What you need to know about the NSW 1 July electronic lodgment mandate

The NSW Government’s e-Conveyancing timeline is moving forward with the next important deadline on 1 July 2018. The NSW LRS recently sent out an e-Conveyancing Update for June 2018.

Standalone property dealings

As of 1 July 2018, all standalone property dealings must be lodged electronically. Non-authorised deposit-taking institutions, legal practitioners, conveyancing professionals and the general public must comply with this mandate. The dealings included under this mandate are:

• Standalone transfers
• Standalone caveats
• Mortgages
• Discharges of mortgages
• Refinances
• Any combination of the above

InfoTrack now provides an electronic lodging service in NSW for standalone caveats and settlements (including transfers). We are here to help you during the transition to digital and can complete lodging matters on your behalf. For more information on these services click here or contact our NSW Settlements Team at eSettlementTeam@infotrack.com.au.

Exceptions to the mandate

There are certain exceptions to electronic lodgment, which are outlined in the Office of the Registrar General’s Circular Lodgment of standalone Transfers, Caveats and Mortgage Transactions from 1 July 2018.

Waivers

Below are links to all of the Conveyancing Rules Waivers:

• Conveyancing Rules Waiver CR 1/2018 – Non ELN Enabled Jurisdictions
• Conveyancing Rules Waiver CR 2/2018 – Non-Land Securities.
• Conveyancing Rules Waiver CR 3/2018–Transfer exceptions
• Conveyancing Rules Waiver CR 4/2018 – Transfers with unrepresented parties.
• Conveyancing Rules Waiver CR 5/2018 – Unrepresented Caveators
• Conveyancing Rules Waiver CR 6/2018 – Unrepresented non-ADI mortgagees

The Conveyancing Rules (Version 4) provide that dealings need not be lodged electronically if the Folio of the Register for the land affected by the transfer is not electronically tradeable, or if an Electronic Lodgment Network is not available and has not been available for one clear Business Day.

Ineligible dealings

There are certain dealings, outlined below, which are ineligible for electronic lodgments.

Transfers:

• Transfers on forms other than the 01T Transfer, such as the Transfer Including Easement.
• Transfers affecting more than 20 Folios of the Register.
• Transfers requiring an attachment to be registered (e.g. order of court)
• Transfers that need to be executed by a person other than the registered proprietor, such as a court officer. (Note this waiver does not apply to a transfer executed under a power of attorney).

Transfers creating a life estate or estate in remainder.

Caveats:

• Caveats against a registered interest (for example, a registered lease).
• Caveats against part of the land in a Folio of the Register.
• Caveats against premises.
• Caveats requiring an attachment, such as a sketch plan.
• If there are multiple caveators and they are not represented by a single subscriber.

Where the written consent of the registered proprietor is required for the purposes of section 74O Real Property Act 1900.

Mortgage transactions:

• Involving land securities located in jurisdictions where land registries are not enabled for electronic lodgment.
• Involving non-land securities which cannot be traded electronically.

If you need assistance with electronic lodging of standalone transfers or caveats, contact our NSW Settlement team at eSettlementTeam@infotrack.com.au.

For more information on these changes you can contact the Office of the Registrar General via email at org-econveyancing@finance.nsw.gov.au or refer to the ORG’s Publications & Rules page.