From 11th October 2021, NSW Land Registry Services will no longer issue paper land titles. Existing paper titles will no longer have legal effect.

Your real property ownership has always lied within the Torrens Title register. The certificate simply reflects this status. That the certificate is now a digital one does not change one’s “ownership”.

In addition, the ‘dealing’ transaction that allows titles to be transferred will also be a digitally based process. Your solicitor or conveyancer will lodge dealings via an Electronic Lodgement Network. This means they need to be registered as a subscriber to the prepare and lodge dealings with Torrens title land. More information on eConveyancing can be found on the NSW LRS website https://www.nswlrs.com.au/eConveyancing.

Finally, research and industry consultation is underway to allow 100% of all survey plans to be lodged in a purely digital format. To date, plan images have been uploaded by surveyors in jpeg or PDF format. There has been options to upload a coordinate geometry file in Land XML format. Many surveyors  found this onerous and complex.

The intend is for the new system to be a productivity gain. The plans will link with Land Registry Services and the NSW Planning Portal to streamline the subdivision and strata certificate process. They will be the single point of truth so all consenting parties have access to the same information. The lot diagrams will be easier for non-surveyors to understand and to interpret property boundary information.

The project update is available at the Office of the Registrar General’s website https://www.registrargeneral.nsw.gov.au/land-boundaries/digital-survey-plans/project-update.

What does this mean to our clients? It means Hanlons is at the forefront of technology to ensure there are no delays and faster plan registration for their subdivision.