Transfer of property after death: transmission applications in Victoria.

When a Victorian landowner dies, the property does not pass automatically to the family. Title still sits in the deceased person's name on the Victorian register, and a formal legal step is required before anyone can sell it, refinance it, or be recorded as the new owner. That step is usually a transmission application — a Land Use Victoria process that moves the title from the deceased into the hands of the executor, administrator or surviving joint owner.

This guide is written for executors, beneficiaries and family members navigating that process for the first time. It explains what a transmission application is, how it differs from survivorship between joint owners, where probate and letters of administration fit in, when it makes sense to transmit to beneficiaries versus sell directly from the estate, the delays families typically encounter, and the costs and timelines involved. It is general information about Victorian law; for advice on a specific estate, please contact our team.

What a transmission application is

A transmission application is a dealing lodged with Land Use Victoria (the Registrar of Titles) that records a change in ownership caused by a death. It does not transfer the beneficial interest to a beneficiary — that is a separate transfer. It moves the legal title into the name of the person who, under the will or the rules of intestacy, has the right to deal with the land: usually the executor named in a grant of probate, or the administrator named in letters of administration.

Once the transmission is registered, the executor or administrator holds the land in their capacity as the legal personal representative of the estate. They can then sell the property, mortgage it where necessary to pay liabilities, or transfer it to the beneficiary entitled under the will or intestacy rules. Until the transmission is registered, none of those steps can be completed in PEXA, because the registered proprietor on title is still the deceased.

Transmission applications in Victoria are governed by the Transfer of Land Act 1958 (Vic) and the Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic). They are lodged electronically through PEXA by an Australian Registered Conveyancer or solicitor, and supported by a certified copy of the grant of probate or letters of administration issued by the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Survivorship versus transmission

The first question on any Victorian title after a death is how the deceased held the land. Two co-owners can hold the same property in very different ways, and the legal consequence on death is very different in each case.

Joint tenants share a single, undivided interest in the whole property. When one joint tenant dies, their interest does not form part of their estate — the surviving joint tenant or tenants take the whole property automatically by the right of survivorship. The administrative step is small: an application by surviving proprietor is lodged with Land Use Victoria, accompanied by a death certificate, and the deceased's name is removed from title.

Tenants in common, by contrast, each own a defined share. When a tenant in common dies, their share forms part of their estate and is dealt with under their will or the intestacy rules. The surviving co-owner does not inherit the share by survivorship; the deceased's share must be transmitted to their executor or administrator, then transferred to the beneficiary entitled under the will, the surviving spouse on intestacy, or to a buyer if the share is sold.

How co-owners held the title at the date of death decides whether the family deals with a one-page survivorship application or a full transmission and estate administration. It is the single most important question to answer first.

Most Victorian married and de facto couples hold their home as joint tenants, which is why survivorship is so common after the death of one spouse. Investment properties, blended-family arrangements, business co-ownerships and properties acquired with adult children are more often held as tenants in common — which is why those estates almost always require a transmission application.

Probate: when the deceased left a will

Where the deceased left a valid will, the executor named in it applies to the Supreme Court of Victoria for a grant of probate. Probate is the Court's formal recognition that the will is the last valid will of the deceased and that the executor is authorised to administer the estate. Once granted, the executor can call in assets, pay debts, and deal with Victorian land in the deceased's name.

Probate is generally required where the deceased owned Victorian real estate in their sole name, or as a tenant in common. Land Use Victoria will not register a transmission application without a sealed grant. Even where the property is being sold immediately rather than transferred to a beneficiary, the title cannot pass to a buyer until probate has been obtained and a transmission has been registered (or, in some PEXA workflows, lodged in the same workspace as the transfer).

Probate applications in Victoria typically take six to twelve weeks from filing to grant once the application is complete, depending on Court workload and whether requisitions are raised. The estate must also publish a notice of intended application on the Supreme Court probate notices website at least 14 days before filing.

Letters of administration: when there is no will

If the deceased did not leave a will, or left a will that did not validly appoint a willing executor, the Supreme Court can grant letters of administration to a person entitled to apply — usually the spouse, then the children, then more distant family in the order set out in the Administration and Probate Act. The administrator stands in the same position as an executor: they can lodge a transmission application, sell or transfer the property, and distribute the estate.

Intestacy in Victoria is now governed by the statutory distribution rules that apply to deaths on or after 1 November 2017. In broad terms, the surviving partner inherits the whole estate where there are no children from another relationship; where there are children from another relationship, the partner receives a statutory legacy plus a share of the residue, and the children take the balance. The practical effect on a transmission is that the administrator must understand who is entitled before any beneficiary transfer can be settled.

Applications for letters of administration generally take longer than probate, partly because the Court requires more supporting evidence about family structure, partly because notice and consents from other potential applicants may be needed. Families should plan for two to four months from instruction to grant in a straightforward intestacy.

Transferring to beneficiaries after transmission

Once the executor or administrator is registered on title, they can transfer the property to the beneficiary entitled under the will or the intestacy rules. This second step is itself a registered dealing — a transfer from legal personal representative to beneficiary — and it is the moment the beneficiary becomes the registered proprietor.

A beneficiary transfer in Victoria is generally exempt from transfer duty where it gives effect to the will or the intestacy rules and the beneficiary receives the property in the share they are entitled to. The State Revenue Office requires the transfer to be supported by evidence of entitlement — typically the will, the grant, and a statement from the executor confirming that the transfer is in conformity with the will and not, for example, a gift between beneficiaries dressed up as a distribution.

Where beneficiaries agree among themselves to depart from the strict entitlements under the will — for example, one child taking the family home and another taking the equivalent in cash — the transfer can usually still be structured as an exempt distribution, but only with careful documentation. Done informally, the same arrangement can be re-characterised by the SRO as a dutiable transfer between beneficiaries, generating an unexpected duty bill at market value.

Selling from the estate versus transmitting first

When the family's intention is to sell the property rather than keep it, the executor or administrator usually has a choice. They can transmit title into the estate and sell directly to the buyer, or they can transmit to the beneficiary and let the beneficiary sell. Each path has different tax, timing and risk consequences.

Selling directly from the estate keeps the transaction in the hands of the legal personal representative, who is bound by fiduciary duties to all beneficiaries. The sale proceeds flow into the estate and are distributed in cash. From a capital gains tax perspective, the estate generally inherits the deceased's cost base, and for a pre-CGT or main residence dwelling there is often a two-year window from the date of death in which a sale by the estate is fully exempt from CGT, with limited extensions available from the Australian Taxation Office where the sale is delayed for genuine reasons.

Transferring to the beneficiary first and then selling is sometimes preferred where beneficiaries want to control the sale themselves, or where holding the property for longer is part of the plan. The CGT treatment is broadly similar — the beneficiary inherits the cost base and the main residence rules — but the dwelling must continue to qualify, and the two-year exemption window starts from the same date. Beneficiaries who move into the property and live in it as their principal place of residence can also extend the main residence exemption indefinitely from that point forward.

There are practical considerations too. Selling from the estate avoids two sets of conveyancing costs and one transfer duty event (which would otherwise apply to a sale by a beneficiary to a buyer, although that duty is paid by the buyer). Transferring to a beneficiary first means the estate can be finalised faster, with the property no longer hanging over the administration.

Common delays

Most transmission delays come from the same handful of issues. Families who plan for them lose weeks rather than months.

• Locating the original will. Land Use Victoria and the Supreme Court need the original, not a copy. Wills held by a former solicitor, in a safe deposit box or by an estranged family member can take weeks to recover.
• Death certificate timing. Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria typically issues a death certificate four to six weeks after registration. Survivorship and transmission applications cannot be lodged without it.
• Probate requisitions. The Probate Office may raise questions about will execution, witness availability, or the deceased's last known address. Each requisition adds two to four weeks.
• Title issues. Old paper certificates of title, unregistered mortgages, caveats, or historical errors on title can require correction before a transmission can be registered.
• Family disputes. Contested wills, family provision claims under Part IV of the Administration and Probate Act, or disputes between co-executors can pause administration entirely until resolved.
• Tax clearance and creditors. Executors who distribute or transfer before debts, tax and superannuation matters are resolved can be personally liable. Statutory notice periods for creditors add at least a month to a careful administration.

Where the property is to be sold, the additional dependency is the contract of sale and the buyer's finance timeline. Many estates list the property as soon as probate is on foot and time the settlement so that the transmission and the transfer to the buyer can be lodged in the same PEXA workspace.

Costs and timelines

The headline costs of a Victorian transmission, in addition to the lawyer's or conveyancer's professional fees, are the Land Use Victoria registration fees and the Supreme Court filing fees for the grant. Registration fees for survivorship and transmission applications are modest — typically in the low hundreds of dollars per dealing in 2026, with the exact amount set by the Land Use Victoria fee schedule and adjusted each financial year.

Supreme Court filing fees for a grant of probate or letters of administration are tiered by the gross value of the estate. Small estates pay a few hundred dollars; estates above the higher value thresholds can pay several thousand. There are also disbursements for advertising, certified copies, and any title searches required during the administration.

A realistic Victorian timeline for a straightforward estate with a clear will, a single property and no disputes is two to four months from death to a registered transmission, and a further one to three months to settle a sale or complete a beneficiary transfer. Intestate estates, estates with multiple properties, or estates where a Part IV claim is foreshadowed often run six to twelve months end to end. Families who instruct early and gather documents in parallel almost always move through the process more quickly than families who wait for one step to finish before starting the next.

Transfer duty on the transmission itself is nominal. The dutiable events that families need to plan for are later — on a sale to a buyer (paid by the buyer), or on a transfer between beneficiaries that departs from strict entitlements (paid by the receiving beneficiary, at market value). Our Victorian transfer duty guide sets out how those duties are calculated, including the exemptions that apply to genuine distributions from a deceased estate.