193: Dec 2019

Christmas and new year closure

Land Registry Services offices at 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne and 57 Cherry Lane, Laverton will close at 4.00 pm on Tuesday 24 December 2019 and reopen at 8.30 am on Thursday 2 January 2020.

Online services (LANDATA® and electronic lodgment) will continue to be available during this period.

Customer queries (telephone message or email) will be responded to when offices reopen.

New Customer call centre contact information

From 16 December 2019, Land Registry Services Customer Call Centre will have a new phone number - 9102 0401. The email address for enquiries has also changed – advice.enquiries@victorianlrs.com.au.

Customers should use the new number to contact the LRS Customer Call Centre.  There will be a short transition period before the old number is deactivated.

Please note: the  trs.enquiries@delwp.vic.gov.au email address has been deactivated.

LANDATA® website details – reminder

LANDATA® has moved to a new website address (URL): https://www.landata.online/. This website is operated by Secure Electronic Registry Services (SERV). Please update your bookmarks.

For enquiries relating to LANDATA®, customers should call 9102 0402 or email landata.enquiries@victorianlrs.com.au

Elimination of cheques as a payment method

From 1 February 2020 Land Use Victoria will no longer accept cheques as a method of payment for paper lodgments.

Bank or other authorised deposit-taking institution cheques, lawyers’ and conveyancers’ trust or office account cheques, personal cheques and money orders will not be accepted from that date.

For regular customers (a customer with a Victorian Online Titles System (VOTS) customer lodgment code) the preferred method of payment is direct debit. Customers can arrange this by completing the Direct debit request form.  When completing your account details, please check against a recent statement from your financial institution.

For more information on using direct debit as a form of payment please refer to the Fees and direct debit page on the DEWLP website.  If you are unsure how to complete the form, please check with your financial institution

Customers should return completed direct debit request forms to:

Land Use Victoria

PO BOX 527

MELBOURNE VIC 3001

or by Land Use Victoria Document Exchange service:

Land Use Victoria

DX250639

Melbourne

Or deliver them to the Reception counter at Level 1, 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

Other non-cheque payment methods that will continue to be accepted are cash, credit or debit card.

To ensure no delays are experienced in the processing of paper lodgments, customers need to ensure they use an acceptable payment method from 1 February 2020.

Any queries on the phasing out of cheques and/or conversion to direct debit payment may be directed to Land Registry Services Customer Call Centre on 9102 0401.

Residual documents in PEXA – an update

An additional 21 Residual documents were made available to PEXA customers on 11 November 2019.  A list of the latest residual documents released for electronic lodgment can be found at Latest News.

An updated release schedule for the remaining residual documents will be published shortly.  The mandate to lodge these transaction types electronically will be provided to customers in 2020.

Documents to support practitioners in electronic lodgement and a list of Land Registry transactions able to be lodged electronically are available at key documentation  including the “Guide to Residual documents”.

New dealing requirements – dealings lodged using an ELN

For transfers over GAIC affected land

Currently, when an electronic transfer is lodged over a folio affected by a growth areas infrastructure contribution (GAIC) notice, the transfer is accepted for lodgment but held unregistered until consent from the State Revenue Office (SRO) to register the transfer is physically produced to the Registrar. When such consent is received the transfer is processed and the GAIC Notice remains on the folio.

A new dealing requirement ‘GAIC – Notice that transfer may proceed’ is now available to electronic lodgment network (ELN) subscribers.  An ELN subscriber now has the option to select this dealing requirement when a transaction includes a transfer featuring a GAIC affected folio.  Selection of the dealing requirement confirms that the ELN subscriber holds the necessary consent from SRO.

The Registrar will rely on selection of the dealing requirement, together with the standard certifications on the transfer, as evidence that the transfer may proceed.  The necessary consent of SRO must be held by the ELN subscriber.  The transfer, when received, will be processed and the GAIC notice will remain on the folio.

If the dealing requirement is not selected, the transaction will continue to be accepted for lodgement but will not progress until the SRO consent is physically produced. Again, the GAIC Notice will remain on the folio.

The change does not remove the requirement on the ELN subscriber to obtain the SRO consent.  It simply removes the requirement to physically produce that consent to the Registrar when the dealing requirement is selected by the ELN subscriber.  In a compliance examination, the ELN subscriber will be required to produce evidence that SRO consent has been obtained.

This change is being made to ensure more efficient processing of electronic dealings, by eliminating the delay currently experienced while the physical consent is produced to the Registrar.

Reminder: Caveator’s consent – change to requirement to produce consent to Registrar

A reminder that the requirement for the physical delivery to the Registrar of the consent of the caveator has been removed for electronically lodged dealings – see Customer Information Bulletin 187. The Registrar now relies on the dealing requirement, ‘Caveators consent’ being selected, along with the standard certifications on the dealing, as evidence that the consent of the caveator is held by the ELN subscriber.  The dealing, when received, will be processed and the caveat remains on the folio.

The change does not remove the requirement for the ELN subscriber to obtain the consent of the caveator.  It simply removes the requirement to physically produce that consent to the Registrar. In a compliance examination, the ELN subscriber will be required to produce the consent held.

Note: This change does not apply to dealings lodged in paper, where consent of the caveator is still required to be produced.

Page last updated: 11/07/23