that, by virtue of subsection (1) or (3), was not included in
the grant because it formed part of a road open to and used
by the public but is not part of a road that is notified in the land
register, is and shall be deemed always to have been, part of
the land in respect of which the estate in fee simple was
granted.
Crown Lands Freehold (Conversion from Crown Leasehold) Act 3
9 Land is land under Land Title Act
Land in respect of which an estate in fee simple is granted by or
under section 8 is, by virtue of that grant, land brought under the
provisions of the Land Title Act, notwithstanding that the Registrar-
General did not, on the date of the grant, issue to the person to
whom the estate in fee simple was granted, a certificate as to title in
respect of the land.
10 Freehold subject to existing interests
(1) The grant of an estate in fee simple in land by or under section 8 is
subject to:
(a) a reservation to the Crown of all minerals, mineral substances
and ores in or upon the land including gems, stones, sands,
valuable earths and fossil fuels, together with the right to
authorize any person to enter upon the land to explore for,
mine or otherwise recover and remove them or any of them
and to do all things necessary or convenient for those
purposes; and
(b) a reservation of all easements over the land immediately
before the commencement of this Act, including easements in
favour of the Commonwealth.
(2) An instrument creating or dealing with an interest in a Crown lease
has effect, upon the grant of an estate in fee simple in the land the
subject of the lease by or under section 8, as though the fee simple
had been granted before the instrument was made and the
instrument related accordingly to the estate in fee simple.
(3) An instrument purporting to create or deal with an interest in a
Crown lease, being an instrument that was made after the grant of
an estate in fee simple in the land the subject of the lease by or
under section 8, but before the expiration of 14 days after the
Registrar-General records in the land register the details of the
freehold title, has effect as though it related accordingly to the
estate in fee simple.
(4) Where a memorial of a current instrument relating to a Crown lease
was entered on the lease when an estate in fee simple in the land
the subject of the lease was granted by or under section 8, the
Registrar-General shall, subject to subsection (5), enter a memorial
of the instrument in the land register.
(5) The Registrar-General may, in his discretion, register an instrument
before he issues a certificate as to title to land, the estate in fee
simple in which was granted by or under section 8, and issue the
certificate as to title accordingly.
Crown Lands Freehold (Conversion from Crown Leasehold) Act 4
12 Existing town lands subdivision leases
(1) Where, upon the commencement of this Act, a person is the lessee
under, or has the right to be granted, a town lands subdivision
lease, the right of a person, upon surrender of the lease as to all or
part of the land contained in the lease, to be granted a new lease in
respect of a lot included in the part of the land surrendered on
payment of the reserve price and lease grant charges, if any,
payable in respect of new lease shall be read as a right to be
granted an estate in fee simple in respect of that lot on payment of
the purchase price and the amount, if any, payable under
section 18A of the Principal Act as amended by this Act in respect
of the lot.
(2) Where, immediately before the commencement of this Act, the
consent of the Minister given under section 116A(2) of the Principal
Act was current in respect of the right referred to in that section to
assign a Crown lease, that consent shall continue to have effect in
respect of the town lands subdivision lease to which it related as
though that consent were an agreement under section 22 of the
Principal Act as amended by this Act binding the Minister to grant
the estate in fee simple, at the direction of the developer, to a
person or persons other than the developer.
13 Existing estates in fee simple
(1) A covenant that, immediately before the commencement of this Act,
was in force by virtue of section 22A of the Freehold Titles Act
ceases to have effect.
(2) Where a covenant referred to in sub-section (1) is noted in the land
register, the Registrar-General shall, without application and without
charge, in due course, note in the land register that it has ceased to
have effect by reason of this section.
Crown Lands Freehold (Conversion from Crown Leasehold) Act 5
Schedule 2 Leases not automatically freehold
Schedule 2 Leases not automatically freehold
section 8(2)
Section 8(1) does not apply in respect of the whole of the area that is
contained within each of the following lots
Town of Nightcliff – Lot 4068, 6771, 7122, 8530 and 8569
Town of Sanderson – Lot 1182, 2667 and 2679
Town of Alice Springs – Lot 1078, 1232, 1258, 1356, 1816 and 2453
Crown Lands Freehold (Conversion from Crown Leasehold) Act 6
ENDNOTES
ENDNOTES
1 KEY
Key to abbreviations
amd = amended od = order
app = appendix om = omitted
bl = by-law pt = Part
ch = Chapter r = regulation/rule
cl = clause rem = remainder
div = Division renum = renumbered
exp = expires/expired rep = repealed
f = forms s = section
Gaz = Gazette sch = Schedule
hdg = heading sdiv = Subdivision
ins = inserted SL = Subordinate Legislation
lt = long title sub = substituted
nc = not commenced
2 LIST OF LEGISLATION
Crown Lands Amendment (No. 3) Act 1980 (Act No. 59, 1980)
Assent date 22 December 1980
Commenced 1 January 1981 (Gaz S41, 31 December 1980)
Land Title (Consequential Amendments) Act 2000 (Act No. 45, 2000)
Assent date 14 September 2000
Commenced 1 December 2000 (s 2, s 2 Land Title Act 2000 (Act No. 2,
2000) and Gaz G38, 27 September 2000, p 2)
Statute Law Revision Act (No. 2) 2001 (Act No. 62, 2001)
Assent date 11 December 2001
Commenced 11 December 2001
3 LIST OF AMENDMENTS
lt sub No. 45, 2000, s 3
s 1 amd No. 45, 2000, s 3
s 3 amd No. 45, 2000, s 3
s 4 rep No. 45, 2000, s 3
s 7 amd No. 45, 2000, s 3
s 8 amd No. 45, 2000, s 3; No. 62, 2001, s 7
ss 9 – 10 amd No. 45, 2000, .s 3
s 11 rep No. 45, 2000, s 3
s 13 amd No. 45, 2000, s 3
ss 14 – 44 rep No. 45, 2000, s 3
sch 1 rep No. 45, 2000, s 3
sch 2 sub No. 45, 2000, s 3
Crown Lands Freehold (Conversion from Crown Leasehold) Act 7