DYSFUNCTIONAL LAND REGISTRATION AND THE LAW
LEGAL NOTICE
The documents placed on this page do not imply any wrongdoing on the part of any individuals associated
with these documents or their predecessors in title. The purpose of placing these documents on the page is to
encourage debate and discussion about land titling processes. No inferences should be drawn about the behaviour of any
individuals and groups associated with these titles, their predecessors in title or successors in title. Some of the
marks on these titles are scribbles and annotations which have been added for a variety of reasons and no inferences
should be drawn from these marks or notations.
BUT SOLICITORS SEARCH TITLES DON'T THEY?
If land has been transferred to Torrens system, lawyers generally rely on the
computerized print out of the certificate of title provided by the Lands, Titles Office.
We, the general public are confident that our titles are correct because we have had
them conveyed by a solicitor. The solicitor searches and makes sure
that there are no problems with the title such as undeclared easements
leases or other interests such as retained mortgages affecting our title.
However problems can develop when the lands registry is malfunctioning.
When this occurs even the best lawyers may sometimes convey property which belongs to someone other than the apparent proprietor, transfer
false or counterfeit certificates of title and generally make mistakes as to
ownership of land.
When this happens due to the legal doctrine of indefeasibility of title
the transfer is usually recognized by the law. In other words if you have been sold a false title, you
may just have to keep it. This can seem very disconcerting to someone who has been sold a land title, which seems to have other undisclosed interests affecting it.
In a situation like this there may be some concern on the part of the unfortunate purchaser that the hidden interest may act against him in some way in
order to get the ineffectively registered purchaser to move.
In our society at present anyone who says that they have been sold a fake land title or acquired a false mortgage will not be allowed to make these claims.
If the situation has developed to the stage where the individual who has been sold the afflicted title is actually being harassed those with undisclosed interests
in his or her property, then the victim in this situation is likely to be termed "paranoid and delusional" and will not receive any assistance.
The other problem is that as lawyers will be representing the monied interests in the land conveyancing system
they will not be likely to represent you in sorting the matter out as this would entail recognizing that there
is a problem in the titles processing system.
A serious undisclosed problem with Torrens registration on land is that if the land registry goes "down", then the
legal system tends to go down with it. This is due to the extensive participation of solicitors in conveyancing and because by the time that lawyers and judges realize that
there is a problem in the titles system, many properties worth many millions of dollars, have changed hands and the lawyers concerned
will be individually worried about liability.
As the land registry becomes more and more dysfunctional lawyers and their conveyancing clerks will have to go to more and more
extreme lengths in order to get land titles passed through the registration system. The registration
system itself will try to accomodate them as there is an inherent pressure on the land registration system to accept defective
titles rather than to reject them.
Once lawyers become aware of the compromise inherent in the failure of the lands,titles registry, there will be an increasing need
to uphold the indefeasibility of title doctrine in order to stop the fabric of land tenure from unravelling.
However as upholding the indefeasibility of title means recognizing every defective certificate of title which is issued by the lands, titles
office, the underlying logical problems within the registry are never addressed. More and more criminal elements find that they
can manipulate the registry processes with impunity - in other words, the more criminal elements have discovered a form of alchemy.
Certain sectors of the legal system therefore become unconsciously allied with the more criminal sector in ensuring that the problem with the lands, titles registry
is not detected and those who do attempt to fix the system will face combined attempts to cover up the problem by criminal elements and conveyancing lawyers. These individuals are not aware that there is a generalized problem in the lands registry. This is not a conspiracy and those who are attempting to cover up the problem may not even be consciously aware that they are doing so, however
it suits all these disparate groups to have the bulk of the population believe that there is no problem.
BUT BAD TITLES CAN'T BE PROCESSED THROUGH THE STATE TITLES OFFICE CAN THEY?
When the land titles registration system breaks down a variety of loopholes arise which can be exploited to transfer dud titles. However the major ways that land titles are processed is through the court systems.
At a time of dysfunctional land registration the administration of justice is vulnerable. This relates not only to the identification of property for the purpose of search warrants etc, but also affects the way property disputes are processed through the courts.
When the land tenure is dysfunctiona, baliffs and other court officers can become harassers who may try to default individuals who are on insecure titles. These individuals can generally be identified by their having unusual property dealing profiles.
Another unusual phenomenom which may arise in the administration of justice at a time of dysfunctional land registration is the multiplication of files in the court
system. The reasons for this are complex but usually involve adverse possession. When land tenure is dysfunctional there are usually competing interests on land. The
underlying owner may wish to establish ownership for an adverse possession case by obtaining false court documents, such as a claim for compensation for broken plate glass windows for example at the same address but with a different proprietor, without
the real owner of the property being aware of the situation. This bizarre situation is usually visible by the existence of multiple files in differing years for example
court file 4367 of 90 will be mirrored by 4367 of 91. The two files are managed in tandem by a clerical worker.
Another situation is when a court order is made affecting a particular property in one title number eg 4567/21 and the writ is actually entered onto a different folio eg
234567/1. While this may simply look like an office procedure it can also be a means of transferring a false registration as in an insecure system the incoming writ
may simply be entered into the system without being checked
against the current title or an officer can enter the writ onto a specially created title number. This can result in the intended transferee receiving a
defective title with either an undisclosed easement or some other problem. This practice could encourage sham court actions in order to subdivide property
which would not normally be allowed to be split and to transfer titles which do not exist.
To see how this situation of the use of the court system as a defacto lands registry is being handled in another country see the situation in the Phillipines, by following the LINK.
The legal practicioners in the Phillipines are to be congratulated for their fearless representation of their citizens rights to effective land registration systems.
Show your support to these practicioners by viewing the links and then e-mailing the Phillipines Government.
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