NRS-17513 | Primary Application Packets

Full description

On 1 January 1863 the Torrens Title system was introduced to NSW with the commencement of the Real Property Act of 1862 (26 Vic No.9). The system was designed by Robert Richard Torrens for the South Australian Land Title Registry following his appointment as Registrar, and was based on a system for insuring shipping used by Lloyds of London. The Torrens Title system used a single register for each land holding which recorded all details and interests affecting the land including easements, covenants, mortgages, resumptions, caveats, and subsequent changes in ownership. (1)

To convert land from Old System to Torrens Title required lodgement of an Application with all supporting documentation evidencing title listed on an attached Schedule and then lodged in packets with the Registrar General. The form of the application was specified in Schedule A of the Real Property Act of 1862 and in the Second Schedule of the Real Property Act, 1900. (2) Section 14 of the 1862 Act and Section 16 of the 1900 Act required the applicant to surrender instruments of title and to furnish an abstract of title if required. It also required a schedule of such instruments to be submitted. (3)

NRS 17513, Primary Application Packets was originally one series which has since been split into three parts. The Packets once contained the Primary Application form which has since been extracted and is now NRS 13012, Primary Applications. Various documents required to be submitted with the primary application were also extracted and now form the series NRS 13011, Documents relating to Primary Applications.

Primary Application Packets contain a variety of records including registered deeds, grants, and original purchase records, examiner’s and surveyor’s reports, lists of investigations and searches made by the Registrar General to validify title, copies of plans, conveyances, mortgage papers, copies of wills and associated papers regarding title to property, solicitor’s correspondence, memoranda of agreements, papers associated with the lodgement of caveats, valuation of the land, submissions from parties claiming an interest in the land, lists of notifications to adjoining property owners, and details of certificates of title issued.

The later records are more ordered listing searches and reports made, details of registered deeds evidencing ownership, conveyances, Plan Lodgement Forms listing details of lodging parties, surveyors, and plans of the property, plus solicitor’s correspondence and copies of maps. Resumption Applications are also included.

Index
A Torrens Title Purchaser’s Index also commenced on 1 January 1863, in book form until 1970 and available on microfiche from 1971, then merging with the Integrated Titling System (ITS) from 4 June 2001. (4) This is held by Land and Property Information New South Wales (formerly the Land Titles Office).

Endnotes
(1) Department of Lands website http://www.lands.nsw.gov.au/land_titles/public_registers/torrens_title_register (accessed 12 March 2007).
(2) Real Property Act of 1862 (26 Vic. No.9) Schedule A; Real Property Act, 1900 (Act No.25, 1900) Second Schedule.
(3) Real Property Act of 1862 (26 Vic. No.9) s.14; Real Property Act, 1900 (Act No.25, 1900) s.16.
(4) Loc. cit. note 1.