Leasing Crown land

A lease of Crown land enables exclusive use over a particular piece of land for a specified term and purpose. Generally, leases are sought over Crown land where longer-term security of tenure is an important factor to the user of the land — such as where commercial uses are proposed and major financial outlay is required. Examples include extensive agricultural initiatives, long term extractive industries, irrigation, commercial and trading purposes, marina sites and caravan parks.

Find out more about leasing Crown land.

Sale of Crown land

A sale of Crown land takes place after it is assessed to ensure that it is not required for community benefit, government use or state strategic purposes. Justification for a sale and consultation appropriate to the circumstances must be undertaken. A sale is not automatically presumed and excludes transactions such as vesting of land to Property NSW, land acquisition by councils or government agencies and granting of Aboriginal Land Claims.

Key attributes that identify land for sale include land for residential purposes, land that will support or facilitate regional and local economic development opportunity or land that is considered a long term liability for government. Land sold from the Crown Estate is done on the basis of commercial prudence, public notices or engagement and in collaboration with identified stakeholders.

For Crown land to be sold, a public notice stating the intention to sell must be published in a newspaper, circulating in the locality in which the land is situated or in a newspaper circulating generally in the state, at least 14 days prior to government either entering into a contract for sale, or auction date, or closing date for sale by tender or ballot.

Direct negotiation for leases or sales

Directly negotiated leases or sales are approved on a case-by-case basis only after rigorous assessment. Requests for lease or sale by Direct Negotiations are not granted automatically and only progress where legislation, policy and assessment support such a request.

Any negotiation method for leasing or sale of Crown land considers the intent of the department's Direct negotiations policy for the sale or lease of Crown land (October 2016: IND-O-182).

This policy states that all leasing and sales will be by a genuine Competitive Process, unless circumstance warrant entering into direct negotiations with a proponent.

Recent sales and leasing history

The below recent sales and leasing history for the past month, as well as the most recent financial year quarter (three months), details those sales and leases executed in the Central and Eastern divisions of the state and does not include those sales and leases that are issued by Reserve Trust Managers.