Commercial Property Transactions
The great majority of property transactions are normal commercial arrangements such as sales of Commonwealth-owned property, leases of office space for Commonwealth activities, and purchases of residences for staff.
The Minister's powers to approve many of these transactions are delegated to Government agencies. This enables them to engage on their own account in routine commercial property transactions and to manage their portfolios of leased premises and staff dwellings in Australia. The Minister continues to approve a limited range of commercial transactions, mainly involving ownership interests or overseas leasing.
Prior to the amendment of the Lands Acquisitions Act 1989 on 12 July 2008, there was a requirement for the Minister to table in the Parliament details of all commercial property transactions and other acquisitions by agreement. This included transactions that had been delegated to agencies. Consequently, agencies were required to forward a copy of all authorisations within 14 days of the approval date. The amendments now provide that the Minister is required to only table in Parliament overseas transaction details.
Compulsory acquisitions are not subject to this process because the compulsory acquisition process includes the requirement of public notification by Gazette notice.
The current practice that all transactions approved by agency delegates must still be reported to the Department of Finance and Deregulation, still applies.
For domestic commercial property transactions:
- Form A – for all acquisitions [
101 KB ] - Form D – for disposals, including revenue leases [ 102 KB ]
- Form L – for all leases, subleases etc [ 104 KB ]
For overseas commercial property transactions:
- Overseas Form A – for all acquisitions [ 53 KB ]
- Overseas Form D – for disposals, including revenue leases [53 KB ]
- Overseas Form L – for all leases, subleases etc [ 53 KB ]
Contact for information on this page: Contact Officers