Reading a Crown lease purpose clause
The difference between one dwelling and two is the difference between two deals.
In the ACT you do not own land freehold. You hold a Crown lease, and the lease contains a purpose clause saying what the land may be used for. That clause, not the zone, governs what you may build today.
The zone tells you what you could apply for. The purpose clause tells you what you already have. The gap between them is what the Lease Variation Charge prices.
What to look for
| If the clause says | Existing dwellings |
|---|---|
| "one single dwelling house" | 1 |
| "not more than two dwellings" | 2 — no charge to go to two |
| "residential purposes" with no number | Ambiguous. See below. |
The unnumbered lease and Schedule 1
Where a lease permits residential use but does not specify a number of dwellings, you may need a Schedule 1 variation to specify one — which is what allows unit titling. That is a separate charge from the Schedule 2 charge for increasing the number, and it is roughly $49,000 per dwelling.
This tool models Schedule 2. Treat Schedule 1 as a line item to confirm with ACT Planning rather than a number to rely on, and never assume a lease that is silent on the number is a lease that permits any number.
Where to get it
ACTLIS Crown Lease Search. It costs a small fee and it is the cheapest piece of due diligence in this entire process — it can swing the answer by two hundred thousand dollars in an inner suburb.
Note also that the free ACTLIS Check Search only covers a three-month window. It will not reveal an older mortgage or an older interest. If you need to know what is registered against the title, pay for the full title details.
Last reviewed 1 August 2026. Every figure here should be verified against the current instrument — see sources and method.