The NSW title register
Land in New South Wales is registered under the Real Property Act 1900, and NSW Land Registry Services operates the register for the NSW Government. A title search, often called a folio search, shows the registered proprietor and recorded interests such as mortgages, caveats, easements, covenants and leases. Most NSW dealings, including mortgages and discharges, are now lodged electronically, so your lawyer or conveyancer will usually handle registration through an online lodgement network.
Before you sign a private loan offer, ask for a current folio search of every property being offered. Compare the owner's name with the proposed borrower and mortgagor, and ask about any dealing that is still awaiting registration. A search from a few weeks earlier may not show a recent caveat or mortgage.
Land tax and transfer duty in NSW
Revenue NSW administers both transfer duty and land tax. NSW land tax is assessed on the taxable land you own at midnight on 31 December each year, and your principal place of residence is generally exempt. An investment unit, vacant block or commercial property held as security, or held during a bridging overlap that runs past 31 December, can therefore carry a land tax bill for the following year. Ask Revenue NSW or your accountant how your ownership structure is treated before you rely on a holding-cost estimate.
If the loan funds a purchase, transfer duty applies to the acquisition. The NSW stamp duty page gives an indicative figure and links to the official calculator. Foreign buyers and some trusts face additional rules, which this page does not decide.
Sydney and regional NSW
Sydney is the largest property market in the country, with major regional centres in Newcastle and the Hunter, Wollongong and the Central Coast. Valuers and lenders often treat properties in smaller inland or coastal towns more cautiously because sales can take longer. Ask how the lender's valuer will assess your property's location and what evidence of saleability it expects. For the capital, see private lenders in Sydney.
Two NSW illustrations
Example only, not a real client. A Parramatta investor wants to refinance an investment unit before selling it. The conveyancer obtains a fresh folio search, confirms the outgoing bank's payout figure and checks whether holding the unit past 31 December would bring it into the next land tax assessment.
Example only, not a real client. A Newcastle builder considers buying a small site with a covenant noted on the title. The solicitor obtains the covenant document from NSW Land Registry Services and explains it before any finance proposal is accepted. Neither example is a claim that a lender would accept the security.
First mortgage checks specific to New South Wales
A private first mortgage in New South Wales is registered with NSW Land Registry Services. If an existing mortgage is being refinanced, the discharge and the new registration need to happen together at settlement. Ask for the current payout figure in writing, and ask Revenue NSW about any land tax position if the security is not your home.