Home buyers could be hit with a $4000 slug to buy insurance for their land title if the state government goes ahead with privatisation plans, surveyors and lawyers have claimed.
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Member for Orange Phil Donato joined a NSW Law Society protest march in Sydney on Tuesday to oppose government policy to sell the Land and Property Information office – the body that manages land titles.
Last week he met a delegation of Orange surveyors concerned about the privatisation proposal.
Mr Donato said the sell-off had been rushed through Parliament.
“Selling off any government body that’s not bolted down is bad policy,” he said.
“What we are going to find from selling the land titles registry is that the quality of our information on who owns what will suffer.”
He said it might lead to home buyers also having to buy insurance to safeguard against inaccurate information in title documents.
Orange surveyor Andrew Usher said it could cost home buyers $4000.
“There’s no guarantee that’s going to happen but the evidence we have seen from Canada where they privatised the land titles body is that there are more frequent errors that affect titles to land,” he said.
Mr Usher said the titles body was profitable and provided world-class level security of title which would be at risk if it was privatised.
“It’s money-making now, it’s cash-positive.
“It’s an arm of government that needs to stay in government hands.
“Why fix something that’s not broken.”
Under the plan the land titles registry would be offered to private operators under a 35-year lease for about $2 billion and the funds used to build and renovate two sports stadiums in Sydney.
“Over 35 years they will be losing income. This is a quick cash-grab to fix some football stadiums.”
President of the Real Estate Institute of NSW, John Cunningham said the land titles system underpinned $1.2 trillion worth of real estate in NSW.
“If we sell it, everyone loses,” he said.
President of the Law Society of NSW Pauline Wright said it should remain a core function of government.
“The national economy, and public confidence in the protection of every individual’s property rights, depend on the absolute security in the administration of the land titling function,” Ms Wright said.