How to Find Out Who Owns a Property in Australia?

To find out who owns a property in Australia, order a title search from the land registry of the state or territory where the property is located. You search using the street address or the Lot and Plan number, pay a fee of roughly $25 to $40, and receive a document listing the registered owner along with any mortgages, easements, and other interests on the title. Done online, it takes minutes.

There is no national property register. Each state and territory keeps its own, so a Sydney property sits in a different database from one in Perth or Brisbane.1Baker McKenzie Resource Hub. Real Estate Law – Australia – Global Corporate Real Estate Guide The first step is knowing which registry to approach.

What You Need Before You Search

The full street address is usually enough: street number, suburb, state, and postcode. That will match the property to a title in most online portals.

If you already have the Lot and Plan number, use those. They pinpoint the exact parcel on the register. The prefixes vary by state. South Australia uses “D” for a Deposited Plan and “S” for a Strata Plan.2Land Services SA. Plan Presentation Requirements Victoria uses “PS” for Plans of Subdivision and “SP” for Strata Plans.3Land.Vic. Plans of Subdivision and Consolidation Either way, these numbers uniquely identify a piece of land.

Which Registry to Use

Each state and territory has its own land titles authority, and each runs its own search portal:4ARNECC. Land Registries

  • New South Wales: NSW Land Registry Services (nswlrs.com.au)
  • Queensland: Titles Queensland (titlesqld.com.au)
  • Victoria: Land Use Victoria, with searches through the LANDATA platform (land.vic.gov.au)5Land.Vic. What We Do
  • Western Australia: Landgate (landgate.wa.gov.au)
  • South Australia: Land Services SA (landservices.com.au)
  • Tasmania: Land Information System Tasmania, known as the LIST (nre.tas.gov.au)
  • Australian Capital Territory: Access Canberra (accesscanberra.act.gov.au)
  • Northern Territory: Land Titles Office, within the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice

Most portals let you order a search as a guest. Some require you to create an account first.

Running the Search Online

The workflow is much the same everywhere. Open the registry’s website, find the title search or property search function, enter the address or Lot and Plan number, select the matching title, pay by credit card, and download the document. It usually arrives as a PDF within seconds.

Fees are set by each registry and updated on 1 July each year. Based on 2025–26 schedules, a standard electronic title search costs:

Fees for Victoria, NSW, South Australia, and the Northern Territory are published on each registry’s website. Historical searches, name searches, and document copies usually cost more than a standard current search. If you’d rather not use the online portal, most registries accept requests in person or by mail, though turnaround is slower.

What the Title Tells You

A current title search, sometimes returned as a Certificate of Title, gives you four things:

  • The registered owner or owners, by legal name. Jointly owned property shows every name.
  • The legal description of the land, including boundaries, dimensions, and parcel identifiers.
  • Encumbrances registered against the property. These include mortgages, easements (rights letting someone else use part of the land, such as a shared driveway), and restrictive covenants limiting how the land can be used.10Land.Vic. Encumbrance
  • Any caveats. A caveat is a formal notice that someone claims an interest in the property. It doesn’t create a legal right on its own, but it effectively blocks a sale or transfer until the claim is resolved.

A current search reflects only what is on the register today. It won’t show past owners or historical sale prices.

Searching by Owner Name Instead of Address

If you have a person’s name but no address, a name-based search is possible in some jurisdictions, though not all.

Landgate in Western Australia offers a free Current Ownership Name Search Report, which lists every property where the searched name appears as a current owner, with parcel identifier, address, and registration date. You need a MyLandgate account with billing status to order it online, or you can request it in person with 100-point ID.11Landgate. Current Ownership Name Search Report NSW Land Registry Services allows searches by person or company name for certain record types, including deeds and Old System properties. Elsewhere, name-based searches may be limited to professional subscriber accounts. If the registry’s website isn’t clear, calling the office is usually the fastest way to find out.

When the Owner Is a Company or Trust

A title search often returns a company name rather than an individual, particularly for investment properties, commercial buildings, and developments. The title will show the company name and Australian Company Number (ACN), but it won’t identify directors or shareholders.

To go further, search the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) register at asic.gov.au. A basic company search returns the registered office and directors. Trusts are harder. They aren’t registered with ASIC, so the title may show the trustee’s name, but the trust deed that identifies beneficiaries is a private document. Getting past the trustee usually requires legal assistance.

When a Name Is Suppressed

Ownership records are public, but some names are withheld. Owners who face a genuine safety risk can apply to have their details suppressed from search results. In Western Australia, suppression is available to people who can show they are at risk of personal harm, or who are already registered as silent electors. Direct threats of violence are typically required as evidence, though a Violence Restraining Order or silent elector status may be enough.12Landgate. NAM-02 Name Suppression Other states and territories have comparable mechanisms with their own criteria.

If a name is suppressed, the title still exists but the proprietor’s details won’t display in the standard search output.

Tracing Former Owners and Sale History

For previous owners, past sale records, or the chain of title, order a historical search. Records go back a long way. Landgate holds Certificates of Title from 1875, when Western Australia adopted the Torrens system, along with deeds and indexes stretching to 1829.13Landgate. Historical Records

A historical search can produce former owner details, cancelled titles, old plans, and chain-of-title reports across decades. Digital titles only became standard around 2000, so anything older may need to be pulled from archived paper records, which takes longer and costs more.13Landgate. Historical Records

Commercial Property Sites vs. Official Registries

Sites like realestate.com.au and Domain display some sale history and ownership information for individual properties, and data providers such as CoreLogic maintain large residential and commercial databases drawing on public records and proprietary analytics.14PR Newswire. CoreLogic Announces Agreement to Acquire Australian Firm RP Data These are useful for quick background research. They are not a substitute for an official title search when you need legally reliable ownership information. For a transaction, dispute, or due diligence, the document that matters is the one from the government registry.