In the ACT you do not buy freehold; you buy a Crown lease from the territory, usually for 99 years, and in practice it works like ownership: you can sell it, mortgage it and leave it in your will, and you can apply for a further lease before the term runs out. The seller also has to have the contract and a pack of required documents, including a building report and a pest report, available before the home is advertised, so buyers read the pack before they offer.
If you are buying property in Canberra, two things in the listing probably stopped you. The land is on a lease. And the seller is handing you the building report. Coming from Sydney, where you own the land and pay for your own inspections, at least one of those sounds like a catch.
Neither is, but both change the order you do things in.
Do you actually own your home in the ACT, or just lease it?
You own it, in every practical way. The word lease makes people think of rental inspections. Nobody is coming round to check the oven.
Leasehold is the ACT’s system of land tenure: hold a Crown lease on a property and you effectively own it. A residential lease is usually granted for 99 years. When you buy an established home you take over the remaining term of the existing lease, not a fresh 99 years. A lessee may apply to the Territory Planning Authority for a further lease at any time during the term, and the Territory’s guidance is that a further lease is granted unless the land is needed for a Territory or Commonwealth purpose.
The lease also sets out what the land may be used for, and the land and buildings can only be used for a purpose the lease authorises. So check the purpose clause, and whether anything on the block has been built or used outside the lease, because fixing that can mean a lease variation and a Lease Variation Charge. The ACT Government explains how Crown leases work in the ACT.
You are buying the lease, and the lease is the asset.
What is in the seller’s pack, and what is not?
In the ACT a seller cannot advertise a home until the proposed contract and a set of required documents are available for any buyer to inspect. The Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003 lists them. In NSW you organise the inspections yourself; in the ACT the seller has already done it, and you read the results before you make an offer.
| Document | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Crown lease, title search, deposited plan, encumbrances | The lease, who holds it, the boundaries, and any encumbrances |
| Lease conveyancing inquiry documents | Heritage, development approvals, contraventions and orders, contamination |
| Building conveyancing inquiry documents (Access Canberra) | Certificate of occupancy, approved plans, drainage plan |
| Energy efficiency rating statement | The home’s energy rating |
| Building and compliance report, pest report | Each from an inspection within three months of listing |
| Asbestos and swimming pool documents | Any current asbestos assessment report, or the government’s asbestos advice where there is none; the pool certificate |
| Units plan and unit title sale certificate | For a unit or townhouse: funds, contributions, insurance, minutes |
You can and should read all of it before you offer, because the contract will exchange quickly once you do. And at settlement you reimburse the seller for the building and pest reports, which the Act requires; the energy rating is not reimbursed.
What the pack does not do matters too. The building report says no reliance may be placed on it for a contract entered into more than 180 days after the inspection. And the pack does not warrant that everything on the block was approved; instead the contract carries a mandatory condition that there are no undisclosed unapproved structures.
The building report and building inquiry documents are not required for a residence that has never been occupied or sold as a dwelling, or for a class A unit (typically an apartment). A pest report is only required where the residence has been occupied, and never for a class A unit. Our guide on how to read a building and pest report applies here too.
Reading the pack is most of what conveyancing for buyers looks like in the ACT. Selling? See conveyancing for sellers.
How does exchange work in the ACT, and what about cooling off?
Exchange in the ACT is done by the lawyers, not at the agent’s desk, so a handshake at the open home is not binding until the counterparts are exchanged. The deposit is usually 10 per cent, with settlement often around 30 days later; both are market practice rather than law, and your contract decides.
Cooling off is five working days, beginning when the contract is made and ending at 5pm on the fifth working day after. Rescinding costs 0.25 per cent of the price, forfeited from the deposit. There is none at auction, none for a bidder who contracts on the day of a failed auction, and none for a corporate buyer or a sale by tender. And there is none if you waive it before the contract is made: your lawyer, who cannot be from the seller’s lawyer’s firm, advises you and signs a section 17 certificate, and a copy goes to the seller before exchange. Most Canberra exchanges happen this way.
Most Canberra exchanges happen with cooling off waived, which is why the pack matters. The section 17 certificate is not a formality: signing it means there is no cooling off at all. Decide whether to waive it after your lawyer has advised you on the contract, your finance and any checks still outstanding.
Under the standard ACT contract the property is at the buyer’s risk from exchange, not from settlement. Arrange building insurance to start on the day of exchange.
Who can act for you in the ACT?
A solicitor. There are no licensed conveyancers in the ACT; conveyancing is legal practice and only an Australian legal practitioner can do it, so every conveyancing firm in Canberra is a law firm. An interstate conveyancing licence does not carry across the border. The section 17 certificate follows the same rule: only a lawyer who is not acting for the seller can sign it. Titlespace is a law firm, so your matter is run by a legal team from the start.
When do you pay stamp duty in the ACT, and what is the Home Buyer Concession Scheme?
Stamp duty in the ACT is called conveyance duty and is collected by the ACT Revenue Office, and the ACT does it differently: you do not pay at settlement. Under the Barrier Free process the transfer is lodged with Access Canberra within 14 days of settlement, the Revenue Office issues a notice of assessment when the title is registered, and the duty is payable within 14 days of the title being registered. The duty is not in your settlement figures, and late lodgement can attract penalty tax.
So the biggest bill of the purchase lands after you have the keys, around the same time as the removalist’s. Budget for it as if it were due at settlement. Our ACT stamp duty calculator gives you the figure, including the Home Buyer Concession Scheme.
The Home Buyer Concession Scheme can take the duty to nil for eligible buyers, and for contracts from 1 July 2026 there is no income threshold and no property value cap. No buyer, or their partner, may have owned or held an interest in any property anywhere in the last five years (with limited exceptions, for example after a relationship breakdown), and at least one buyer must live in the home for a year, starting within a year of settlement. It is self-assessed and audited, and there is no First Home Owner Grant in the ACT; the concession is the whole benefit. The ACT Revenue Office sets out the Home Buyer Concession Scheme rules; the five-year test is the one people misjudge.
How is buying in the ACT different from NSW?
If you know the Sydney process, here is what changes once you cross the border.
| What | In NSW | In the ACT |
|---|---|---|
| What you own | Torrens title for most houses: the land and building outright | A Crown lease, usually 99 years, which works like ownership |
| Building and pest reports | The buyer arranges and pays | The seller commissions them; the buyer reimburses at settlement |
| Cooling off | Five business days, 0.25 per cent, none at auction | Five working days, 0.25 per cent, none at auction |
| Waiving it | Section 66W certificate from a solicitor, barrister or licensed conveyancer | Section 17 certificate from a lawyer |
| Who can act | A licensed conveyancer or a solicitor | A solicitor only |
| Duty | Transfer duty, by settlement or three months after the contract | Conveyance duty, after settlement |
Our guides to the NSW contract for sale and cooling-off periods cover the NSW side. The ACT side comes down to one habit: the homework happens before the offer, because the pack is already in your hands and exchange will not wait.
Buying in Canberra from Sydney changes none of this: the pack is read from your kitchen table and settlement does not need you in the room. Our conveyancing in Canberra page explains how that works.
What does this mean for your purchase?
The ACT does things in a different order, and the order is fine once you know it:
- Read the whole pack before you fall for the house.
- Treat the section 17 certificate as the decision it is.
- Insure from the day of exchange.
- Budget for duty after settlement, not in it.
- Check the five-year test before you count on the concession.
Titlespace is a conveyancing law firm based in Sydney acting for buyers, sellers and transfers in NSW, VIC, QLD and the ACT. Our Canberra team reads the pack before you offer and handles exchange, settlement and the Barrier Free duty lodgement. For the ACT rules in full, start with conveyancing in the ACT.
Reviewed by Marc Ryckmans, Legal Practitioner Director, October 2026. Last updated October 2026. This article is general information about buying property and Crown leasehold in the ACT. It is not legal advice about your transaction.
The content of this blog post is intended as general information and should be considered broad guidance only. It does not constitute legal, financial, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as such. Every property transaction is different, and we recommend seeking personalised advice from a qualified professional before making any investment or legal decisions.
Questions buyers ask about buying in the ACT
What happens when a 99 year Crown lease expires in Canberra?
In practice you apply for a further lease, and you do not have to wait for the end. A lessee may apply to the Territory Planning Authority for a further Crown lease at any time during the term, and the Territory’s guidance is that a further lease is granted unless the land is needed for a Territory or Commonwealth purpose. When you buy an established home you take over the remaining term of the existing lease, not a fresh 99 years. The ACT Government’s page on how Crown leases work in the ACT has the official explanation. If a lease you are looking at has only a few decades left, ask your lawyer what a renewal involves before you offer, not after.
Can you own freehold land in Canberra?
Not in the ordinary residential market. Leasehold is the ACT’s system of land tenure, so a Canberra house or unit comes with a Crown lease from the territory rather than a freehold title. If you hold the Crown lease you effectively own the property: you can sell it, mortgage it and leave it in your will. The difference from Sydney shows up in the paperwork, not in how you live there. Over the border it changes: Queanbeyan, Googong, Jerrabomberra and Bungendore are NSW, and a property there is a NSW transaction with NSW title and NSW rules.
Who pays for the building and pest inspection in the ACT?
The seller pays for them up front, and the buyer pays the seller back at settlement. In the ACT the seller has to commission a building and compliance inspection report and a pest inspection report, each from an inspection within three months of listing, and have them in the pack before the home is advertised. At settlement you reimburse the seller for those two reports, which the Act requires; the energy rating and the inquiry documents stay the seller’s cost. The reports are prepared to a standard by an insured inspector, but they say no reliance may be placed on them for a contract entered into more than 180 days after the inspection, so check the dates. Our guide on how to read a building and pest report covers what to look for once it is in your hands.
What is a section 17 certificate in the ACT?
It is the document that waives your cooling-off period. In the ACT a buyer under a residential contract has five working days of cooling off, and a section 17 certificate removes it, so the contract is unconditional from exchange. Your lawyer, who cannot be acting for the seller or belong to the seller’s lawyer’s firm, advises you and signs it, and a copy goes to the seller before the contract is made. Most Canberra exchanges happen this way, because the seller’s pack has already given the buyer everything they need to decide. It is not a formality: signing it means there is no cooling off at all. Decide whether to waive after your lawyer has advised you on the contract, your finance and any checks still outstanding.
Can I buy a house in Canberra if I live in Sydney?
Yes, and plenty of people do, for a posting, a partner or a price that still has a yard attached. In the ACT only a solicitor can do your conveyancing, so your Sydney conveyancer cannot run it unless they are a lawyer who acts in the ACT; Titlespace is a law firm and does. The whole process runs online: the seller’s pack and contract are reviewed and summarised for you, signing and identity checks happen digitally, and settlement does not need you in Canberra. One catch to know about: Queanbeyan, Googong, Jerrabomberra and Bungendore are NSW, so a property there runs under NSW rules instead.
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