A fundamental change in the way property transactions occur is about to happen in South Australia.
The way that land transactions are recorded is about to be transformed and land transactions will be able to be done electronically. The implementation date has not yet been set, but it is expected to be within the next few weeks.
The most significant change for people dealing with land will be the abolition of Duplicate Certificates of Title. The Lands Titles Office (LTO) will no longer produce a copy of the title for the land owner (or in many cases a bank) to hold onto.
Ownership will be shown by searching at the LTO. A land owner will receive a confirmation of registration of a transfer or any other document that they lodge, but there will be no formal title deed confirming ownership.
If you are selling or otherwise dealing with your land, you will not have to produce the title deeds, and if you do send them to the LTO the LTO will destroy them.
A Solicitor or Conveyancer dealing with land have to take great care to ensure that he or she is certain that the person dealing with the land is the owner of the land or has the authority to deal with the land.
As part of this process it will also be possible to deal with the transfer of land without having to obtain bank cheques and attend at the LTO to lodge documents, it can be done remotely. This will speed up the process and ensure that you have the money from the sale of your land on the day of settlement instead of having to wait for bank cheques to clear.
To access electronic conveyancing, the solicitor and conveyancer on both sides of the transaction has to be set up and be approved to use the electronic system.
At Rudall & Rudall, we are ready to embrace this new way of doing things and will be ready to go as soon as the government switches on the electronic system.
Contact Us
Call us on 8523 8400 (Gawler) or 8211 6500 (Adelaide) to arrange an appointment for an initial no obligation consultation. Alternatively, send an email to legal@rudalls.com.au and we will contact you.