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Guide reviewed and rewritten as at 19/08/2025
1. Priority Plan Examination Procedure for Plans
Following plan lodgement, Deposited Plans, Strata/Survey-Strata Plans and Community Plans are examined in the following priority and lodgement date order:
1.1. High Priority
- 'Readiness to Proceed' (for any plan type)
- any lodged plan is prioritised as High Priority on lodgement of the application for new title documents, when the Surveyor submits the relevant document number and selects Readiness to Proceed through NLR-Plan. (see section 2 of SPP-17: Readiness to Proceed for the procedure).
- Portal Plans (of any type).
- Conversion to survey-strata plans
- Strata plan mergers
1.2. Medium Priority
Plans that require planning approval for which consent to release the plan has been received by Landgate, and plans that are exempt from planning approval.
- Built strata plans and community title (building) plans.
- CAD generated survey-strata plans and community title (land) plans.
- CAD generated Crown and Freehold deposited plans.
1.3. Low Priority
Plans that require planning approval, but no consent to release them to WAPC has been received by Landgate.
A plan will move to the relevant higher priority when it meets the criteria as stated above, where it will then be examined in lodgement date order.
Request to Expedite the Processing of Plans
Request to Expedite the Processing of Plans
‘Requests to expedite’ must be emailed to Landgate via plans.consultants@landgate.wa.gov.au and must be accompanied with the relevant evidence for requests to be considered and approved.
Should a plan require urgent processing please refer to the “Request to Expedite the Processing of Plans and Documents Policy” (at Item 2 below), which outlines the process and evidence required to request and expedited procedure.
2. What the New Policy Specifies
The new Request to Expedite the Processing of Plans and Documents Policy specifies the following:
- All requests for priority must be made in writing (including fax and email) addressed to the Registrar of Titles.
- Priority for the processing of documents or plans may be approved by the Registrar or a delegated officer of the Registrar in circumstances where:
(i) the written consent of all parties that have a direct interest in the dealing is obtained, and
(ii) it is demonstrated that:
(a) a party to the dealing will experience financial hardship if the documents or plans are dealt with in Landgate’s standard turnaround times; or
(b) the contract/s specify a definitive date for settlement.
- The evidence provided for expediting a plan will also be sufficient evidence to give priority to the issue of new titles. For all requests to expedite documents or plans the following evidence requirements apply:
(i) a detailed written explanation as to the circumstances of the matter; and
(ii) a signed letter of consent from each party that has a direct interest in the dealing.
The following additional evidence is also required dependent upon the basis for the request:
(i) Financial Hardship:
(a) any evidence that may substantiate a claim of financial hardship including such items as
(b) copies of correspondence from financial institutions (which may take the form of an original, photo or faxed copy of a letter on the financial institutions letter head); and / or
(c) an original statutory declaration from the person making the request (a photo or faxed copy of a statutory declaration will be accepted with the request to expedite the processing of plans and documents, but the original signed declaration must be forwarded to Landgate within 2 working days). Any statutory declaration made must clearly set out the reasons for and the details of the financial hardship.
(ii) Definitive Settlement Date:
A certified copy of the “offer and acceptance” clearly showing the definitive settlement date, this can include a copy of the signed application for the issue of new titles in relation to a plan (the offer and acceptance can be certified by a person eligible to witness a statutory declaration in Western Australia).
3. WAPC Expiry
Surveyors are reminded that the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage requires the examined plan be forwarded to WAPC prior to the expiry date of the preliminary planning approval. Surveyors can inform Landgate by email plans.consultants@landgate.wa.gov.au of the imminent expiry date of the WAPC approval by sending a detailed letter of explanation as to the circumstances together with a copy of the preliminary planning approval showing the date of expiry.
Landgate will consider the explanation and may assist so the plan is examined within the required timeframe. Currently, release consents for all plans submitted via NLR are given by ticking the release consent box, either at lodgement or subsequently by using the NLR ‘Additionals’ function. Surveyors should understand ticking that box means that they have already lodged the clearances with WAPC.