What happens if you have lost your property Certificate of Title?

You will need to produce a Certificate of Title when lodging a dealing at Land Use Victoria, but what happens if you have lost your Certificate of Title?

1. First, we suggest that you check with all of the registered proprietors to see if any one of them holds the title.
2. Second, because Land Use Victoria issues a Certificate of Title to the person who last lodged documents at Land Use Victoria for registration, check with your mortgagee (bank or other lender), or the lawyer or conveyancer who undertook the last transaction for you.

If you are unsure of who holds the Title on your behalf, you can do an issue search at Land Use Victoria to identify the party to whom the Title was last issued.

If after doing all of the above you still cannot locate the Certificate of Title, you will need to complete an application for a new Certificate of Title in place of one lost or destroyed.

You can either attend to complete the application yourself or you can engage a lawyer to assist with the application on your behalf.

We note that along with the application each registered proprietor is required to produce the following to Land Use Victoria:

1. Statutory declaration which much contain specific facts explaining what happened to the certificate of title; and
2. Verification of identity.

A statutory declaration is also required from the party to whom the Certificate of Title was last issued and any subsequent parties who may have had possession of the missing Certificate of Title. This statutory declaration needs to provide details of how that party disposed of the missing Certificate of Tite.

Prior to lodgement an up-to-date title search and issue search must be obtained and submitted along with the application to Land Use Victoria.

There is a fee for the application in the amount of approximately $417.20 which is subject to change at the discretion of Land Use Victoria.

Once you have attended to the abovementioned you can then lodge your application and with Land Use Victoria.

If you would like more information or require assistance with a lost Certificate of Title application, please contact our office on 03 9707 1155.