The Law Handbook 2024

541 NOTE The law in this chapter is current as at 1 September 2023. Introduction This chapter includes information about buying and selling a house where the property has a registered land title (see ‘Land titles’, below). The topics covered include conveyancing, mortgages, government assist­ ance schemes, and the contract of sale. A note on conveyancing While this chapter contains information about conveyancing, it does not provide information detailed enough to enable you to do your own conveyancing. Furthermore, it is now difficult for a party to a real estate transaction to do their own conveyancing, as in Victoria, electronic conveyancing is now mandatory. Most electronic conveyancing now takes place via an electronic platform (e.g. Property Exchange Australia) to which solicitors and conveyancers subscribe. For more information, see ‘Conveyancing’, below. Key terms The key terms used in this chapter include: • vendor : the person or organisation selling a property; • buyer : the person or organisation purchasing a property; • discharging mortgagee : the bank lending the money to the vendor, if any; and • incoming mortgagee : the bank lending the money to the buyer, if any. Generally, these four parties participate in the settlement of a conveyance, depending on whether the vendor and buyer have a bank involved in the conveyance. Land titles What is a land title? A land title is the official record that confirms who is the registered owner of a piece of land at any point in time. A land title contains information about mortgages, covenants, caveats, registered easements and registered notices. Land titles can be searched online (at www.landata.vic.gov.au) . These title searches are included in the vendor’s statement that accompanies a contract of sale of real estate. Unusual titles Because of the history of how land and subdivisions have been regulated in Victoria, not all titles are the same. Over time in Victoria, the subdivision of land to create separate titles has occurred in a variety of ways. Unusual titles include general law titles, company share apartments, stratum titles, strata titles and cluster titles (these are all outlined below). Dealing with unusual titles requires advice from a property lawyer or a licensed conveyancer. General law titles The general law title system relies on a ‘chain of deeds’ to prove ownership. This ‘chain’ is made up of all the documents related to the sale of the land since the land was initially sold by the Crown. General law titles are still valid proof of ownership. A buyer must have each document in the chain assessed by an expert to ensure it is valid. However, Land Use Victoria recommends that all general law titles be converted to registered or Torrens titles. In recent years, Land Use Victoria has been unilaterally converting many general law titles, without input from landowners. To register a transfer or discharge of a mortgage for property that has a general law title, Land Use Victoria requires the general law title to first be converted to a registered title. Buying or selling a house 6.2 Contributor: Laura Vickers, Principal Solicitor, Nest Legal; Accredited Property Law Specialist