Second Mortgage in New South Wales: Consent, Registration and Cost
Does your bank have to consent to a second mortgage in New South Wales? What the registry requires, what can block it, default risk and 2026/27 costs.
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Sydney and New South Wales · Consent · Registration · Cost
If you own property in Sydney or elsewhere in New South Wales, the registry and your existing loan contract can give different answers to the same second-mortgage question. This page separates them, shows what changed in 2021, the process from title check to electronic lodgement, what can block registration, what happens if the loan later defaults, and what the published registry and lodgement charges are.
Quick Answer
NSW Land Registry Services does not need your first lender's consent to register a second mortgage. Your loan contract can still require it, and the lender offering the second mortgage can make consent or a priority arrangement a condition of funding.
Also called: 2nd mortgage, second ranking mortgage.
| Where you are | What decides the next step | Where it is answered |
|---|---|---|
| You have not asked your first lender anything yet | Whether the terms of your first mortgage or loan require its consent. The register will not ask | Does your bank have to consent, then the first mortgagee consent entry |
| Your first lender has said no, or wants a fee to sign | Whether the refusal is a contractual consent issue, an incoming-lender condition or a priority issue. Registration is not the same thing as permission, and switching to a caveat does not rewrite your first loan contract | Can a bank refuse the second mortgage, then what happens when the first lender says no |
| A caveat or priority notice is already on your title | That instrument, because it can stop some dealings being registered until it is removed or, for a priority notice, runs out | What can stop registration |
| You want to know the downside before signing | The enforcement rights in the registered second mortgage, the statutory default process and the fact that an earlier first mortgage keeps its priority | What happens if you default |
| The property is in Queensland or Victoria | The rules of the state where the property is, not where you live or where your business trades | Queensland and Victoria compared |
| Your lawyer or lender is preparing to lodge | Whether the title and documents are ready, whether any private consent or priority condition has been resolved, and whether the dealing is in order for electronic lodgement | Process, timing and what the registry requires, then what it costs |
Start with the row that matches where you are. Each one points to the part of this page, or the page, that decides it.
Does your bank have to consent to a second mortgage in New South Wales?
No. The New South Wales land registry does not ask for your first lender's consent to register a second mortgage, but your existing loan contract can still require that consent and treat a second mortgage granted without it as a default. Those are two separate systems, and the reason business owners get contradictory answers to this question is that most published answers only describe one of them.
Ask it as a borrower with a city in the question and you are commonly told your primary bank may need to approve a second encumbrance on the title. Ask the same thing in legal or state-specific language and you are told registration no longer strictly requires the first mortgagee's title consent. Ask it as a commercial lawyer and you are told a further-encumbrance promise is contractual rather than proprietary and does not block registration at the land registry. All three answers are published, and only one of them describes what the register does. The one most likely to be read by an owner of a Sydney business is the one that is wrong about the register.
The distinction that resolves it is simple once it is stated. The register asks what the Act and the approved form require. Your contract asks what you promised your first lender when you signed. A second mortgage can therefore be registered cleanly and still put you in breach, which is why how a second mortgage works in Australia is a different question from what the register will accept.
The Registrar General answers the registry question directly in its published eConveyancing Q&A: consent from the first mortgagee is not required to register a subsequent mortgage, while the terms of the first mortgage still need to be checked because that is a contractual matter between lender and borrower. A negative pledge or further-encumbrance clause in a business loan is a promise, not an interest in the land, so it does not stop the registrar accepting a lodgement. It can still be an event of default the moment the second mortgage is registered, and that is a contract question rather than a registry one. Whether your first lender has to agree, what a priority arrangement between two lenders actually does, and what to do if the answer comes back no, are all answered on the contract side of this question. This page stays on the registry side. If the term you are trying to pin down is the consent itself, the first mortgagee consent entry defines it.
Does the same rule apply to property in Queensland or Victoria?
Not as a New South Wales rule, because the land rules that apply are those of the state where the property is, not where you live or where your business trades. Queensland goes further than New South Wales: its register does not need the first lender's consent either, and a statute stops the first mortgage treating a second mortgage as a breach. Victoria keeps a title nomination step before lodgement. The table below sets the three states side by side, and the Queensland and Victoria section explains each cell.
| State | Register requires the first lender's consent? | Statute stops the first mortgage treating it as a default? | What to check first |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | No | No. No equivalent provision was located in the Real Property Act 1900 or the Conveyancing Act 1919 (current consolidated versions, searched 11 September 2026) | The consent clause in your first mortgage and loan terms |
| Victoria | A title nomination step applies even though lodgement is electronic, set out in the Melbourne title control explainer | Not assessed on this page | The title nomination step |
| Queensland | No | Yes. Section 125 of the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld), headed "Subsequent mortgage does not affect first mortgage" | Least exposure of the three, because the statute speaks to the first mortgage's own terms. Check any separate loan agreement with a solicitor |
This comparison is about two things only: what the register asks for, and what the contract is allowed to do about it. It is not legal advice and it is not a statement about whether any particular lender will agree to anything.
Can a bank refuse a second mortgage in New South Wales?
Yes, your first lender can refuse contractual consent where your existing mortgage or loan terms give it that right, and the lender offering the second mortgage can refuse to fund unless its own consent or priority conditions are met. That refusal does not itself stop NSW Land Registry Services registering an otherwise registrable second mortgage.
Three parties are involved, and they are answering three different questions.
- The register. It registers a correctly completed mortgage without asking your first lender. The Registrar General's published eConveyancing Q&A says consent is not required for registration and explains that a written consent can be uploaded where the parties have obtained one
- Your first lender, through its contract. If the terms of your first mortgage or loan require its consent, granting a second mortgage without it can be a default even though the register accepted the lodgement
- The lender offering the second mortgage. It sets its own approval conditions, and some ask for your first lender's written consent, or a priority arrangement between the two lenders, before they will lend, whether or not the register or your contract requires it. That varies by lender
The third party is one reason the answers online disagree. A lender page telling you your bank may need to approve a second mortgage is often describing a lending condition, not a registry rule, so ask the lender which of the three it means.
What should you check before applying for a second mortgage in New South Wales?
Check the title and the first-loan documents before you ask a second lender for terms. That order tells you whether you have a registry problem, a contract problem, a lender-condition problem or no consent problem at all. Who is actually lending, and what each class asks for before funding, is in who lends second mortgages in Australia; the rest of what a second lender tests, from equity to the exit, is in what disqualifies a second mortgage application. The application itself, from the form to signing and lodgement, is set out in how to apply for a second mortgage.
- Confirm which state the property is in. The land rules that apply are that state's, so a Queensland or Victorian property is answered differently from this page
- Order a current title search. Confirm the registered owner, the first mortgage, and whether a caveat or priority notice is already recorded
- Read both the first mortgage and the facility or loan terms. Look for further-encumbrance, negative-pledge, consent, default and further-advance wording rather than searching only for the words "second mortgage"
- Ask the proposed second lender what it requires before funding. The answer may be written consent, notice to the first lender, a deed of priority, a cap on the first lender's priority, or none of those. That is lender policy, not a registry rule
- Disclose any redraw or line-of-credit feature on the first facility. Further advances can affect the priority position the incoming lender is assessing
- If the first lender refuses consent, do not treat successful registration as the workaround. Have a solicitor check the default consequence first. The finance alternatives may include a negotiated priority arrangement, refinancing the first loan, using different security or a different funding structure, but each changes the deal rather than erasing the clause
A caveat should not be treated as a contractual escape hatch: whether lodging one breaches your existing documents is a question for your solicitor.
If you keep drawing on your first loan, which lender ranks first for the new money?
It depends on whether your first lender knew about the second mortgage when it advanced the new money, and that is the main reason a second lender wants your first lender told. A redraw or a business line of credit secured by the first mortgage can each put new money ahead of the second lender if the first lender advances it without notice.
Queensland puts the rule in its statute. Under section 126 of the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld), headed "When further advance ranks in priority to subsequent mortgage", a further advance by the first lender ranks ahead of a later mortgage only if the later mortgagee agrees to it, the first lender had no actual notice of the later mortgage when it made the advance, or the first mortgage obliged it to make the advance, and the Act says registration of the later mortgage is not of itself actual notice.
Published legal commentary on New South Wales treats the same question under the general law rule against tacking, and it differs on whether registration alone is enough notice. So second lenders commonly want written notice to the first lender, a deed of priority or an agreed cap on what the first lender can claim ahead of them before they fund. If your first loan has a redraw or a line of credit attached, disclose it at the start and ask your solicitor how later advances affect the two lenders.
From our broking, indicative
The pattern we see on New South Wales files is that a borrower reads a registry answer as a contract answer, or a contract answer as a registry answer, and plans around the wrong one.
- People arrive convinced the register will refuse the lodgement. It will not, and that is rarely the constraint that decides the deal
- The clause that actually matters is in the first loan contract, and it is usually read for the first time after the second mortgage has already been discussed
- The lender offering the second mortgage often settles whether the first lender is asked at all, through its own approval conditions, before the register or the contract comes into it
- A caveat or a priority notice already sitting on the title is a far more common practical obstacle than anything the first lender does
- Where the first lender is asked to sign something, the timing and the cost of that step sit with that lender, not with the registry, and neither is published anywhere we can point you to
Indicative only, based on files we have worked on, not a quote and not an offer. Actual outcomes depend on your loan documents, lender policy and your circumstances at the time. Not financial advice and not legal advice.
What changed when New South Wales abolished certificates of title?
On 11 October 2021 New South Wales abolished paper certificates of title and the control of the right to deal (CoRD) framework, so the register stopped requiring a CoRD holder's consent before registering a dealing, including a second mortgage. Before that date a nominated holder controlled the right to deal with the title, and where a property was already mortgaged that holder was commonly the first lender, which is where the belief that your bank must sign off on a second mortgage comes from. After it, that consent step was gone.
Two separate instruments produced two separate events on the same date, and they are easy to run together. The commencement of the Real Property Amendment (Certificates of Title) Act 2021 was proclaimed. Cessation day, the day the certificates were actually abolished, was separately declared by order under section 33AAA of the Real Property Act 1900, with a notice published in the Gazette. Both are on the public record, published by the Office of the Registrar General on 2 July 2021 and 30 August 2021 respectively.
This date is hard to verify from the legislation itself, for a specific reason. The power that fixed the date has been repealed out of the Act, because it was spent once cessation day arrived. Read the current consolidated Real Property Act 1900 and sections 33AAA to 33AB simply read "(Repealed)". What remains is Schedule 3 Part 12, whose clauses are headed for the effect of repealing the control of the right to deal provisions. The answer is not unpublished. It is unfindable by reading the current Act.
The registry does publish it, in plain words, on a page in the Registrar General's Guidelines titled "When did NSW LRS stop issuing Certificates of title?", last updated July 2024. Its own sentence is: "CTs will not need to be produced, and CoRD holder consent will not be required, for a dealing or plan to be registered." That is the position, stated by the body that operates the register, and it is free to read.
Whether you are shown it depends almost entirely on the words you use. Search in the register's own vocabulary and the registry page comes up first. Search the way a business owner in Sydney would actually phrase it, and it does not. That is not a gap in the information. It is a gap in who gets shown it, and it is the reason a second mortgage behind an existing first mortgage still carries a reputation for needing a permission that the register stopped asking for in October 2021.
What does the New South Wales land registry actually require to register a second mortgage?
To register a second mortgage, the New South Wales land registry requires a correctly completed national mortgage form, lodged electronically, showing the encumbrances already on the title. The only consents its requirements name are a Minister's and a caveator's; your first lender's is not one of them. The requirements are published on the registry's own National Mortgage page in the Registrar General's Guidelines, last updated January 2026.
- The current version of the national mortgage form, completed in accordance with the instructions published by the national electronic conveyancing body
- The dealing types the registry uses for a mortgage
- The encumbrances already recorded on the title, shown on the form
- No stamp duty is required on the mortgage itself
- No notice of sale form is required
- Electronic lodgement, which is mandatory unless an exceptions form accompanies a paper lodgement
Two consents do appear in those requirements, and neither of them is the prior mortgagee's. The first is a Minister's consent, needed where the register carries a restrictions notification or a Crown land restriction. The second is a caveator's consent, where one is required to accompany a paper lodgement. The registry's national mortgage requirements name two consents, and in both cases it is somebody other than the existing lender being asked. You can check that yourself on the National Mortgage page.
The Registrar General has answered the question directly. In its published questions and answers on the abolition of certificates of title, asked whether mortgagee consent is required to register a subsequent mortgage, it answers no, adds that a consent can be uploaded if the parties want to, for example because the terms of the first mortgage require it, and says: "This is a contractual matter between the parties and not policed by the Registrar General." The Registrar General's questions and answers were last modified in April 2024.
What is the process for registering a second mortgage in New South Wales?
The practical sequence is title first, contract second, lender conditions third, then legal preparation and electronic lodgement. NSW Land Registry Services controls the registration step, but it does not approve the loan, order the valuation or negotiate a deed of priority.
- Order a current title search. Confirm the registered owner, existing mortgages, caveats and priority notices before spending money on the new facility
- Read the first mortgage and facility documents. Check further-encumbrance, negative-pledge, consent, default and further-advance wording
- Get the incoming lender's conditions. Find out whether it requires a valuation, first-lender consent, notice, a deed of priority, a priority cap or another condition before settlement
- Resolve any private lender-to-lender issue. A consent or priority deed is a contractual funding step, not something NSW LRS imposes merely because the mortgage will rank second
- Have the mortgage prepared and signed through the legal process. Real Property Act dealings are lodged electronically through an electronic lodgement network by a subscriber, subject to the limited exception process
- Lodge the mortgage and deal with any requisition. NSW LRS can register the dealing, keep it under examination or raise a requisition if it is not in order
- Check registration and keep the payout path in mind. The registered second mortgage remains on title until it is discharged, commonly on refinance, sale or repayment
The order matters. If the first-loan contract creates the real problem, paying valuation and legal costs before anyone reads it can leave you with a registrable mortgage that the incoming lender will not fund or that breaches the first facility.
How long does a second mortgage take to register in New South Wales?
There is no single official end-to-end NSW timeframe for obtaining, settling and registering a second mortgage. NSW LRS controls what happens after lodgement, while the steps that usually determine how quickly a borrower can settle, such as credit approval, valuation, document preparation, first-lender consent and deed-of-priority negotiation, sit with lenders and lawyers.
A lender advertising 24-hour approval is therefore describing its own credit or indicative approval process, not the complete time from enquiry to a registered second mortgage. Once a dealing is lodged, the registry side runs on its own examination, and a requisition extends it because the requested correction or information has to be supplied and the additional fee paid before registration.
If timing is critical, ask for the file to be split into named dependencies: valuation, credit approval, consent or priority deed if required, loan documents, settlement, lodgement and registration. That shows which party is actually holding up the transaction instead of treating "registration time" as one number.
If your contract does need your first lender's consent, what do you actually ask for?
You ask your first lender for a written consent on its letterhead. The same Registrar General answers describe a mortgagee's consent that way, with no registry form for it. Your lawyer or conveyancer obtains it separately from the lender and uploads it with the documents lodged, and the first lender does not need to be invited into the electronic workspace to give it. Only a lawyer, a licensed conveyancer or another subscriber to an electronic lodgement network can lodge the dealing, so this step always runs through a professional. Where the consent is agreed in a fuller document between a borrower and a lender, it is a private instrument, not a registry one, which is what a deed of consent is.
What can stop a second mortgage being registered in New South Wales?
Three things can stop or hold up a second mortgage being registered in New South Wales: a caveat already on the title, a priority notice already on the title, or a requisition, where the registry sends the lodged document back for correction. Your first lender is not one of them. Everything in this section comes from the registry's own published position, and all of it is checkable.
- A caveat. A caveat prevents some new dealings and plans being registered on a title until it is removed. The registry words it that way deliberately, because a caveat does not block everything. The registry's National Mortgage requirements list a standard form of caveat relating to a mortgage as one that does prevent registration
- A priority notice. A priority notice prevents most dealings not listed on it from being registered, for 60 days from the date it was lodged and for no longer than 90 days in total, and the registry carries its own note that there are exceptions
- Lodgement order, which is not consent. Where two or more mortgages are lodged at the same time, priority has to be established. The registry accepts this either by each mortgage referring to the preceding one in its encumbrances, or by an accompanying letter from the party giving up priority setting out the order
- A requisition. Where the registry examines a lodged document, finds one or more errors and asks for further information or changes, an additional fee is raised and must be paid before the document can be registered
The caveat and priority notice wording above is drawn from the registry's caveats and priority notices page, last updated June 2026, and the lodgement order rule from its priority between mortgages page, last updated June 2025.
This inverts what most borrowers expect. Because the register does not ask your first lender, the obstacles at the register are the ones already recorded on the title, so a caveat is the first thing to check for. If there is already one on your title, that is the problem to solve first, and it is a different instrument with different economics. Switchboard's caveat loans guide covers how that security works in practice, and the caveat loan entry defines the term.
A caveat is also not a way around your first lender's terms. If your first mortgage treats any further security as a default, lending against a caveat instead of a registered second mortgage does not change that, because the question is what your contract prohibits, not how the new lender records its interest.
How do you check what is already on your title before you apply?
Order a title search before you approach a lender. A title search is the register's record of who owns the land and what is recorded against it, and the Registrar General's questions and answers describe it as conclusive proof of ownership that can be ordered through an authorised information broker or directly from the registry. It tells you three things a lender will find in its own search anyway: who the registered owner is, which is the party that has to grant the mortgage, whether that is you, your company or the trustee of a trust; whether a caveat or priority notice is already noted; and which mortgages are already registered.
Will your first lender find out about a second mortgage?
Plan on the basis that it will. The register itself does not send your first lender a notice: the Registrar General's questions and answers describe the confirmation of a registered dealing going to the party that lodged it. But the second mortgage is then recorded on the title, where any title search shows it, and electronic lodgement workspaces run an automated title activity check against the register, so it surfaces in the next electronic transaction on the title. The most common route is simpler still: the second lender tells your first lender itself, for the priority reason set out under the first question on this page. Registering without asking is only safe if your contract never required you to ask.
What happens if you default on a second mortgage in New South Wales?
A registered second mortgagee in New South Wales can ultimately exercise mortgage enforcement rights, including a statutory power of sale, if the legal requirements for enforcement are met. Being second in priority does not mean the lender has no enforcement rights. It means the earlier first mortgage continues to rank ahead of the second mortgage and is not wiped out by a sale conducted from second position.
Sections 57 to 59 of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) set out the core statutory sequence. Section 57 deals with default and notice: where a written default notice is required, it must meet the requirements the section sets out before the power of sale can be used, and a copy must also be served on any registered mortgagee ranking behind the one enforcing, so if your first lender moves to sell, your second lender is told. Section 58 then gives the mortgagee the power to sell once the statutory conditions are satisfied.
- The second mortgagee can enforce. Second ranking affects priority, not whether a registered mortgage can carry enforcement rights
- The first mortgage remains ahead. Section 59 says a transfer by a mortgagee exercising the statutory power of sale is freed from the selling mortgage and mortgages registered after it. It does not say an earlier first mortgage is discharged by a second mortgagee's sale
- A first mortgagee can act independently. If the borrower is also in default under the first mortgage, the first lender has its own enforcement rights under its mortgage and the applicable law
- A shortfall does not automatically disappear. If the second lender is not fully repaid, whether and how it can pursue the remaining debt depends on the loan documents, the enforcement path and the law applying to that facility
- A voluntary sale or refinance is different from enforcement. In an ordinary sale or refinance, the conveyancing and payout process normally has to deal with the registered mortgages that must be discharged to deliver the required title position
Do not use the registration rule as a risk rule. The fact that NSW Land Registry Services can register a second mortgage without first-mortgagee consent says nothing about how serious the second lender's enforcement rights are after default.
There can also be additional notice, consumer-credit, hardship or court requirements depending on the loan, the borrower and the security. This section is the registry and statutory framework, not advice on an enforcement file. If default has already occurred or a notice has been served, get legal advice on the actual first mortgage, second mortgage, loan agreements and any deed of priority before taking action. What a business borrower should do when that notice arrives, and which rules reach a business purpose loan, is set out in business purpose second mortgage exit rules.
What does it cost to register a second mortgage in New South Wales?
The New South Wales land registry charges $166.60 excluding GST ($182.73 including GST) to register a mortgage in the 2026/27 financial year, and a second mortgage pays the same fee as a first. Add PEXA's single-title lodgement charge of $54.89 including GST and those two published charges total $237.62 before legal costs. PEXA's fee changes from 1 October 2026 exclude New South Wales, so that total is not affected by them.
| Charge | Who sets it | Published amount, 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
| Registry lodgement fee for a mortgage | The land registry, updated at the start of each financial year and calculated as set out in the New South Wales regulations | $166.60 excluding GST, $182.73 including GST |
| Torrens Assurance Fund levy inside that fee | Set by the state and collected inside the registry fee rather than charged separately | $5.35, included in the fee above, not charged on top |
| Electronic lodgement network charge | The electronic lodgement network operator that lodges the dealing, collected alongside the registry fee and passed on | $54.89 including GST for a single-title mortgage lodged through PEXA in New South Wales from 1 July 2026, or $73.04 with a financial settlement |
| Requisition fee | The registry, and only if the lodged document is examined and sent back for correction | Published in the same registry fee schedule; not reproduced here |
| Discharge when the second mortgage is paid out | The land registry for its fee, the lodging operator for its charge, and your second lender for any discharge costs of its own | $182.73 registry fee plus $26.29 PEXA fee for a single title, including GST, before the lender's own discharge costs |
| Legal and consent costs | Your solicitor, and your first lender if it is asked to sign anything | Not published |
The registry fee changes at the start of each financial year, and every other row in this table is set by somebody other than the registry. Legal costs are a matter for your solicitor.
The regulated New South Wales land registry lodgement fee for a Mortgage, a dealing fee applying to a second mortgage the same way it applies to a first. The registry's footnote reads "Includes $5.35 levy paid to Torrens Assurance Fund".
Basis: regulated dealing fee, New South Wales land registry. Source: NSW Land Registry Services, 2026/2027 fee schedule, cross-checked against the registry's live fees page. As at: the 2026/27 financial year, which the registry states came into effect on 1 July 2026. Qualifier: this is the registry's charge only, not the total cost of putting a second mortgage on a title.
Two further cost mechanics on the registry's fees page are worth knowing before you lodge. The first is the requisition fee already described above: if the registry examines the document, finds errors and asks for changes, an invoice follows and it has to be paid before registration. The second arrives later, when you pay the second mortgage out. The registry charges a fee to remove a single mortgage from a title, and where one document lodged through an electronic lodgement network removes two mortgages from a title, twice that fee is due, which on the 2026/27 schedule is $365.46 including GST. A refinance or sale that clears both an existing first and an existing second mortgage therefore pays the removal fee twice.
The electronic lodgement charge is set by the operator that lodges your dealing, not by the registry. PEXA's New South Wales price list, from 1 July 2026, shows a mortgage at $54.89 including GST for a single title and $75.90 for multiple titles, and a discharge at $26.29. Its 1 October 2026 fee changes apply in every jurisdiction except New South Wales, and the higher mortgage and discharge figures quoted for other states include a data charge New South Wales transactions are exempt from. PEXA states its fee is separate from the registry's. PEXA is not the only operator: the Registrar General names PEXA and Sympli, so ask which one will lodge your dealing. These charges are also under review. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal published a draft report on 3 July 2026 recommending that electronic lodgement service fees be set on a per-transaction basis from 2027-28, and the Registrar General expects the final report to go to the Minister in September 2026. Because only a subscriber to an electronic lodgement network can lodge the mortgage, a professional's cost is always somewhere on the bill, and your loan offer will usually say whose legal costs you are asked to pay. Other property-secured structures sit across the Property Lending Hub.
Is it different in Queensland or Victoria?
Yes. Between New South Wales and Queensland the difference is not what the register asks for but what the first mortgage is allowed to do about it, and Victoria adds a register-side step of its own. The rules that apply are those of the state where the property is, not where you live or where your business trades. The comparison table in the first section sets the three states side by side; this section is what sits behind those cells.
Queensland has a statute that New South Wales does not. The Property Law Act 2023 (Qld) carries section 125, headed "Subsequent mortgage does not affect first mortgage". Under it, a mortgagor may grant a second or subsequent mortgage, and granting it does not breach a term of the first mortgage, does not occasion any forfeiture or penalty, and does not make an amount payable or accelerate the time for payment. The section adds that it applies despite any agreement to the contrary, and Queensland's titles office practice manual says the same thing in its own words: a later mortgage can be created without the earlier mortgagee's consent, whatever the earlier mortgage says. The manual notes one exception, mortgages to the Queensland Housing Commission executed before 1 January 2004, which still need its consent. Its predecessor sits in the Property Law Act 1974 (Qld). Some published summaries attribute this rule to the Land Title Act 1994 (Qld), but the section usually cited there is headed "Powers of mortgagee" and says nothing of the kind. The rule is real; the citation that circulates with it often is not. Note its scope: its operative words speak to the terms of the first mortgage. Whether that reaches a restriction written into a separate loan or facility agreement, rather than into the mortgage itself, is not settled by anything read for this page, so take that question to your solicitor.
New South Wales has no equivalent, and the scope of that statement matters. No provision equivalent to Queensland's was located in the Real Property Act 1900 or the Conveyancing Act 1919, in their current consolidated versions, searched on 11 September 2026. That is what was searched and what was found, stated at the level it can be evidenced.
Victoria keeps a hurdle of its own. Lodgement there is electronic too, and a title nomination step still applies. Those mechanics belong on their own page and are set out in the Melbourne title control explainer. What the Victorian registry and PEXA charge to register and discharge a mortgage is set out in registering a second mortgage in Victoria.
The inversion is the part worth carrying away. In New South Wales the register says yes and the contract can still say no. In Queensland a statute says the first mortgage cannot. Those two states differ on whether the contract can bite, not on whether the registry asks, and it is the property's state that counts: a Sydney business owner borrowing against a Queensland investment property is in the Queensland position for that property. For a business owner deciding where to put the security, that changes the question from "will this be registered" to "what did I already promise", which is also the question when the second mortgage sits over a second property rather than the same one. The broader mechanics remain in the Australian second mortgage guide.
For a Sydney or New South Wales property, NSW Land Registry Services does not require the first lender's consent to register a second mortgage. The registry-side consent step ended on 11 October 2021. A caveat, priority notice or requisition can still obstruct the registration process, and the first-loan documents can still create a separate contractual problem.
Work the problem in this order. Confirm the property state and order a current title search. Read the first mortgage and facility terms for consent, further-encumbrance, negative-pledge and further-advance wording. Ask the proposed second lender whether consent, notice or a priority arrangement is one of its funding conditions. Disclose any redraw or line of credit. If the first lender says no, solve that contract or priority problem before treating registration as the answer. If the funding itself is the next question, start with second mortgage loans.
Key takeaway: in NSW, registration and permission are different questions. Check the title, the clause and the incoming lender's conditions before you apply.Frequently Asked Questions
The New South Wales land registry's regulated lodgement fee for a Mortgage is $166.60 excluding GST and $182.73 including GST for the 2026/27 financial year, which the registry states came into effect on 1 July 2026. A $5.35 Torrens Assurance Fund levy sits inside that amount rather than being charged on top of it, and the fee applies to a second mortgage the same way it applies to a first. It is not the total cost of registering: PEXA's own lodgement charge is $54.89 including GST for a single-title mortgage from 1 July 2026, bringing the two to $237.62, a requisition fee applies if the document is sent back for correction, and legal costs are on top. The funding structure itself is set out under second-ranking property finance. What the loan costs to borrow, as distinct from what the registry charges, is set out in what drives second mortgage rates.
PEXA's published New South Wales fee for lodging a mortgage is $54.89 including GST for a single title and $75.90 for multiple titles, or $73.04 for a single title where the workspace includes a financial settlement, from 1 July 2026. It is charged separately from the land registry's own fee of $182.73 including GST, so a single-title second mortgage carries $237.62 in registry and PEXA charges before any legal costs. PEXA is not the only operator: the Registrar General names PEXA and Sympli, so ask which one will lodge your dealing. PEXA has announced new participant fees from 1 October 2026 in every jurisdiction except New South Wales. Registration charges sit alongside the funding structure itself, which is covered across the Property Lending Hub.
Mortgage consent is an agreement between a borrower and an existing lender, not a requirement of the New South Wales land registry. Where a loan contract contains a further-encumbrance or negative pledge clause, the borrower has promised not to grant further security without the lender's agreement, and that agreement is the consent. It is a private instrument recorded between the parties, and where it is needed it is usually a written consent on the lender's letterhead that the lodging lawyer or conveyancer uploads with the documents, with no registry form for it. The register does not ask for it before registering a second mortgage, so a lodgement can succeed while the borrower is still in breach of contract. The instrument is defined in the deed of consent entry.
Yes. A registered second mortgagee can have a statutory power of sale after default and the required notice steps are satisfied. A sale from second position does not wipe an earlier first mortgage: section 59 of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) frees the title from the selling mortgage and mortgages registered after it, not from a mortgage registered before it. Enforcement and priority are legal questions, so get advice on the actual mortgages and any priority deed before acting. The instrument itself is explained in the second mortgage glossary entry.
Certificates of title were abolished in New South Wales on 11 October 2021. Two separate instruments produced that single date: the commencement of the Real Property Amendment (Certificates of Title) Act 2021 was proclaimed, and cessation day was separately declared by order under section 33AAA of the Real Property Act 1900 with a notice published in the Gazette. The same change abolished the control of the right to deal framework, which is why the register no longer asks for a nominated holder's consent before registering a dealing. An existing first mortgage is now recorded against the title without any paper certificate being produced.
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