Lost Certificate of Title

In order to settle the sale of your property, you or your mortgagee must provide the original Certificate of Title for the property at settlement. Your Certificate of Title is also required for other Land Victoria dealings such as mortgage, discharge of mortgage, subdivision or consolidation. If the paper Certificate of Title has been lost or misplaced and cannot be found, it needs to be replaced before your transaction can proceed.

What’s needed to replace a paper Certificate of Title?

1. Issue Search. When the Certificate of Title was issued (or last amended), the details of the party to whom the Certificate was issued is recorded by Land Victoria. Issue Search information is the starting point for your efforts to locate a missing Certificate of Title. Typically, a Certificate of Title is issued to a conveyancer, a legal practitioner or a mortgagee.

2. Statutory Declarations from each party that has had possession of the Certificate of Title since it was issued, starting with the party that it was issued to, followed by each party for which evidence exists that they have possessed it, together with the Statutory Declaration by the person or persons applying for the New Certificate of Title (this is usually the registered proprietor or proprietors of the property, but it could also be an executor or executors who are making a concurrent Application by Legal Personal Representative).

3. Evidence of the property’s value. A copy of a recent Council rates notice for the property is required. If the property has been sold, a copy of the Contract is also required.

4. A fee of $239.40 is payable (plus $26.70 for each additional Certificate of Title if there’s more than one), together with the Assurance Fund Contribution, which is $600.00 for a property valued over $500,000, and a lesser amount (usually 0.1%) for a property valued at $500,000 or less.

What happens next?

Land Victoria cancels the old Certificate of Title, and issues in its place a new Certificate of Title with a new volume and folio number.

How can you avoid losing a Certificate of Title?

A paper Certificate of Title can be converted to an electronic Certificate of Title, which effectively cannot be lost. An electronic Certificate of Title is held for you by your conveyancer, legal practitioner or mortgagee until it is needed for a dealing at Land Victoria. Contact Glenferrie Conveyancing on (03) 9815 2351 for more information.