Land Titles Office sale will increase fees

IT is “inevitable” that homebuyers will be slugged with higher conveyancing fees if the Territory Government follows through with its sale of the Lands Title Office says Australian Institute of Conveyancers NT president Trevor Tschir

Treasurer Nicole Manison address the media at Parliament House last week after announcing the findings of the Langoulant report. Picture: Keri Megelus

IT is “inevitable” that homebuyers will be slugged with higher conveyancing fees if the Territory Government follows through with its sale of the Land Title Office.

Selling or leasing the registry and its associated software was one of the key recommendations of former WA under treasurer John Langoulant’s forensic inquiry into the NT’s fiscal circumstances.

Australian Institute of Conveyancers NT president Trevor Tschirpig said it was inevitable any private buyer would need to hike fees substantially to make the purchase worthwhile.

The NT’s land titles fees are the cheapest in the country. A flat fee of $145 applies for all transfer lodgements, while title searches cost $27.40.

Interstate fees are many times that. In Victoria, where the Labor Government last year sold off its Land Titles and Registry for $2.86 billion, transfers cost up to $3606.

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Mr Tschirpig said he believed any buyer would convert the Territory’s paper-based system to electronic conveyancing, which would lead to job losses for Land Titles Office staff.

AICNT president-elect Nicole Myler said members were concerned what privatisation could mean for data integrity assurances. Under the current system, the government is liable for any stuff ups that occur as a result of incorrect information held by the Land Titles Office. It’s unclear how a private company would provide that assurance.

Treasurer Nicole Manison said on Tuesday the Territory had already received unsolicited offers to buy the public asset. She wouldn’t put a figure on how much she expected the office would sell for, but predicted it would be an “attractive sum … in the tens of millions of dollars”.

Ms Manison said the government would put in place “strict contractual measures” in the event of sale to ensure price increases were kept to a minimum.

In other jurisdictions where privatisation had taken place, state retained ownership of the registry data, which was then provided under licence to the private operator, Ms Manison said. Contracts contained “strict data integrity and security requirements, and that the data must remain located in Australia”, she said.

Opposition Leader Gary Higgins said the move to hock off the office was a “blatant slap in the face” for Territorians given Labor’s pledge not to privatise public assets.

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Mr Higgins said Labor needed to guarantee fees would not increase and provide data security assurances.

“We hope the Government carefully considers this sale, and doesn’t flog it off for a quick buck to pay off their own debts,” he said.

And a spokesman for Ms Manison said changes to the NT’s lax gambling taxation regime also flagged in the Langoulant wouldn’t be rolled out in time for this year’s Budget.

Currently, bookmakers and betting exchanges licensed in the NT pay tax at a rate of 10 per cent on gross profits, capped at a maximum of $575 000. Last financial year, the NT collected $6.5 million from online bookmakers, on a turnover in the billions.