Renew an aquaculture lease

The department will send you a reminder notice at least 90 days prior to the expiry of your lease. If you choose to renew that lease, a duly made application must be lodged by the lease’s expiry date. The department may accept a renewal application up to 30 days after the date of expiry.

You may apply to renew your lease earlier, up to 12 months prior to the expiry date.

A duly made lease renewal application must consist of the following:

• A completed lease renewal application form, which can be either the paper version or the online version. For the paper version, every section of the form must be completed and all relevant lessees must sign the declaration.
• Payment of the application fee (refer to the Schedule of Aquaculture Fees).

An application that is not duly made will be rejected and returned to you.

When the department receives your renewal application, it will send you an invoice for the application fee. Payment options will be provided on the invoice.

If a lease application is withdrawn or refused, the department is not required to refund the application fee. The department may refund the fee, or a portion of it, if the circumstances are appropriate.

The department will check that the application is duly made and there are no issues that may hold up its progression (for example, overdue debt on your aquaculture account). The department will also check if the lease conditions need to be updated.

If the application can be progressed, the department will generate new lease documents, which will be sent to you for signing. The original and duplicate lease documents must be signed, witnessed and returned to the department within 60 days. Failure to return the lease documents within this timeframe may result in the refusal of the application.

Once the signed lease documents have been returned, the department will finalise the renewal and publish the details in the NSW Government Gazette. The original lease documents will be returned to you for safekeeping. The permit holder of the lease will be given an updated copy of their aquaculture permit.

See the aquaculture transactions factsheet for more information on processing times.

A lease renewal application may be refused if:

• the lessee is disqualified from holding an aquaculture permit.
• the lessee fails to complete any requirements of the transaction within a specified timeframe.
• the lessee has debt on their aquaculture account that is more than 90 days overdue.
• the lessee has failed to clean up a previously terminated lease.
• the renewal of the lease is not in the public interest.

Before an application is refused, the department will give the lessee an opportunity to resolve any issues or to lodge objections to the refusal of the application.

If it is the first renewal of the lease after it was granted, you do have a preferential right to lease the area for another term, against any other applicant, provided that the renewal application is duly made. The preferential right only arises when the department is satisfied that you have observed and performed the covenants and conditions of the lease, and the department is satisfied that the area is available for aquaculture.

Not unless it is apparent that the current lease area is inconsistent with the existing lease plan, or an issue with the lease boundaries is found (for example overlapping the cadastral boundary). In such cases, the department may require that the lease be resurveyed at the expense of the lessee.

A lease may be held under a joint tenancy or a common tenancy arrangement.

Joint tenancy is only an option for leases that are held by a partnership. Under joint tenancy, upon the death of a lessee, the lease is automatically transmitted to any surviving lessees.

Under common tenancy, the lease will be transmitted according to the deceased lessee’s last will and testament following a grant of probate, or as per the instructions provided in the letters of administration.

An adjustment to the tenancy arrangement can be made at the time of renewal.

If you are not going to renew a lease that is about to expire, please advise the department of this.

When the lease expires, you will be issued with a notice under section 171 of the Fisheries Management Act 1994, advising you to remove all improvements (including cultivation materials, lease markings and structures) from the lease area. You will be given 3 months to complete this work.

If you do not comply with this notice, further action will be taken under this legislation.

Any refundable lease security arrangements (cash deposit or bank guarantee) will not be released if there are any terminated leases that have not been remediated.

See the aquaculture lease and permit holder responsibilities factsheet for information about your responsibilities as a lessee (and where relevant, a permit holder).

For more information, contact aquaculture administration via email at aquaculture.administration@dpird.nsw.gov.au.

This checklist will help you to lodge a successful lease renewal application.

1. Have you completed every section of the application form and have all lessees signed the declaration?
2. Do you have any overdue debt on your aquaculture account/s? If so, please pay this debt prior to submitting your application.
3. Do you have any outstanding clean up issues on a terminated lease? If so, please speak to someone in aquaculture administration about your options to resolve these issues.