Torrens Title Essay

For land to be registered to a person in Australia it must be registered under the Torrens Title Registry; a sector of government that holds the entire land title register and thus is evidence to prove the fee-simple ownership rights (freehold title) as the owner. The Torrens Title is ‘a system of title by registration’, meaning a buyer can only receive the title of a parcel of land if it is first registered (Breskvar v Wall, 1971). Once an owner is registered into the title of the land, the owner has indefeasibility, meaning that once a title is registered to the registered proprietor it cannot be effected by any previous defects that may have existed in the title prior to registration (Stewart, C. 2009). The significance of this registration

Torrens previously had worked as the Collector of Customs in Adelaide dealing with ships and found the system of regulation simple and efficient (South Australian Government, 2018). Many years later, the plan for land titling was submitted for approval and soon after adopted by the South Australian Government in 1858 under the Real Property Act (1858) (Torrens Title System, Introduction to the Land and Water Allocation Registries, Queensland Land Title Practice Manual, [0-0180]). Although, in the Acts of 1860 and 1861 the system was adjusted but still demonstrated indefeasibility of title and is how it stands now (The Transformation of Torrens’s Title to the Torrens Title, 1962). This amended act is what other states and countries adopted. The first state in Australia to follow the Torrens System was Queensland in the Real Property Act 1861 (Queensland Land Title Practice Manual (QLTPM, [0-0190]). Although, Queensland based their act off the 1860 South Australian Act, rather than the more developed 1861 Act (The Transformation of Torrens’s Title to the Torrens Title, 1962). Over the next 15 years, Victoria, New South Wales, New Zealand and Western Australia had modelled their own acts based off updated versions of the South Australian Real Property Act 1861, each within their varying names of acts but all with the general scheme of indefeasibility of title. Outside of Australia, the first American state to adopt the Torrens Titling was Illinois in 1897. It was said that “(the Torrens System) will surely sweep over the country”, although this did not occur and only 4 other states adopted the act (Le, 2000). Other countries to have adopted the Torrens title by registration system include: Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Fiji, New Zealand,