Lodging Party FAQs

The SPEAR ELN allows lodging party subscribers to lodge Subdivision Act, Transfer of Land Act and other survey-based applications electronically at Land Use Victoria (LUV), including:

• Completion of application lodgment and owner’s corporation forms
• Provision of relevant supporting documents
• Validation of information prior to electronic lodgment
• Payment of lodgment fees to Land Use Victoria

Lodging parties interested in becoming a SPEAR ELN subscriber will need to:

• Read and comply with the SPEAR ELN Participation Rules
• Register their interest online
• Obtain a digital certificate
• Complete the required Verification of Identity (VOI) and signup process
• Participate in a free training session

More information about becoming a SPEAR ELN subscriber is available from How do I get started?

There is no cost to use SPEAR, however you will need to purchase a digital certificate through DigiCert for each user that will be signing the electronic lodgment and owner’s corporation forms. A digital certificate is not required for users that will be viewing and completing documents ready for signing or submitting applications for lodgment at LUV.

Digital certificates are valid for two years. See the DigiCert website for current costs associated with purchasing a digital certificate.

Australia Post may apply a charge for VOI.

For information on who is entitled to sign Registry Instruments in Victoria, visit the Australian Registrars' National Electronic Conveyancing Council.

Government organisations and land developers representing themselves should ensure Registry Instruments are digitally signed by an authorised signatory within their organisation.

SPEAR uses ABN–DSC Gatekeeper certificates issued by DigiCert. If you use a DigiCert-issued certificate for PEXA, this will also work in SPEAR. If your PEXA digital certificate was not issued by DigiCert, you will need to obtain a new digital certificate from DigiCert for use in SPEAR.

Subdivision lodgment fee payments must be made at the time of lodgment by direct debit with an existing LUV customer account or credit card. SPEAR will display the fee amount to be paid. NOTE: Credit Card payments are limited to $100,000.

There are many benefits to SPEAR, notably, an increased transparency in the application approval process, improved access to all application documents, and a standardised approach to submissions across different councils. A more detailed list of benefits can be found here.

All certificates of title will need to be nominated by the controlling party using the existing processes – i.e. paper or PEXA. SPEAR ELN subscribers in possession of paper certificates of title must convert them to electronic certificates of title. If you hold eCT control, nomination is not required

More information about nominating paper certificates of title is available on the SPEAR website here.

All consents need to be supplied as PDFs in SPEAR.

Nomination by a mortgagee is considered consent and isn’t required to be uploaded in SPEAR. Mortgagees consent is only required for multiple mortgagees by those not controlling the title.

Yes, the lodging party will be notified automatically by SPEAR when the plan is released for lodgment by the surveyor.

Ensure that you are logged in with your ELN designated user profile. If surveyors release the application for a paper lodgment it will be sent to your email address and can only be accessed within a non ELN activated guest account.

If the lodging method is set to paper, you can request lodging party access to the application electronically from the Applicant Contact and it will be transferred to your ELN user profile list once accepted.

Yes. SPEAR will notify all users 12 months, 6 months, 3 months and 1 month before a plan’s five year certification expires.

Where certificates of title is required to be nominated, SPEAR will check that this is the case before allowing the application to be submitted to Land Use Victoria. Nominations occur outside of SPEAR so there is currently no ability to notify the lodging party when certificates of title have been nominated.

Yes, completing the mandatory actions in SPEAR to enable plan lodgment (forms, fees, titles, consents, street addressing, survey documents and follower transactions for s.35 and ‘Not in Common Ownership’ subdivisions) renders the plan lodgment checklist redundant.

The lodging party will include in SPEAR the variables required for fee calculation – i.e. the number of parcels being created or the plan purpose/s (Section 32 subdivisions only). The plan acceptance officer will confirm or amend these values and the final fee will be calculated by the Victorian Online Titles System (VOTS) and be presented to the lodging party in SPEAR at the time of lodgment.

If applicable to the subdivision, the Owners Corporation Additional Information forms (OC1 and OC2) are required to be completed and digitally signed in SPEAR. These will form part of the electronic lodgment. Where provided by the surveyor, the information on this form will be prepopulated by SPEAR, however lodging parties can amend this prior to signing the form.

The Owners Corporation Rules form (OC5) will be an optional action for lodging parties and will allow a PDF containing the rules to be uploaded. This will also be required to be digitally signed.

Lodging parties will be able to access SPEAR when they are invited by the surveyor or may request access from the surveyor within the system. This can occur at any point from the Responsible Authority accepting the initial application submitted by the surveyor and the application being released for lodgment.

The lodging party can create the application lodgment form when the plan is certified by council. This allows a copy of the certified plan and application form to be provided to the mortgagee when seeking consent for the subdivision.

The validation and electronic lodgment process can begin once the plan has been released for lodgment by the surveyor.

Yes, refusal notices will be loaded into SPEAR. The lodging party can amend and re-submit their application following a refusal.

Yes, SPEAR will automatically send an email notification to the lodging party when these changes are requested by LUV and a subsequent notification when they are made by the surveyor.

SPEAR will notify the lodging party of registration by email. Details of new title allocations, including newly created volume/ folios, will be available to lodging parties in SPEAR immediately upon registration

Lodgment and registration of Section 173 agreements occur outside of SPEAR so there is currently no ability to record the dealing numbers or notify the lodging party when they have been registered.

The surveyor will need to nominate the new lodging party to give them access to the application. All the previous lodging party’s documents will be removed automatically, and the new lodging party can begin the application lodgment process

If the transfer is to a paper lodging party, the lodgment would revert to the paper process.

Lodging party users can be set up with different authentication levels in SPEAR. These allow:

• Standard users - viewing of documents, completion of forms and uploading of documents
• Password users - all the above, plus submission at LUV and payment of lodgment fee
• Signing users - all the above, plus signing of forms.

Lodging parties will be able to specify details of any leader or follower dealings, such as transfers that apply to the subdivision application. LUV will ensure the subdivision is fit to be lodged before requesting lodgment of the leader or follower dealing/s outside of SPEAR. The lodging party must pay for and lodge the subdivision before the leader or follower dealing/s can be lodged.

For further information about the SPEAR System, please visit the SPEAR website at www.spear.land.vic.gov.au or contact the SPEAR Service Desk on (03) 9194 0612 or email fcrne.vasb@qryjc.ivp.tbi.nh