Licenses of Crown Land

A Crown land licence is a contractual agreement granting the licensee a personal right to occupy and use Crown land for a particular purpose. See the Precedent: NSW — Sample Crown land licence granted under the Crown Lands Act 1989 (NSW). This Act was repealed and replaced by the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (NSW).

Authored by Tony Cahill, Legal Author and Commentator; John Boag, Director, Everingham Solomons; Katelin Whitley, Principal, Bestic Law (NSW); Lisa Gaddie, Partner, Lander & Rogers; Richard Skopal, Partner, Holding Redlich and Matthew Jones, Director, Jones & Mitchell (Vic); Luckbir Singh, Director, MacDonnells Law (Qld); Gary Thomas, Special Counsel and Anthony Davis, Director, McWilliams Lawyers (WA); Philip Page, Retired Partner, Mellor Olsson (SA); Tim Tierney, Principal, and Sebastian Thomas-Wilson, Principal, Tierney Law (Tas); Tony Morgan, Partner, Andrew Giles, Partner, and Cooper Hood, Associate, HWL Ebsworth (NT) and Stephanie Lynch, Partner and Christine Murray, Managing Partner, Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers (ACT). Updated by the LexisNexis Legal Writer team.

New South Wales

A Crown land licence is a contractual agreement granting the licensee a personal right to occupy and use Crown land for a particular purpose. See the Precedent: NSW — Sample Crown land licence granted under the Crown Lands Act 1989 (NSW). This Act was repealed and replaced by the Crown Land Management Act 2016 (NSW).

Licences are granted by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) for a number of purposes, including for:

• grazing stock;
• waterfront structures (eg jetties, boat ramps, etc);
• water supply and access; and
• communication facilities (eg communication towers).

The DPIE may also grant short-term licences for specific events, eg a filming or sporting event.

Licences are normally granted through public tender or by invitation for expressions of interest, unless circumstances exist to warrant direct negotiation.

Licences are usually:

• subject to the payment of an annual rent (which is reviewed at regular periods);
• for either a specified or an unspecified period of time;
• not transferable in most circumstances;
• subject to conditions stipulated in the licence agreement; and
• subject to the payment of statutory rates.

To apply for a Crown land licence, a new licence application must be lodged with Crown land at the DPIE, together with the required fee ($576 as at 1 July 2022).