Mortgage registration fee 2026-27: what every state charges to register a mortgage, and to discharge it later

A mortgage only becomes ranked security once the land registry records it on the title. That registration is what puts a second mortgage behind the first in a fixed order, and it’s what a lender relies on if the property is ever sold. It also comes with a government fee, and a second fee when the mortgage is removed.

Both fees were indexed on 1 July 2026. Most figures you’ll find online are a year or two old. Below are the current numbers from each registry, then how they appear on a second mortgage settlement statement.

What is the mortgage registration fee in each state for 2026-27?

The registry fee is a flat charge per mortgage. It’s the same on a $50k loan as on a $5m loan, and the same for a first or second mortgage. These are the standard fees for one mortgage over one title, for documents lodged from 1 July 2026.

State / territory	Register a mortgage	Discharge it later	Round trip
Victoria (electronic)	$129.20	$129.20	$258.40
Tasmania	$167.58	$207.76	$375.34
Northern Territory	$181.00	$181.00	$362.00
NSW	$182.73	$182.73	$365.46
ACT	$184.00	$184.00	$368.00
South Australia	$204.00	$204.00	$408.00
Western Australia	$225.10	$225.10	$450.20
Queensland	$248.04	$248.04	$496.08

How to read the table:

• NSW fees include GST and a $5.35 Torrens Assurance Fund levy, per the NSW LRS 2026/27 fees update. A dealing lodged before 1 July 2026 but finalised afterwards is still charged at the 2025/26 rate.
• Victoria sets its fees in fee units, worth $17.27 each for 2026-27. Paper lodgement of a mortgage costs more ($139.50) than electronic.
• Queensland is the most expensive state at $248.04 each way, under the Titles Registry FY2026/27 schedule.
• Western Australia: Landgate’s regulated fees are not subject to GST, and the same $225.10 applies to a mortgage and to a discharge “per mortgage”.
• South Australia’s $204 includes a $15 transaction fee and covers up to 20 titles in one document, provided the mortgagor and mortgagee are the same on every title.
• Tasmania is the one place where getting out costs more than getting in: a discharge or partial discharge is $207.76, against $167.58 to register.
• The ACT rose from $178 last financial year to $184, under the Land Titles (Fees) Determination 2026 (No 2).
• The NT figure is the standard dealing fee listed on the NT Government’s Land Titles Office forms and fees page.

The formula for the government side is simple:

Registry cost = registration fee + discharge fee (+ any extra registry items such as a priority notice)

Is there stamp duty on a mortgage in Australia?

No. Mortgage duty, once charged as a percentage of the amount secured, has been abolished in every state and territory. Queensland’s, for example, ended from 1 July 2008 under the Revenue and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2008.

This matters for business borrowers because the two get confused. Transfer duty applies when property changes hands. A second mortgage over property you already own doesn’t transfer anything, so the only government charge on the mortgage itself is the registry fee above. If someone quotes “stamp duty” on a second mortgage, ask what it actually is.

What does PEXA add on top?

Nearly every mortgage is now lodged electronically, and the e-lodgement network charges its own fee per document. These are PEXA’s 2026-27 prices for one title, including GST:

Document	NSW	Other states
Mortgage, lodged on its own	$54.89	$55.99
Mortgage, with a financial settlement	$73.04	$74.14
Discharge of mortgage, on its own	$26.29	$27.39
Discharge, with a financial settlement	$54.01	$55.11

Source: PEXA pricing from 1 July 2026. From 1 October 2026 PEXA also started pricing some documents outside NSW by each party’s role in the workspace (primary or additional participant). The figure on your statement can therefore differ slightly from the table.

“With a financial settlement” means the funds move through the PEXA workspace on the same day the mortgage is lodged. That’s normal when a second mortgage pays out an ATO debt, a supplier or a short-term lender at settlement. A discharge at a sale or refinance almost always goes through with a financial settlement too.

Which registry items can a second mortgage add?

The mortgage fee is the same for first and second mortgages. But a second mortgage sits on a title that already has a lender on it, and that can bring a few extra registry items. Each one is a fixed fee you can plan for:

• A priority notice. In NSW, a priority notice reserves the title for an upcoming dealing so nothing else can be registered first. It costs $49.84 to lodge in 2026-27, and $20.65 to withdraw or extend. Tasmania charges $29.59. Our page on priority and registration explains when lenders use one.
• A registered postponement or variation of priority. If the lenders agree to fix the order in a registered document rather than a private deed, it’s charged as a dealing: $182.73 for a postponement of mortgage in NSW, and $184 in the ACT. This usually comes out of the first mortgagee consent process.
• An old mortgage that was never discharged. A loan repaid years ago can still sit on the title if its discharge was never lodged. Removing it costs a discharge fee and the time it takes to track down the old lender. A title search before you borrow shows this up early.
• A requisition. If a document has an error, the registry sends it back. NSW charges $66.99 for a dealing requisition; the ACT charges $128 for a simple one. A requisition also delays registration, which can be worse than the fee.

The most common cause of a requisition is a name that doesn’t match the title exactly: a middle name left out, an old company name, a trustee who has since changed. It’s worth fixing before any documents are drawn.

If you’d like a specialist to look over the title and the numbers before anything is lodged, check your options here. It takes about a minute.

Who pays, and where does it show on the settlement statement?

On a business second mortgage the borrower pays the lender’s costs of taking and releasing security, and that includes the registry fees. They appear in two places.

At settlement you’ll usually see these lines, deducted from the advance:

1. Registration fee for the mortgage (the state figure above).
2. E-lodgement fee for the mortgage document.
3. Any priority notice or postponement fee.
4. Title, company or trust searches.
5. The lender’s legal and documentation costs, which are usually the largest line.

At payout the payout figure should include:

1. The government discharge fee.
2. The e-lodgement fee for the discharge.
3. The lender’s own discharge or settlement fee, if its contract has one.

Our guide to paying out a second mortgage covers how payout figures are calculated and how to confirm the discharge has registered. For all the costs in one place, see second mortgage costs explained.

A quick reconciliation: subtract the state’s registration fee and the PEXA charge from whatever the quote calls “registration and settlement”. What’s left is the lender’s or solicitor’s own charge for that step. Knowing the split helps you compare two quotes line for line.

Illustrative example: one owner, two titles, two states

Round numbers, illustrative only. Government and network fees only, not lender or legal costs.

An Albury engineering workshop needs funds to buy steel for a large fabrication contract. The owner offers their home in Albury, NSW, as the main security. To keep the combined LVR in a comfortable band, the lender also takes a second mortgage over an investment unit across the river in Wodonga, Victoria.

Item	NSW home	Victorian unit
Register second mortgage	$182.73	$129.20
PEXA, mortgage with financial settlement	$73.04	$74.14
Discharge at payout	$182.73	$129.20
PEXA, discharge with financial settlement	$54.01	$55.11
Total over the life of the loan	$492.51	$387.65

That’s $880.16 in fixed registry and network fees across two titles in two states. The Victorian unit adds about $390 over the life of the loan. Next to the extra borrowing headroom it may create, that’s small. But it’s worth comparing with what the second title actually changes. Run both properties through the equity and LVR calculator to see whether the second title moves your numbers enough to justify it. Our page on second mortgages over two properties explains how lenders spread the load.

Had both properties been in South Australia with the same owner, one $204 mortgage document could have covered both titles, and one discharge would have released them.

Do the fees change, and when should I budget for the new ones?

Every registry indexes its fees on 1 July. The 2026-27 rises were modest, from about 3% to 4% (the ACT from $178 to $184, and WA’s document fee from $216.60 to $225.10). Two timing points follow from that:

• Your discharge fee is charged at the rate in force when the discharge is lodged. A 12-month second mortgage that settles in October 2026 will probably be discharged under the 2027-28 schedule. Allow a few dollars more than today’s figure.
• In NSW, lodgement date decides the rate. A dealing lodged before 1 July and finalised after it keeps the old fee.

Neither will change whether a loan makes sense. They just keep the payout figure from surprising you.

Registry fees are the easy part. Let’s look at the title and the numbers

Registry fees are fixed, published and identical from one lender to the next. The work in a second mortgage is elsewhere: a title that’s clean and correctly named, a first mortgagee that’s been approached properly, a combined LVR that leaves a buffer, and an exit that holds up.

That’s where we start. Tell us where the property is, what it’s worth, what’s owed on it, how much the business needs and who owns it. The enquiry takes about 60 seconds, and making it doesn’t touch your credit file. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders: they stay with one specialist, so your phone won’t light up with strangers. A real person reads your enquiry, works through the title and the numbers, and calls you to talk through a structure, registry fees and all.

Please fill the form in accurately, especially the property’s state, the balance on the first mortgage and every name on the title. That’s how the first structure we discuss becomes the one that registers cleanly.

Find out where your property stands →