Last week in Parliament the Government took the decision to privatise our Land Titling and Registry Services.
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How important is Land Title you might ask?
Well every block of land, every unit, every piece of infrastructure is on a piece land with a Title. If you are a home owner or if you own other property, then you undoubtedly have ownership by Title.
You rely on our title to be 100 per cent accurate. You rely on your Title to have been thoroughly researched and cross-checked prior to getting the stamp of approval by the Register General of NSW. Your Title carries that stamp.
Under the proposed new scheme, approved by Legislation last week, the Titling and Registry Services will be sold off, on a 35-year contract.
The certainty, accuracy and thorough cross-checking, we would all hope, might continue.
Admittedly it is hard to improve an already brilliant service.
But the greater fear is that the search for profit might lead to a lower quality service.
This will increase the “risk” factor (risk over the accuracy of your Title) and that will make banks and financial institutions far more nervous about mortgages and land investments.
The risk will also come if your neighbour sells their property and the new owner wants to challenge the boundary.
The other hidden little fact in this privatisation is the massive increase in fees and charges that will apply in the future.
Some of the fees and charges will make it more expensive to first develop or establish land – the developer won’t simply absorb this cost, they will pass it on to customers and that will make new housing more unaffordable.
Some of the increased fees and charges will be capped to CPI and other fees and charges will have no such cap or limit.
The net impact to the State Budget will be a minus of $140million a year.
But the great news for sports fans in Bellbird, Byron Bay, Broken Hill and Bega is that the sports stadiums in Sydney will get a massive injection of funds.
So if you attend one of the two games each year that are sold out, then you will be able to pay tribute to the increased fees and the increased risk that every land Title holder in the state now carries.