An exciting development in property law has been announced. After much anticipation, the Queensland Government has now passed legislation which will mean that from 1 October 2019, original paper certificates of title (also known as title deeds) for property in Queensland will no longer have any legal effect.
The titles of property in Queensland have been maintained electronically for many years and the dispensation of paper certificates of title marks one of the final changes to fully electronic titling. While older certificates of title can be retained for historical value, many a grey hair is likely to be avoided from the stress of trying to locate lost certificates after many years or explaining the inadvertent destruction of certificates. Currently the process for dispensing with a paper certificate of title is a fairly arduous process involving extensive enquiries, advertising and declarations.
Prior to 1994, every property in Queensland had a paper certificate of title issued for it. This certificate was required in order to deal with property, by sale, transfer, mortgage or otherwise. However, from 1994 the Queensland Titles Registry converted to an electronic titles register and has not automatically issued paper titles for property since then. A paper certificate could only be obtained on request and for a fee.
Where a paper certificate of title is issued, it must be produced when any dealings with the land are to be registered with the Queensland Titles Registry. Without it, a dealing affecting land (where a paper certificate is issued) cannot register. It is an important document, that by itself, evidences ownership of property. As a result, lost or stolen certificates can (and historically have been) a huge concern for owners of property, particularly when trying to complete a sale of their property within the time frames of a standard conveyance.
More recently, the Titles Registry has been working to phase out the paper certificate of title. When a certificate of title has been issued for a property and a dealing lodged for registration (such as a transfer of ownership which required the deposit of the original paper title), the original certificate would be destroyed and not reissued.
As a result many properties no longer have paper certificates issued today.
Please feel free to contact us on 07 4036 9700 if you have questions about how these changes will affect your property if you have a paper title for your property issued. Miller Harris Lawyers would be happy to assist you with all your property law questions.