In Victoria, General Law Land is land that has not been brought under the operation of the Transfer of Land Act (TLA). General Law Land is also known as Old Law Land or “NUA” Land (Not under the TLA).
The title to General Law Land consists of a series of deeds and documents evidencing dealings or transactions of the land since the issue of a grant from the Crown, or back to the earliest date to which title can be traced. To prove “good title” this series of deeds must be produced tracing the ownership of land through each subsequent land holder all the way through to the current owner.
It has been compulsory to bring land under the Act since 1999 when transacting with General Law Land. Land is brought under the TLA by an Application to Convert made to the Land Titles Office. Applications are made to the Land Titles Office pursuant to Section 14 (Deed Based) Application or Section 15 (Survey Based Application for either freehold title or possessory title (adversely possessed general law land).
Applications made without a survey result in a title which is subject to a warning as to dimensions. The warning states: “Any dimension and connecting distance shown is based on the description of the land as contained in the General Law Title and is not based on survey information which has been investigated by the Registrar of Titles.”
In 2017 the Land Titles Office implemented a program to convert the remaining marketable parcels of General Law Land. As a result, many provisional TLA Titles have been created. These titles are provisional both as to ownership and as to dimensions.
Not all General Law Land has been converted pursuant to this program, including many private roads and carriageway easements. Often General Law Land or titles subject to warnings come to light in the administration of an estate where property has been in the deceased’s family for a long time, or where the costs of conversion have been avoided by transferring possessory title in the past, rather than making a conversion application and then transacting TLA land.
To remove survey warnings, an application is made pursuant to Section 26P of the TLA. Survey warnings may also be removed upon the registration of another survey-based application such as a subdivision or consolidation application.
Since 2017, when the new Section 26Y was introduced into the TLA, a provisional folio created from a conversion of General Law Land (being one subject to a Warning as to Title or a Warning as to Dimensions or a Warning as to Subsisting Interests) becomes an ordinary folio (free of any such warning) 15 years after the creation of the provisional folio.
Accordingly, after the expiration of 15 years from a non-survey-based conversion, there is no need to make any application pursuant to section 26P of the TLA to remove the warning, but to amend the dimensions on title to reflect occupation an alternative boundary amendment application may be required, such as a section 99, 103 or section 60 application.
Fleur has acted for numerous clients over the past 15 years in relation to conversion applications of General Law Land, including recent applications for adverse possession of General Law Land (Section 15 Applications) and applications to remove warnings as to dimensions (S26P Applications).
If your title is a provisional title or has a warning as to dimensions or substituting interests, or you are in possession of General Law Land Fleur can assist you determine the most appropriate Application and act on your behalf in relation to the appropriate application.
Contact Fleur Craig or Armour-Craig Legal on (03) 5636 4986.