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Grant awarded to streamline Australian land title laws

5 October 2005

Dr Elise Histed from the Law faculty has received $50,000 from the Victorian Land Registry to investigate the possibility of harmonising registered title law across Australia.

From left: Registrar of titles Ms Barbara Flett, Dr Elise Histed, Minister for Planning Mr Rob Hulls, Built Environment deputy secretary Ms Genevieve Overell, and Law dean Professor Arie Freiberg.

The Victorian Land Registry, with the approval of the other state and territory registries, has initiated the project to address land registration inconsistencies.

The Australian states and territories introduced their own systems of land title registration in the mid to late-1800s.

"But this approach has two serious problems," Dr Histed said. "The first is the fundamental differences in the rights of landowners between the jurisdictions, and the second is that the system does not streamline the difficulties experienced before the mid-1880s.

"Today, for example, a person who receives land as a gift has different rights on that land, depending on which jurisdiction it's in -- which hardly seems like a sensible situation."

If Dr Histed's project is successful, the implications for the economy and property owners could be huge.

"If doctrines and procedures can be harmonised across the country, the resulting economic efficiencies and cost savings will be enormous," she said.

Dr Histed said this would not only boost national commerce by making interstate property ownership easier to achieve, it would also facilitate international trade and commerce.

"Companies -- and in particular financial and lending institutions -- dealing with property in Australia have to cope with eight different sets of legislation, which is one area we hope to streamline," she said.

"Victoria hopes this matter can be advanced to a national template with legislation through the Standing Committee of Attorneys General.

"This will also facilitate electronic conveyancing across the jurisdictions, so solicitors can do land transactions -- such as buying and selling houses --electronically.

"The project also allows us to take a fresh look at the workings of the Land Registration System in the 21st century and, in light of our experience over the past 150 years, revitalise it for the modern residential and commercial world."

Dr Histed will consult with all state and territory land registries in the course of her research as well as making international comparisons.

The Victorian Land Registry grant has been used as seed funding for an Australian Research Council linkage grant application, which, if successful, would double the amount of funding available for the project.