generated: '2026-07-26' method: searched source: https://nswlrs.com.au/glossary-of-terms name: NSW Land Registry Services glossary of land titling terms description: The controlled vocabulary NSW Land Registry Services publishes for the NSW Torrens Title Register, the General Register of Deeds and eConveyancing. Harvested verbatim on 2026-07-26 from the published glossary page (HTTP 200); each entry is a term and its NSW LRS definition as written by the registry. This is the jurisdictional language every dealing, plan and search is expressed in, and it is the nearest thing NSW LRS publishes to a data dictionary. term_count: 257 terms: - term: abstract of title definition: A listing of documents comprising the chain of evidence to a person’s estate or interest in land. - term: acceptance definition: The act of assenting to an offer (for example, the affixing of one’s signature for the purpose of accepting the terms or conditions of a dealing). - term: access way definition: A thoroughfare created over all or part of the association property of a community, precinct or neighbourhood scheme and defined in an access way plan attached to the management statement. - term: accredited certifier definition: A person identified under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) as authorised to consent to the subdivision of land. - term: accretion definition: The acquisition of extra land from the sea or its inlets, or from a stream, by natural, gradual and imperceptible means. - term: acknowledgement definition: A deed by which the executor(s) of a deceased estate pass an interest in Old System land to the devisee under a will. - term: acquisition definition: Except in relation to private action the compulsory acquisition of land or an easement by the Commonwealth of Australia under the Lands Acquisition Act 1989 (Cth) by notification in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. - term: ad medium filum definition: The ‘middle thread’ of a non-tidal stream or road – there is a rebuttable rule of construction (not applicable to a public road) that the title to land abutting a non-tidal stream or road extends to the middle thread of the stream or road unless the rule of construction has been rebutted – known as the ‘ad medium filum rule’. - term: ADIS definition: Automated Deed Indexing System. NSW LRS’s electronic index and registration system for the General Register of Deeds which commenced in 1992. The index replaced the earlier manual General Register of Deeds Index and incorporated other previously separate indexes into the General Register of Deeds such as the Bills of Sale Index and the Register of Resumptions. This index mainly contains General Register records registered from the November 1992. - term: administrator definition: A person to whom letters of administration are granted by the court in the event of death without leaving a will (intestate), or where the will does not specify an executor. - term: AHD definition: Australian Height Datum. The origin height for all reduced levels as fixed by the Surveyor General. - term: alienated definition: The capacity for a piece of property or a property right to be transferred by grant or purchase from the Crown. - term: alienation definition: The passing of Crown lands into private ownership. - term: allotment definition: The smallest subdivision of land in a section of a town or village map. - term: ALTS definition: The Automated Land Titles System based on the computerised Real Property Act Register. Now superseded by the Integrated Titling System (ITS). - term: appointment of receivers definition: The act of making a person or firm responsible for the function of holding property for safe keeping or its administration for the sale and recovery of another person’s debt. - term: appropriation definition: In relation to land, the taking of Crown land by a Crown authority for the purpose of a public work, not effective against land or an easement held by the Commonwealth of Australia. - term: approved form definition: A form approved by the Registrar General for the purposes of a provision of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) or any other Act. - term: assign definition: The act of transferring a property, interest or equity the legal successor of ownership. - term: association property definition: The communal property created in a community, precinct or neighbourhood plan. - term: assurance fund definition: The fund established under the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) to compensate persons deprived of land, or an interest in land, by the operation of that Act. - term: attestation definition: The witnessing of the signature or execution of a document. - term: azimuth definition: The datum line specially determined from established survey monuments on public record and its bearing or direction, adopted by a surveyor as the base line for a survey. Alternatively, the bearing used may be taken from astronomical observations. - term: bank (of stream) definition: The limit of the bed of any lake or stream. Can be stated as the high bank, the low bank and so on, depending on circumstances. - term: bankrupt definition: Against whose estate a sequestration (seizure) order has been made, or who has become bankrupt by virtue of the presentation of a debtor’s petition. - term: bed (of stream) definition: The whole of the soil of any lake or stream between the banks including that part which is alternatively covered and left bare through fluctuations in normal (but not flood) water flow. - term: benchmark definition: A survey mark used to establish the relative height of a feature in a plan – usually measured as a reduced level AHD. - term: beneficiary definition: A person acquiring land or other forms of property under a will. - term: bill of sale definition: A mortgage of goods and chattels (personal property) given in security for money borrowed – does not affect land. - term: blaze definition: A prominent survey mark cut into a tree. - term: body corporate definition: The former management body of the common property under the Conveyancing (Strata Titles) Act 1961 (NSW) and the Strata Titles Act 1973 (NSW). Now known as the owners corporation. - term: bona fide definition: In good faith - term: bounds definition: The limits of a parcel of land, especially by reference to those lands and features by which it is bounded – see also ‘metes’, hence metes and bounds descriptions of land. - term: by-laws definition: By-laws are rules or regulations governing a strata or a community development scheme which have been determined by the developer; or are statutory by-laws (exist at law). They apply to strata plans and community, neighbourhood and precinct plans and are set out in management statements. - term: cadastral definition: Records of a cadastre, concerned with keeping a cadastre, an official register of property, with details such as boundaries and ownership. - term: cadastral map definition: A map showing legal survey boundaries, portion and plan numbers, parish and county names and boundaries. In NSW the ‘cadastre map’ is the official index map of land showing boundaries, railways, roads, waterways, parcel identifiers and other information which define subdivision patterns and other parcel features of a locality on the ground. This is currently maintained by NSW LRS in the Digital Cadastral Database (DCDB). - term: cadastre definition: The current subdivision pattern of a locality on the ground, that is, boundaries, roads, waterways, parcel identifiers, names and so on – ‘cadastral’ has a corresponding meaning. - term: cause definition: Any grounds for legal proceedings before a court. Causes affecting Old System property may be searched using the Causes Writs and Orders (CWO) search. - term: causes, writs and orders definition: NSW LRS’s computerised system supports a consolidated search of causes, writs, and orders. Writs and orders affecting land are issued by courts for the purposes of enforcing a judgment, and causes are legal notifications that court action is taking place. Such documents can restrict transfer or protect a party’s interest with respect to an Old System property. - term: caution definition: A warning, pursuant to section 28J of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) and entered on a qualified title, to persons dealing with the registered proprietor of land that the land is held subject to any subsisting interests under section 28K of the Real Property Act, whether recorded or not on the title. - term: caveat definition: A document recorded on a Torrens title which states a claim of an interest or estate in the land and may have the effect of an injunction that requires NSW LRS to refrain from registering specific transactions on the land title. If a caveat has been registered, it appears in the second schedule of a title search. - term: caveator definition: The person by whom or on whose behalf a caveat has been lodged in NSW LRS. - term: certificate of title definition: A counterpart document to the Torrens Title Register which is issued as a certificate of ownership and provides evidence of a person’s right to deal with the land in the title. A new edition of the certificate of title is issued by NSW LRS each time that a property changes ownership and when certain other transactions occur, such as registration of a mortgage or lease. - term: certification definition: A certificate endorsed on a dealing stating it is correct for the purposes of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW). - term: certified copy definition: A copy of an original document endorsed by a solicitor or any other prescribed functionary verifying that the document is a true and correct copy of the original. - term: chain of title definition: The series of deeds and documents evidencing title to land held under common law title – like any chain, it is no stronger than its weakest link. - term: charge definition: A form of security encumbering land created for the purposes of securing the payment of an annuity, rent. Charge or sum of money other than a debt. - term: check survey definition: Historical departmental surveys, now catalogued as examination surveys. Check surveys were undertaken by the Registrar General’s surveyors to check and confirm the standard of work shown on other surveyors' plans lodged for registration. Check surveys are no longer undertaken by the Registrar General. - term: classified road definition: A road declared by the Minister for Transport Services under Part 5 of the Roads Act 1993 (NSW) for a specific public purpose or use; for example, highway, freeway and tourist road. - term: common law title definition: Land alienated from the Crown in fee and not subject to the provisions of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) or any estate or interest therein. See also ‘Old System land’. - term: common property definition: In a strata scheme, it is all the areas of land and buildings not included in any lot. The property is owned jointly by all the unit owners in each strata. There is a separate title for the common property, distinct from the title held by each individual unit owner. - term: community plan definition: A plan of subdivision subject to the Community Land Development Act 1989 (NSW) that divides land into two or more community development lots and at least one community property lot. Shows a subdivision of land consisting of private lots and common property, where the proposed future uses of the lots can be specified. - term: community scheme definition: A community, precinct or neighbourhood development subdividing land under the provisions of the Community Land Development Act 1989 (NSW). Has up to 3 tiers of management called, ‘community’, ‘precinct’ and ‘neighbourhood’ associations. A strata plan can be part of a community development scheme but generally such a scheme would contain individual privately owned lots and individual parcels which are owned in common. A strata scheme on its own has different requirements to a community development scheme. - term: complied plan definition: A plan of land compiled mathematically from existing survey information without further survey on the ground. - term: consent authority definition: The local council or other authority that has the function of giving an approval, consent or certificate under the provisions of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) or chapter 7 of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW). See also ‘subdivision certificate’. - term: consolidation definition: In relation to land, the combining of two or more land parcels into one parcel. - term: contiguous definition: Adjoining, side by side, having a common boundary – land is contiguous to other land even if it is divided by, or separated from the other land by, a natural feature (such as a watercourse) or by a railway, road, public reserve or drainage reserve. - term: conversion action definition: An action initiated by NSW LRS to convert Old System land to Torrens title. - term: conveyance definition: An assurance of property, by deed (other than a will), passing an estate or interest in land held under common law (Old System) title, but can have a wider application to land transactions generally, hence conveyancing. - term: county definition: One of 141 basic divisions of the State of New South Wales, further divided into parishes, for administrative purposes, especially for management and disposal of Crown lands. - term: covenant definition: Generally a mutual agreement between two or more parties to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts in relation to land. Often contained in lease agreements, but in these directions, it particularly refers to a restrictive covenant (now a restriction on the use of land) or a positive covenant binding a proprietor to do or complete a specified action. - term: covenant charge definition: A charge imposed on land (resulting from a failure to perform a positive covenant) for securing the payment of money. - term: cross-easement definition: See ‘party wall’. - term: Crown grant definition: The instrument under the hand of the Governor representing the Crown whereby the Crown passed an estate in fee simple to the grantee. - term: Crown land definition: Land vested in the State of New South Wales and under the direct care and control of the Minister Administering the Crown Land Act 1989 (NSW). This land may be held under Crown title or Torrens title. - term: Crown road definition: A road under the care and control of the Minister Administering the Crown Lands Act 1989 (NSW) and including boundary and reserved roads. They remain Crown land. - term: Crown title definition: Unalienated land, vested in the Crown under the direct care and control of the Minister Administering the Crown Lands Act 1989 (NSW), not held under Torrens title system. - term: current plan definition: Generally the most recently registered plan of subdivision including a particular parcel of land – with some exceptions, land may not be dealt with except as a lot in the current plan. - term: DCDB definition: Digital Cadastral Database – the legal parcel fabric (current subdivisional pattern) of the state supplied by NSW LRS. - term: dealing definition: A dealing is any document evidencing a land transaction and prepared in accordance with the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) and regulations which can be registered in the Torrens Title Register examples include transfer, mortgage, lease and notice of death. - term: deceased estate definition: Property belonging to a deceased (dead) person or persons. - term: deed definition: Any legal document prepared for some purpose in relation to land which has been signed and executed. It may or may not be registered in the General Register of Deeds maintained by NSW LRS. - term: delivery box definition: A NSW LRS client document delivery reference system whereby a numbered and keyed, secure locked box is provided in which certificate of title, duplicate dealings and other documents are placed for an entitled party to accept delivery. - term: delivery direction definition: An instruction given on a dealing, or draft, to issue (or not to issue) a certificate of title for a folio of the register and to deliver it and any other documentation, for example, duplicate lease to a particular party or delivery box. - term: deposited plan definition: A plan of land deposited in NSW LRS, which was not attached to a dealing or deed, showing land boundary information whether for a new subdivision or other purpose; for example, identifying the location of an easement for land acquisition. The Registrar General may, for convenience, number or renumber other plans as deposited plans or prepare deposited plans of their own motion. Plans of strata schemes are called strata plans. - term: derived lots definition: A term used to specifically identify strata lots created in plans registered under any Act prior to 1 July 1974. - term: development contract definition: Instruments, plans and drawings which are registered with a strata or community scheme and described the manner in which the developer intends to further develop the land in the scheme. - term: development lots definition: A term used to specifically identify strata lots created in staged development strata plan specifically for further subdivision development. - term: devisee definition: A person acquiring land under a will. - term: devolution of law definition: The passing of title to land by the operation of law; for example, by a will or by the laws of distribution out of an intestate estate. - term: discharge of mortgage definition: A dealing prepared and signed in writing by the mortgagee that acknowledges that the principal and interest secured by a mortgage have been repaid in full. This document must be registered with NSW LRS to remove any recording of the mortgage from the land title. - term: dominant tenement definition: Any land to which the benefit of an easement is appurtenant, also being the land which benefits from the use of the easement. - term: draft definition: Hand-written instruction, arising from a dealing, from which the information for a new manual folio of the register (Vol. Fol.) is taken. - term: drainage reserve definition: Land set aside to the public for exclusive use of drainage of water – section 49, Local Government Act 1993 (NSW). - term: easement definition: A right, attached to land (the dominant tenement), to use other land (the servient tenement) for a specified non–exclusive purpose known to the law, examples include, right of carriageway, easement to drain water – however, the law recognises an easement in favour of a statutory authority without a dominant tenement, described as an ‘easement in gross’. - term: encumbrance definition: A legal interest recorded on title such as a mortgage, lease or easement. - term: epitome of title definition: A summary of title, listing the documents comprising an Old System (common law) chain of title. - term: equity of redemption definition: The right of a mortgagor at common law to redeem the land conveyed by way of mortgage and so obtain a re-conveyance. - term: established permanent mark definition: A permanent mark the position of which is precisely determined by coordinates to a SCIMS horizontal accuracy rating of 4 or less. - term: estate definition: An interest in land, for example, an estate in fee simple or leasehold estate. - term: estate in fee simple definition: The greatest estate in land that can be held against the Crown. It is characterised by its inheritability, that is, it is capable of being passed to heirs and/or assigns for ever or for so long as an owner can be found. The estate may be passed by a grant from the Crown, a deed, a transfer or by will or devolution of law. - term: estate in remainder definition: An estate limited to take effect and be enjoyed after another estate has been determined. - term: estate pur autre vie definition: An estate for the life of some other person, for example, to A for the life of B – where A has an estate for the term of B’s life. - term: examination survey definition: Surveys undertaken by Office of the Registrar General surveyors to resolve anomalies in boundary definition. If appropriate, plans may be placed on public record. These plans are not used for title description or title issue. - term: execution definition: The act of signing and sealing a document or instrument in the presence of witnesses. - term: executor definition: Person appointed by the testator to carry out the provisions of the will. - term: fee simple definition: The greatest estate in land that can be held against the Crown. It is characterised by its inheritability, that is, it is capable of being passed to heirs and/or assigns for ever or for so long as an owner can be found. The estate may be passed by a Grant from the Crown, a deed, a transfer or by will or devolution of law. - term: fiduciary definition: A person who is under an obligation to act in another person’s interest, for example, a trustee, executor or administrator. - term: first schedule definition: The part of a Torrens folio which sets out the ownership details (names of the registered proprietors, shares and so on). - term: folio instruction definition: A direction from Crown Lands NSW, on how a new Torrens title for land held by the Crown will issue – replaced the traditional Crown grant. - term: folio of the registrar definition: A folio is a page of the land register. The record of title and interests, in respect of a parcel or parcels of land, kept by the Registrar General as part of the Register. A folio may be either a ‘computer’ folio (stored in NSW LRS' computerised system) or a ‘manual’ folio (created originally on paper). - term: freehold definition: The status of land held under an estate in fee simple following alienation from the Crown. - term: good root of title definition: The starting point from which title to Old System land may be considered acceptable. It is usually a conveyance or mortgage for valuable consideration which is at least 30 years old at the time of the search. - term: GPR definition: Government Property Register – is the single source of whole-of-government property data. It provides an integrated data source combining data from individual owner agencies with data from NSW LRS to give a total picture of the State’s land holdings. - term: grant definition: Any Crown grant of land by the Crown to private ownership. The land is said to be ‘alienated from the Crown in fee’. - term: hiatus definition: An unintended gap left between two land parcels, deeds or land titles. - term: indefeasibility definition: The accepted premise that a Torrens title cannot be set aside because of some defect in the history of the title prior to the registration of an interest. A third party cannot be disadvantaged because of the fraud of a second party. The guarantee given to Torrens title by the State Government of NSW. - term: initial period definition: The period in which there is a prohibition on the developer or owners corporation undertaking certain actions. The period starts at registration of the strata plan and ends when at least one third of the total unit entitlement has been transferred. (The community schemes guide should be consulted for an explanation of initial periods affecting plans in community schemes.) - term: instrument definition: Any grant, certificate of title, conveyance, assurance, deed, map, will, probate, or any other document in writing relating to the disposition, devolution or acquisition of land or evidencing title thereto. - term: inter alia (i.a.) definition: Among other things - term: intestate definition: A situation where the deceased has not left a valid will. Dying intestate. - term: isolated definition: A road that has vehicular access to a public road only by means of a connecting temporary public road. - term: ITS definition: Integrated Titling System – a computerised land title register developed and operated by NSW LRS to register plans, dealings and create and store land title records. ITS also holds records of superseded titles. - term: joint tenancy definition: A form of equal joint ownership of a parcel of land by two or more persons. The interest of a deceased proprietor automatically vests in the survivors. - term: land definition: Land is separately defined in various statutes. Where these definitions are not applicable, or there is nothing evident in rebuttal, the common law definition applies, that is, land extends from the centre of the earth to the sky, including not only the surface but also the soil beneath it and the air above it and all things growing on it or attached to it, but does not include minerals belonging to the Crown. For the definition of land in a strata scheme see Registrar General's Guidelines for Strata Schemes. - term: land titles definition: A document or series of deeds purporting to prove the ownership of a parcel of either Torrens or Old System land. Almost all land titles are now held in the Integrated Titling System (ITS) and can be searched in the ITS using a title search function. Generally, Old System titles must be searched manually. - term: lease definition: An instrument creating an interest in land for a stated term, usually in consideration of a payment of rent. Registration with NSW LRS of commercial leases is not compulsory, but to gain maximum protection, leases that have a term of more than 3 years should be registered. Residential tenancy leases are not generally registered with NSW LRS. - term: leasehold estate definition: The interest in land or premises held under a lease by a lessee. - term: lessee definition: The person to whom land or premises is leased. - term: lessor definition: The person, usually the registered proprietor, who leases land or premises in return for payment of rent. - term: letters of administration definition: An authorisation granted by the court to persons to administrate the estate of a deceased person who has died intestate, or who died testate without having appointed an executor. - term: lien definition: In relation to a document, a right to retain the document until a debt is satisfied. - term: life estate definition: An estate of freehold land held during the life of the tenant or for the duration of another's life. - term: limitation definition: A recording in a folio of the register to the effect that the description of the land in the folio has not been investigated by the Registrar General and the boundaries of which are not guaranteed until defined in a new plan of survey. - term: limited title definition: A certificate of title issued for land converted from Old System title whereby the boundaries have not been adequately defined in a plan of survey and/or have not been investigated in NSW LRS. A limitation is recorded in the second schedule. - term: liquidation definition: The state of a company during the process of being terminated. - term: liquidator definition: A person appointed to carry out the termination of a company. - term: littoral definition: Relating to the shores of lakes, or the sea and its inlets. - term: local council definition: The council for a city, municipality or shire elected by property owners for the purpose of local government. - term: lockspits definition: A type of survey mark used in rural areas comprising either trenches or lines of stones set in the direction of the boundaries. - term: lodgment definition: The acceptance by NSW LRS of dealings, plans and other documents, either by hand or electronically, for processing and registration within that Office. - term: loose-leaf register definition: Titles within the Torrens Title Register were originally filed as pages called ‘folios’ within books called ‘volumes’, but after Volume 8497 (from 1961), they were filed as loose-leaf pages up until the time that the computerised system replaced paper records. The loose-leaf titles are also sometimes known as ‘new form’ titles. - term: management statement definition: A statement lodged with a community scheme and some strata schemes which sets out the by-laws and other particulars governing the participation in the development. - term: memorial – Old System definition: Various Acts specify that certain memorials and documents shall be lodged and/or recorded in the Registrar General's Office. Generally, these things used to be lodged with the Supreme Court, but custody was transferred to this Department pursuant to the Transfer of Records Act 1923 (NSW). Memorials in this case are usually in the form of an affidavit and will be recorded in the General Register of Deeds. - term: memorial – Torrens definition: Various Acts specify that certain memorials and documents shall be lodged and/or recorded in the Registrar General’s Office. Generally, these things used to be lodged with the Supreme Court, but custody was transferred to this Department pursuant to the Transfer of Records Act 1923 (NSW). Memorials in this case are usually in the form of an affidavit and will be recorded in the General Register of Deeds. - term: metes and bounds definition: Is a traditional method of land surveying in which the boundaries of land parcels are recorded in terms of direction and distance. - term: MHWM definition: Mean High Water Mark – the line defining the mean between the high tides at ordinary spring and neap tides. - term: minor definition: A person under the age of 18 years. A minor does not have full legal capacity and cannot make a will. - term: moiety definition: An archaic term used in law to mean ‘half’. - term: monument definition: In surveying it means a natural or artificial object or point thereon or mark, which object, point or mark is used for the purpose of locating a boundary or a point thereon. - term: mortgage definition: In relation to land held under common law, a conveyance of land subject to an equity of redemption. In relation to Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) land, a charge on the land created merely for securing payment of a debt. When the debt is repaid, the mortgage is normally discharged. - term: mortgagee definition: The proprietor of a mortgage, that is, the party lending the money, commonly a bank. - term: mortgagor definition: The party who has taken out a loan which is secured by a mortgage. - term: MPS definition: Miscellaneous Plan of Subdivision (Old System – OS) and (Torrens title – RP) – these plans were discontinued in 1961. Existing plans were renumbered in the DP300000 (RP) and DP150000 (OS) series. - term: neighbourhood plan definition: A community scheme subdivision which is either non staged and creates neighbourhood lots and neighbourhood association property or a standalone scheme or as the final tier in a staged development. - term: notice of death definition: An application which declares the death of a joint tenant and by which the survivors automatically acquire the interest of the deceased pursuant to the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW). - term: notice of sale definition: A Notice of Sale or Transfer of Land (NOS) is a document which must be submitted to NSW LRS when a property changes ownership. It must accompany a transfer or other document lodged to register the ownership change. NOS information is forwarded to more than 175 government agencies and authorities for rating and taxing purposes. An eNOS is an online version of the NOS form. - term: notification definition: A recording or other entry made in the second schedule of a folio of the register usually recording an encumbrance such as a mortgage. - term: NSW LRS definition: NSW Land Registry Services – the authority responsible for all plans and records relating to the ownership of land throughout the State. - term: occupational boundary definition: As applied to adverse possession of Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) land, an occupation that represents or replaces an original boundary of a whole parcel. - term: occupations definition: Physical features such as walls and fences associated with boundaries limiting the extent to which a parcel of land is occupied. - term: official trustee in bankruptcy definition: An official appointed to manage the affairs of a bankrupt. - term: Old System land definition: Land alienated from the Crown prior to 1863 and not yet brought under the provisions of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW). As the State of New South Wales does not guarantee title to Old System land, purchasers must carefully examine the chain of title for a land parcel to ensure that the seller is the valid title holder and to know what reservations and encumbrances affect the land. - term: ordinary folio definition: A folio of the register that is not a qualified folio or a limited folio. - term: orientation definition: The alignment of directions in relation to a specified origin. See also ‘azimuth’. - term: overlap of deeds definition: The situation arising where the metes and bounds descriptions of two parcels of land which nominally adjoin are in conflict, so that the deed for each includes land comprised in the other. - term: owners corporation definition: Comprises all proprietors of the lots from time to time in a strata scheme. They are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the building and other common property and the general finance and management of the scheme. - term: parcel definition: An area of land defined by measurement. A parcel may be represented as a ‘lot’ in a deposited plan, as a ‘portion’ in a parish – shown in a parish map in the Historical Land Records Viewer (HLRV), or as an ‘allotment’ in a town (shown in a town map in HLRV). Parish and town maps can be viewed using the HLRV application. - term: parish definition: One of 7,515 areas formed by the division of 141 counties. Counties and parishes are administrative divisions of the state and are not separately disposable land parcels. Parishes are divided into separately disposable parcels called ‘portions’, these being the common basic units of land disposed of by the Crown. Other basic units are allotments in government towns and villages. - term: party wall definition: Separate ownership of the severed portions, and cross easements (created by the operation of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW)) entitling each of the owners on either side of the wall to have the entire wall continued in such manner that each building shall have the support of the whole wall. - term: permanent mark definition: A mark of a permanent nature (usually identified by a combination of letters and numbers) which provides the means for all surveys to be related to the State Survey Control common co–ordinate system. See also ‘established permanent mark’ and ‘SCIMS’. - term: perpetual (lease) definition: A lease forever, unlimited in time. - term: personal representative definition: The executor or administrator of an estate. - term: pipeline plan definition: A plan defining land or the site of an easement vested or to be vested in an applicant for license under the Pipeline Act 1967 (NSW). - term: plans definition: Records the registration pattern of subdivision on various media, is given a legal identity and lots in the plan may be sold as such at this point. - term: portion definition: A parcel of land within a parish. The boundaries of portions within a parish are shown in the parish map (available in HLRV). A more detailed plan of the portion is available from NSW LRS’s approved information brokers. Most portions have now been subdivided and are represented in deposited plans or strata plans but some remain current as a unsubdivided parcel of land. - term: positive covenant definition: A condition imposed by, or for the benefit of a statutory body or a local council that binds the owner of land to perform a specified act; for example, to maintain a building and its foundations to ensure the safe working of a railway passing below it, or to erect a habitable dwelling upon the land within a specified period of time. The positive covenant must be in terms that directly require the owner of the land to do some action. See also ‘covenant charge’. - term: possessory title definition: Title acquired without formal conveyance but by reason of occupation or possession for a statutory period. The common law has always regarded possession, as prima facie evidence of ownership in fee, and a trespasser (or adverse occupier) if allowed to run an unmolested course of possession, will, in time, effectively bar the rights of the documentary owner to recover this land. - term: power of attorney definition: A legal document made by one person (who is called the ‘principal’), that allows another person (called the ‘attorney’) to act on the principal's behalf as prescribed by the documents, for example, to deal with the principal's money, bank accounts, shares, real estate and other assets. This can include spending and managing the principal's money, buying or selling shares for the principal, or buying, selling, leasing or mortgaging the principal's house or other real estate. Before the attorney can transfer property on behalf of the principal, the power of attorney must be registered with NSW LRS. An enduring power of attorney has no time limit, whereas a general or ordinary power of attorney does have a time limit . - term: precinct plan definition: A subdivision of community development lots to create a precinct scheme within a community scheme made up of precinct development lots and precinct association property which allows for another tier of management and development in a community development scheme. - term: prescribed authority definition: A government, semi–government or corporate body authorised under any Act with the power to act as the dominant tenement of an easement, positive covenant or restriction on the use of land. Authorisation for any body benefited by a profit a prendre is not required as no dominant tenement is created. - term: prescribed diagram definition: A diagram attached to a community management statement showing the position of any existing or proposed service lines. - term: prescribed functionary definition: A person who has an official appointment before whom a statutory declaration or other official document may be executed. Their authority to attest an execution is provided for in the laws of the state or country in which the document is executed. If executed in the State of NSW, the document must be attested to by a justice of the peace, a solicitor, a notary public or a commissioner for taking affidavits. If executed outside the State of NSW, strike out reference to the Oaths Act 1900 (NSW) and insert reference to the equivalent local law. The document must then be signed in accordance with the local law. - term: prescription definition: The acquisition of an easement by immemorial use (taken to be at least 12 years). While recognised by the courts such easements are not certifiable under the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW). - term: primary application definition: An application to bring Old System land under the provisions of the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW). An application made to NSW LRS by the property owner of Old System land to convert the Old System title Torrens title. - term: prior title reference definition: The reference number of the title from which a new folio was derived. - term: private road definition: A road restricted in use to a limited class of people (that is, not to the public in general) or for a limited period of time. - term: produced definition: Means produced in NSW LRS, and production has a corresponding meaning. - term: profit a prendre definition: A right to enter land you do not own and take or remove the produce or part of the soil of that land, for example, rights of common, of pasture, of vesture and herbage, cropping, gravel or timber. - term: prothonotary definition: Lawyer or the chief clerk in some courts of law. - term: public authority definition: Includes the council of a local government area and any corporation prescribed as such by the regulations. - term: public road definition: A road opened or dedicated for the free right of passage of the public – on foot, in a vehicle and so on, and declared as such under the Roads Act 1993 (NSW). - term: qualified title definition: A folio of the register in which is recorded a ‘caution’ that has not been cancelled. A caution warns persons dealing with the registered proprietor that the land is held subject to any ‘subsisting interests’ that may exist under Old System. - term: receiver definition: A person authorised to manage the affairs of a bankrupt, or a person appointed by a mortgagee to manage the financial affairs of the mortgagor. This applies to both individuals and companies. - term: reduced level definition: The relative height of a point in relation to a known datum, usually AHD. - term: reference mark definition: A survey mark of a durable nature placed or situated near and connected by measurement to a corner, angle or tangent point of a survey. - term: register definition: (The Torrens Title Register) The land titles register maintained under the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) to record information about parcels of land or strata lots, including names of owners and any interests or dealings affecting the titles for such lots or parcels. - term: registered plan definition: A category of plan of subdivision being a plan of survey containing 5 or more lots of land held under common law title and registered by the Registrar General. This plan series was discontinued in 1961. Existing plans were renumbered in the DP37000 series. - term: registered proprietor definition: The person(s) seized or possessed of the freehold or other estate or interest in land and recorded on the title as being the owner. - term: Registrar General definition: The Registrar General is the official title of the state government official responsible for land title records in NSW. - term: registration – dealings definition: The recording of the effect of a dealing against the relevant folio of the Register. Such recording usually results in a change of ownership or entry/removal of a second schedule notification. - term: registration – plans definition: Upon registration the pattern of subdivision is given a legal identity and lots in the plan may be sold as such at this point. - term: re-lodgment definition: The subsequent lodgment of a dealing, plan or other document following uplifting and compliance with a NSW LRS requisition. - term: requisition definition: A form or letter requiring that certain action be taken, done, given, amended, furnished and so on, to allow a dealing, plan or other document to be registered. - term: rescission definition: The act of rescinding. (Reservation of land for a specific purpose, that is, a lease). A termination of a contract either by an act of the parties to the contract or a court. - term: reservations and conditions in the Crown grant definition: Reservations and Conditions in the Crown Grant is a clause noted on most certificates of title in NSW. The original Crown Grant will specify what conditions the Crown imposed when it first granted the land. That original grant may have related to a much larger parcel of land, of which the land in question was once part. If the owner or customer is interested to find out what conditions apply to their parcel of land, then they will have to search back through the prior titles until they locate the original grant. This search may require a visit to our office in the Sydney CBD. - term: residue definition: Land remaining in an otherwise cancelled folio of the Register, for example, sites of roads remaining after the folio has been cancelled by subdivision. - term: restrictive covenant definition: Originally a covenant by the purchaser with the vendor not to use the land for a specified purpose or in a specified manner. To be enforceable against the purchaser and successors in title it must be restrictive in nature and may not impose a duty to do any positive act, whether or not it involves spending money. Now called a ‘restriction on the use of land’, it is usually created by Section 88B instrument. - term: resumption definition: The compulsory taking of land or an easement by the State of NSW or a statutory authority under an Act of the State by a notification in the NSW Government Gazette. For the purposes of bringing land under the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) includes a compulsory acquisition by the Commonwealth of Australia. - term: resumption application definition: An application to the Registrar General by a resuming authority to be recorded as the registered proprietor of land. - term: reversion definition: The interest in an estate that reverts to the grantor or their heirs at the end of a period. - term: right of way definition: A right of way is an easement allowing a right to use part or all of another property for access purposes. - term: riparian definition: This word relates to rivers, streams or any other natural watercourse. - term: riparian rights definition: The rights of the proprietor of a parcel of land abutting a stream to use the water flowing through it. - term: schedule of unit entitlement definition: A schedule on community and strata plans listing the individual entitlement of every lot in the scheme. Used to apportion voting rights and so on to registered proprietors. - term: scheme definition: A plan adopted for residential development – a community scheme, a precinct scheme, a neighbourhood scheme or strata scheme. - term: SCIMS definition: Survey Control Information Management System – the computer database of the State Control Survey network. SCIMS allows access to survey control information including permanent marks and coordinates, and is used by surveyors for survey accuracy. - term: search definition: To search is the act of inspecting the register for title information required to prepare documents or to satisfy inquiries on reference sheets, maps or plans for survey information required for the investigation deposited plans or strata plans or for conveyancing or other purposes. - term: search sketch definition: A diagrammatic record of the documents forming the chain of title. It illustrates the land description in each successive deed. - term: second schedule definition: That part of a folio which lists exceptions, restrictions, easements and other interests or notifications affecting the land. - term: Section 88B instrument definition: An instrument under the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) lodged with a deposited plan or strata plan to create easements, restrictions on the use of land and positive covenants upon registration of the plan as an alternative to the creation of easements via a dealing. - term: service line definition: A pipe, wire, cable, duct or pole by means or which service is or is to be provided to a lot in a community scheme. - term: service provider definition: A statutory or government authority that provides a service to a lot in a community scheme by means of a statutory easement. - term: servient tenement definition: The land affected or burdened by an easement. - term: share title definition: A separate title issued for a registered proprietor's share or for certain estates in a land title. - term: SIGA definition: Security Interest in Goods Act 2005 (NSW) – this Act provides for the registration of securities held over assets and goods, such as livestock, crops, bills of sale, agricultural goods, stock, wool and aquaculture fish mortgages. - term: special resolution definition: A resolution of the community, precinct or neighbourhood association passed with at least 75 per cent of eligible voted. - term: stamp duty definition: An ad valorem state tax on real estate transactions with a sliding scale commencing at 1.25 per cent of the consideration sum. - term: statutory easement definition: Easements for the provision of essential services within a community, precinct or neighbourhood scheme – section 36, Community Land Development Act 1989 (NSW). Terms are set out as a by-law in the management statement and the sites are shown in the service works plan. - term: strata (stratum) definition: The concept of layer upon layer – lots, stacked one on top of the other. - term: strata lot definition: A lot defined in a plan lodged under strata scheme legislation. Includes lots wholly or partially inside building, external lots (that maybe wholly or partially covered) and open space lots. - term: strata plan definition: A plan lodged with NSW LRS creating individually owned lots and common property within a parcel of land defining lots by a cubic space(s). Normally, a strata plan pertains to multiple units within a building. - term: stratum lot definition: A parcel of land restricted in height and/or depth by reference to Australian Height Datum (AHD) or other datum approved by the Surveyor General. - term: stratum subdivision definition: The division of land which at least one boundary between the lots in the subdivision is defined by a plane that is not vertical, so horizontal or inclined planes. This type of boundary results in the creation of lots on top of each other. - term: subdivision definition: The division of land into parts for separate occupation and/or disposition. The land may be subdivided either vertically or by stratum. - term: subdivision certificate definition: The consent of the required authority, local council, accredited certifier or the Crown to the subdivision of land. Endorsed in the panel on the plan. - term: sub-lease definition: A lease of a lease. - term: subsidiary scheme definition: A precinct scheme, neighbourhood scheme or strata scheme that subdivides a development lot in an existing community or precinct scheme. - term: subsisting interest definition: Any contingent or vested estate or interest in land, pursuant to section 28K, Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) in existence at the date of issue of a qualified certificate of title. - term: survey (plan) definition: A representation or drawing of land surveyed, prepared from particulars recorded in a field book of a surveyor. - term: temporary road definition: A road (dedicated for the purpose in a deposited plan) used as a means of access to an isolated road for a limited period of time. - term: tenancy in common definition: Each tenant has a share in the entirety which does not accrue to partners on death. It may be disposed of during life or transmitted on death, either by will or according to the laws governing distribution. The shares may be equal or unequal and may be created separately. - term: tenure definition: The mode of holding or occupying unalienated Crown land, for example, a conditional purchase and a perpetual lease. - term: testator/testatrix definition: Person who has died and left a will. - term: the register definition: The Registrar General’s Office record of ownership, restrictions and encumbrances affecting Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) land. - term: title conversion definition: The action taken within NSW LRS to convert parcels of Old System land to Torrens title. It includes actions under Part IVA, Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) and the more recent conversion actions. - term: title diagram definition: A diagram or plan endorsed on or referred to in a folio of the register, illustrating the land in that folio. - term: title reference definition: The reference used to identify a title. For titles in the computerised system, the title reference is often presented in the format 1/10222, where 1 is the lot number and 10222 is the deposited plan number. However, there are a range of other formats used. Prior to 1983 the title references were in the form of volumes and folios, for example, Vol 1234 Fol 567. - term: title search definition: A title search is an inspection of the register which will indicate the current owner or owners of a property and also shows the estate and any other interests that may restrict full control of the property by the owner. These other interests are called encumbrances and could include mortgages, easements, or caveats. Online title searches are available for 99 per cent of titles in NSW. - term: Torrens title definition: A term used to describe the system of title (or land) registration devised by Robert Richard Torrens, and adopted in NSW from 1863. Under this system, title is guaranteed by the state and purchasers do not need to establish the chain of ownership when purchasing property. They can rely on a current certificate of title to evidence ownership of land. - term: transfer definition: The passing of any estate or interest in land under the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW), whether for valuable consideration or otherwise. - term: transferee definition: The person to which the estate or interest is being transferred. - term: transferor definition: The person transferring the estate or interest. - term: transmission definition: The acquisition of title to or interest in land consequent on the death, will, intestacy or bankruptcy of a proprietor. - term: transmission application definition: An application for the transfer of title to or interest in land consequent on the death of a sole proprietor or tenant in common following probate. - term: trustee definition: The person who holds property on trust for another. The prime duty of a trustee is to carry out the terms of the trust and preserve safely the trust property. - term: trustee in bankruptcy definition: An official appointed to manage the affairs of a bankrupt (as regards a person). - term: unalienated Crown land definition: Crown land under the care and control of the Minister Administering the Crown Lands Act 1989 (NSW) which is not subject of any tenure or resumption by a Government gazettal. - term: unanimous resolution definition: A resolution at a duly convened general meeting of a community, precinct or neighbourhood association passed without a vote being cast against it. - term: unregistered definition: A notification on title about a dealing which has been lodged with NSW LRS but not yet been registered. Most dealings are accepted and recorded within a few days of lodgment, but some may require correction before they can be registered. In this case ‘requisitions’ are issued to the lodging party pointing out the corrections required. The term applies to dealings or plans which have not been registered with NSW LRS or put on public record. - term: utility lot definition: A strata lot designated for a specific purpose such as garage, parking space or garden shed. A utility lot restricted under section 63, Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 (NSW) is not available for occupation. - term: vertical subdivision definition: The subdivision of land into lots where boundaries extend from the centre of the earth through the surface to infinity. The plan represents the parcel at the earth’s surface. See also ‘stratum subdivision’. - term: vested remainder definition: A remainder which is always ready to take effect in possession the moment the particular estate on which it is expectant terminates. - term: vinculum definition: A symbol in the form of an elongated reverse ‘S’ used in plans to show which parcels of land forms part of the same lot or the continuance of a lot on the other side of a road, river, railway and so on. - term: WAL definition: Water Access Licence - term: will definition: A disposition or declaration by which the person making it (the testator) provides for the distribution or administration of property after their death. - term: writ definition: In these directions means a writ of execution emanating from a court, which when registered in the Register of Causes, Writs and Orders creates a charge on the property of the execution debtor where the land is held under common law title. Where the land is held under the Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) the writ must be registered under that Act to have effect – it does not create an interest in land but generally operates to prevent the registration of dealings for a period of three months. However, there are exceptions, and this area of law is complex requiring detailed study.