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Top tips for completing forms

Customers present documents to Land Victoria for registration and recording that vary significantly in the way information is expressed or displayed.

This bulletin contains suggestions for customers completing Land Victoria forms. The tips will help reduce the time taken for registration and recording of dealings, minimise the prospect of dealings being refused and improve the operational efficiency and clarity of searched information.

These suggestions relate to information most commonly required on the forms.

General comments

• Use an easily read, common business font of adequate size, e.g. Arial or Times New Roman, font size 10 to 12.
• Always use a Register Search Statement as the reference document for completing a form. Never rely on the Certificate of Title.
• Allow a sufficient margin at the top of each page to permit the dealing number to be inserted without obscuring any relevant text.
• When completing Approved forms, start at the left margin, below each panel heading.
• Use uniform single spacing between words.
• Do not include full stops, commas or other punctuation (unless otherwise suggested).

‘Land’ panel

When completing the Land panel use the words ‘Volume’ and ‘Folio’, with each word followed by a space then the relevant number. These words can be abbreviated to ‘Vol’ and ‘Fol’ respectively. There is no need to include the words ‘Certificate of Title’.

On a Register Search Statement, the ‘Volume’ number appears as a five digit number. The first digit is sometimes a ‘0’, e.g. ‘01234’. The leading ‘0’ is not required to be included in the document prepared by the customer. The number should simply be expressed as ‘1234’.

Conversely, the ‘Folio’ number appears on a Register Search Statement as a three digit number, with, commonly, a leading ‘0’, or even two leading ‘0’s, e.g. ‘001’. All three digits of the folio number need to be included in the document prepared by the customer, even if the leading digits are ‘0’s.

In a completed ‘Land’ panel, the information should appear as ‘Vol 1234 Fol 001’. If the land being dealt with is the whole of the land in a folio, no other information is required in this panel.

If the land being dealt with is part of the land in a multi-parcel folio that can be dealt with separately, then the part description needs to precede the ‘Vol/Fol’ reference, e.g. ‘Lot 5 on LP 6789 contained in Vol 1234 Fol 001’ is sufficient. Additional words commonly included by customers, such as ‘… being part of the land …’ are unnecessary.

The following examples may assist in completing the Land panel.

The whole of the land in folio Volume 1234 Folio 001 is being dealt with.

Land panel to show

Volume 1234 Folio 001

The whole of the land in two folios Volume 1234 Folio 001 and Volume 2345 Folio 568 is being dealt with.

Land panel to show

Volume 1234 Folio 001 and Volume 2345 Folio 568

Volume 1234 Folio 568 contains several lots on plan of subdivision PS123456 and one of these lots, lot 22 is being dealt with.

Land panel to show

Lot 22 on PS123456 contained in Volume 1234 Folio 568

Volume 1234 Folio 571 contains a parcel of land and only the part of the land identified on a plan is to be dealt with.

Land panel to show

All that piece of land marked ‘A’ on the attached plan contained in Volume 1234 Folio 571

Instrument references

In some forms an instrument reference is required, e.g. in a Withdrawal of Caveat form there is a panel headed ‘Caveat number’, which requires the caveat being withdrawn to be identified. In such cases, customers should complete only the Land Victoria dealing number, in upper case, for the instrument affected, e.g. ‘AB123456T’.

The following examples may assist in completing instrument references.

Caveat number AB123456T is to be withdrawn.

Caveat number panel to show

AB123456T

Mortgage number AB123457Q is to be discharged.

Mortgage or Charge number panel to show

AB123457Q

Party names

Transacting party names should be in capital letters, with the surname or family name last, e.g. ‘IAN ROBERT JONES’. Multiple parties should be separated by the word ‘and’ or the symbol ‘&’.

Where a party is dealing in a name different from that on the folio, such as a name change due to marriage, the party’s current name should be followed by a reference linking the party to the folio, e.g. ‘ANNE LOUISE JONES formerly ANNE LOUISE SMITH’.

Where two or more parties are to hold a property, joint proprietorship will be presumed if the document is silent as to Manner of Holding. Customers may wish to be specific, in which case, words like ‘as joint proprietors’ are sufficient.

Where two or more parties are to hold a property as tenants in common, this must be specified, using words like ‘as tenants in common’. Equality of shareholding will be presumed unless specified otherwise. For examples of how to express unequal shareholding, see the Land Victoria Lodging Book, Version 4.1, Section 1, Page 1.15.

If a transacting party is a corporate body, customers should use the abbreviations ‘LTD’, ‘PTY LTD’ or ‘INC’, as appropriate. ACN should be included, if appropriate. If stops form part of the entity’s name, they should be included, e.g. A.B.C. Pty Ltd

The following examples may assist in completing party names.

Ian Robert Jones is purchasing a property as a sole proprietor.

Transferee panel to show

IAN ROBERT JONES

of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

Ian Robert Jones and Anne Louise Jones are purchasing a property as joint proprietors.

Transferee panel to show

IAN ROBERT JONES and ANNE LOUISE JONES

both of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

Anne Louise Jones is selling a property. She is shown on the Register as Anne Louise Smith.

Transferor panel to show

ANNE LOUISE JONES formerly ANNE LOUISE SMITH

Acme Proprietary Limited is selling a property.

Transferor panel to show

ACME PTY LTD

XYZ Proprietary Limited is buying a property.

Transferee panel to show

XYZ PTY LTD ACN 456 789 123

of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

Ian Robert Jones and Anne Louise Jones are purchasing a property as tenants in common in equal shares.

Transferee panel to show

IAN ROBERT JONES and ANNE LOUISE JONES as tenants in common

both of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

Ian Robert Jones and Anne Louise Jones are purchasing a property as tenants in common in unequal shares. Ian will have 25% and Anne 75%.

Transferee panel to show

IAN ROBERT JONES as to one equal undivided fourth part or share and ANNE LOUISE JONES as to three equal undivided fourth parts or shares, as tenants in common

both of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

‘Consideration’ panel

A number of forms require a ‘consideration’ or ‘principal sum’ amount to be entered, most commonly the Transfer of Land forms. This should be expressed in numerals only, not in words. A decimal point and decimal places are not necessary, but a comma should follow the thousands (or millions, as the case may be), e.g. ‘$250,000’, ‘$2,250,000’.

If the Contract of Sale includes cents in the price, they should not be included in the consideration shown in the Transfer. Thus, a contract price of $987,654.32 should appear in a Transfer as ‘$987,654’.

The following examples may assist in completing the ‘Consideration’ panel.

Property is being purchased for a consideration of five hundred thousand dollars.

Consideration panel to show

$500,000

Property is being purchased for a consideration of $987,654.32.

Consideration panel to show

$987,654

Address references

Many forms require both a party name and an address for the service of notice. The address should appear on a separate line to the party name(s) and be separated from the party name(s) by the word ‘of’. The address should be completed without any full stops or commas. The state should be included in the address and may be abbreviated, e.g. ‘Vic’. Postcode should be included.

Customers should be aware that a ‘care of’ or ‘Post Office box number’ are not acceptable as an address for service of notice. In rural areas, an address should conform to the Rural Road Number standard, i.e. an address identifying the street number, street name, locality and postcode. A locality name alone is not acceptable.

Therefore, a typical panel such as the ‘Transferee’ panel on a Transfer of Land form should be completed as in the following example.

IAN ROBERT JONES

of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

If an address will become obsolete after registration, the address that will be current after the transfer is registered is the address that should be used in preference to the one current at the time the document is prepared, e.g. if a property being purchased is to be the residence of the transferee after settlement, the address of the property being purchased should be used in the ‘Transferee’ panel.

The following examples may assist in completing address references.

Ian Robert Jones is purchasing a property as a sole proprietor.

Transferee panel to show

IAN ROBERT JONES

of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

Ian Robert Jones and Anne Louise Jones are purchasing a property as joint proprietors.

Transferee panel to show

IAN ROBERT JONES and ANNE LOUISE JONES

both of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

Ian Robert Jones and Anne Louise Jones are purchasing an investment property as tenants in common in equal shares. Ian and Anne live at different addresses.

Transferee panel to show

IAN ROBERT JONES

of 29 Brown Street Melbourne Vic 3000

and

ANNE LOUISE JONES

of 15 Smith Street Collingwood Vic 3066

as tenants in common

More information

Detailed information about completing Land Victoria forms can be found in the Land Victoria Lodging Book, Version 4.1 at:

www.dse.vic.gov.au > Property, Titles and Maps > Land Titles > Land Victoria Lodging Book – Version 4.1.

Alternatively, type ‘lodging book’ in the search box on the DSE homepage.

Customer Information Bulletins no longer printed

For several years, Land Victoria has published Customer Information Bulletins on its website and distributed printed copies to regular customers.

In line with common business practice future editions will only be published on the website at:

www.dse.vic.gov.au > Property, Titles and Maps > Land Titles > Customer Information Bulletin.

Alternatively, type ‘customer information bulletin’ in the search box on the DSE homepage.

Bulletins dating back to 1998 are readily available at the above website. For ease of access, you will find all the bulletins grouped under their year of release with a content summary.

Email alert service for future bulletins

Land Victoria is happy to advise customers when a new edition of the Customer Information Bulletin is published on the website.

To receive an email alert, please email Nancy.Mazza@dse.vic.gov.au.