NRS-21429 | Official Searches

The public and other organisations can formally request the Land Titles Office and Land and Property Information New South Wales to undertake and document land title information. This may include the history of a parcel of land. The results of such a request is known as an Official Search. Official Searches provide the enquirer with: details as to the present registered owner and any instruments or other matters in the Register which appears to affect the title of such registered owners; details as to entries of any instrument registered in the General Register of Deeds (for Old System land records), back to good root of title and; a search in the Register of Causes, Writs, and Orders. Official Searches can also relate to requests for a search pertaining to Torrens Title land.  Records include original signed Office Search Request Form; Statutory Declarations; and Certificate of Result of Official Search. Official Searches prepared by LPI are legal documents that can be used in a court of law as evidence, unlike a search prepared by a commercial searching company or information broker. Official Searches can also often be used as an alternative to Primary Application, for conversion of Old System land to the Torrens Title System. An Official Search of the Old System Deeds Register will, wherever possible, extend to a good root of title sufficient to prove uninterrupted ownership. Note however that Conversion of Land from Old System and to Torrens Title using this method does not guarantee boundary information of the land converted. Primary Applications are used to convert Old System Land to Torrens and to confirm land boundaries.