Phil Donato says land titles office privatisation a big concern

Updated April 5 2017 - 10:32pm, first published 10:12pm
Member for Orange Philip Donato involved in the PSA protest against the LPI sale.
Member for Orange Philip Donato involved in the PSA protest against the LPI sale.

Land Titles Office Privatisation

The Government rushed-through a bill last year to privatise the Land and Property Information (LPI) office. This is the registry that holds information on property ownership statewide. The bill for the land titles registry sell-off was quietly passed despite opposition from the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party. If this goes ahead, I’m concerned that we may end up like other jurisdictions in the United States where people have to purchase ‘titles insurance’ to safeguard against inaccurate titles information when purchasing a house. So much appears wrong with this deal at face value. Given that the registry generates $130 million annually, and the expected price is $2 billion for a 35-year sale, the windfall for the successful bidder will be enormous. Reports yesterday that one of the leading bidders is an entity registered in the Cayman Islands are also worrying. It’s no wonder that I’ve been approached by so many in our community who are concerned about the LPI privatisation, including the Central West Group of the Institution of Surveyors and the New South Wales Law Society – and these are the people who deal with land titles matters every day. Make no mistake; if this bad deal goes ahead it will affect all of us.

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