Main tenure types - all include areas of national parks, State forests and Aboriginal lands.

State leases include:

• large pastoral leases in the northern and western parts of the state
• grazing leases in more intensively farmed areas from the coastal belt to the centre of the state
• leases for commercial or industrial purposes
• leases for large tourism complexes over Queensland islands or prime sites
• leases that allow various types of developments (e.g. large housing estates), that are then sold as freehold blocks
• leases of land below high water mark
• leases of reserves, e.g. to a sporting organisation or club.

The Department of Natural Resources and Water (NRW) is responsible for dealing with these leases (e.g. transferring a lease from one lessee to another, or subdividing, or converting a lease to freehold) under the Land Act 1994.

• Types of lease
• Obtaining a lease, licence or permit
• Converting a lease to freehold
• Rents
• Native title

Types of lease

The main types of State lease are:

• term leases (granted for 1–100 years)
• perpetual leases (held by the lessee in perpetuity—not for 99 years as commonly believed)
• freeholding leases (where freehold title has been approved, but the lessee is paying off the purchase price and the freehold title will not issue until this is fully paid).

Other tenures which can be issued are:

• permits to occupy—for short-term occupation of State-controlled land. This tenure cannot be sold, sub-let or mortgaged.
• road licences—when a road has been temporarily closed, this tenure allows the licencee to use the land until such time as it is again required as a road.

Obtaining a lease, licence or permit

The first thing you need to establish if you are interested in a parcel of land is its ownership. You can obtain this information from the nearest NRW office.

If the parcel is unallocated State land, you can apply to NRW for allocation of the land, using the application form, and paying any prescribed application fee. Depending on where the land is, and what you intend to use it for, NRW will consider making it available:

• as a lease, licence, permit or freehold
• through a ballot, auction, or tender process, or without competition.

Converting a lease to freehold

Some term or perpetual leases issued under the Land Act 1994 may be considered for conversion to freehold. This excludes the following, which cannot be converted:

• a lease over a reserve
• a lease that contains a specific condition that restricts the conversion of the lease to freehold
• a term lease issued for pastoral purposes (note: however an application may be made to convert it to a perpetual lease)
• road licences, occupation licences and permits to occupy.

NRW assesses all applications for converting a lease to freehold against criteria set out in the Land Act 1994.

Rents

The lessee of a State lease must pay annual rent to the State. The current rates are as follows: 'UV' refers to the unimproved value of the property.

Category	Land use	% of UV
1 (1)	Grazing and agriculture	1.5
2	Intensive (non-broad hectare) primary production	3
3.1	Residential/rural residential	3
3.2	Private (non-commercial) uses	3
4	Commercial/industrial	5
5	Industrial	5 (2)
6	Charitable and non-commercial community service organisations	0.5
7	Communication sites	5
8.1	Public utilities	1
8.2	Government held tenures	5
9.1	Tourism—mainland	5
9.2	Tourism—island	4
10	Sporting and recreation	1 to 5 (3)

Notes:

1. These categories are fully described in the Land Regulation 1995.
2. Refers only to leases from the Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning.
3. The actual rate depends on possession of gaming and liquor licenses—see the Land Regulation 1995 for a full breakdown.

Native title

Native title may exist on some of these leases, and any native title issues would have to be considered under state and federal native title legislation Acts, as would any other requirements of the Land Act and other relevant State laws. Any dealings in these lands must also comply with federal and state native title legislation.

For more information on state leases, contact the nearest NRW office.

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Rural leasehold land

Leases are subjected to a range of conditions to ensure their appropriate management and that a 'duty of care' for the land is exercised by the lessee. Additional requirements for using rural leasehold land for agricultural, grazing and pastoral purposes are outlined in the Delbessie Agreement (State Rural Leasehold Land Strategy).