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ELECTRONIC CONVEYANCING TO BE MANDATED IN QUEENSLAND

By October 6, 2022No Comments

Following in the footsteps of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, Electronic Conveyancing (eConveyancing) will now be compulsory in Queensland for certain Land Title transactions. Although many Queensland practitioners have already embraced electronic conveyancing, from 20 February 2023 paper settlements will now become a thing of the past. The Queensland Titles Office has recently announced that selected Instruments and Documents must be lodged through Electronic Lodgement Network (ELN), pursuant to The Land Title Regulation 2002 (Qld) (Regulation), unless an exemption applies. 

Are there any benefits to electronic settlements?

If you have been involved in a sale or purchase of a property in recent years, you may have heard of the term “PEXA”, which is the electronic settlement platform used by practitioners to settle property transactions within a digital workspace. Since PEXA has been available in Queensland, we have seen numerous benefits and efficiencies that have replaced the manual “paper” settlement process. Some of these benefits include:

  1. Immediate confirmation of lodgement and registration;
  2. Immediate electronic transfer of settlement monies (no longer requiring trust or bank cheques);
  3. Less paper documents for client’s to sign; and
  4. Multiple settlements can be linked to settle at the same time.

What Transactions can settle electronically?

The following transactions can be lodged using eConveyancing in Queensland:-

  1. Transfers;
  2. Mortgages and Releases of Mortgage;
  3. Caveats and Withdrawal of Caveats;
  4. Priority Notices (including Extension and Withdrawal of Priority Notices); and
  5. Transmission by death. 

Are any transactions exempt from the eConveyancing mandate?

The mandate will only apply to freehold lot interest. Secondary interest in land such as leases or water allocations are not included in the Regulation and will not be conducted through electronic means.

There are several exceptions to the mandate, listed as follows:-

  1. Self-represented parties that are unable to become eConveyancing subscribers;
  2. The Title is not electronically tradable;
  3. The Instrument or Document is required to be presented for Lodgement with another Instrument or Document which is not electronic;
  4. Technical difficulties prevent the lodgement being completed, e.g. internet outages etc;
  5. Titles Queensland (on behalf of the Registrar) has granted a specific subscriber a waiver for a single document or transaction;
  6. If the Instrument or Document was executed by a party prior to the mandate taking place;
  7. The Instrument or Document has not been made available by ELN; and
  8. Where a consent is required to be deposited with an Electronic Conveyancing Document for lodgement.

Further information

SPG are well equipped for the upcoming eConveyancing changes in the new year with our property team being highly experienced in electronic settlement transactions. If you have any queries regarding the mandate or require any assistance with a property transaction, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our details are located in the ‘contact’ section of our website. 

For any further information regarding the upcoming mandate please contact Jessica Smith or refer to:- https://www.titlesqld.com.au/elodgment-econveyancing/electronic-conveyancing-upcoming-mandate/