The Land Registry, as part of its new policy limiting the attachment of annexures to section 173 agreements (agreements), has refused to register agreements with a variety of annexed documents including proposed plans of subdivision, plans of subdivision, housing guidelines or any other publicly available document including bushfire management plans.

However, bushfire management plans are required by planning schemes to be incorporated into agreements. The Land Registry has suggested including the permit condition requiring the annexure of the bushfire management plan in the background or the recital of the agreement to avoid requisitions.

As such, we recommend that councils include a summary of the permit condition requiring the attachment of the bushfire management plan into the background or recital of their draft agreements.

Section 173 agreements that are in the process of being executed or have already been executed will likely encounter the same problem at registration if not addressed prior. We suggest that these agreements be amended to include the permit condition within the background or recital before lodging with the Land Registry for registration.

Given the Land Registry’s policy to limit annexures to agreements to only documents that are absolutely required and are not publicly available documents, as well as their frequent rejection of plans of subdivision (proposed or registered) and housing guidelines, it is essential to only attach annexures that need to be attached to the agreement such as a bushfire management plan.

Key takeaways

• Where a bushfire management plan is to be annexed to an agreement, include the permit condition requiring the annexure within the background or recital of the agreement.

• Sufficiently define the document within the definition section of the agreement to enable the document to be obtained if required.

• Limit annexures to documents that are not publicly available documents.

• Incorporate the words “as amended from time to time” in document definitions to enable an amended document to automatically apply to a registered agreement and reduce the need to attach the document or amend a registered agreement.

• Agreements that are lodged for registration that have annexures that do not comply with the Land Registry’s annexure policy may need to be withdrawn, amended and relodged for registration causing time delays and additional costs.