The 4 major banks and electronic Certificates of Title

On 23 October 2016, every Victorian paper Certificate of Title that was first mortgaged on that day to one of the four major banks (i.e. ANZ, Commonwealth, National Australia Bank and Westpac) was converted by Land Victoria to an electronic Certificate of Title. 1.7 million titles were converted.

This means that property owners who had paid off their loan and who had received the paper Certificate of Title and the paper Discharge of Mortgage instrument from a major Bank but had not registered the Discharge of Mortgage at Land Victoria before 23 October 2016, will have had their paper Certificate of Title converted to an electronic Certificate of Title controlled by their Bank without them being explicitly informed. Furthermore, the paper Certificate of Title that they are holding became legally valueless at that time.

If you are a property owner affected by this scenario, you will have to ask your Bank to nominate the electronic Certificate of Title to the paper Discharge of Mortgage instrument. This will enable you to lodge the paper Discharge of Mortgage instrument at Land Victoria, and therefore have your mortgage “officially” removed from your land. At that lodgement, Land Victoria will usually issue a new paper Certificate of Title to you, this will show that the land is now unencumbered.

Contact Glenferrie Conveyancing Northcote office for more information.