In simple terms an eCT is an electronic Certificate of Title.
All of the major banks commenced replacing paper Certificates of Title with electronic Certificates of Title in September 2016 in line with electronic conveyancing guidelines.
In October, 2016 Land Victoria conducted a bulk conversion of paper Certificates of Title to electronic Certificates of Title.
Since then thousands of certificates of title have been converted to electronic titles when they have been lodged at Land Victoria for the registration of a dealing, i.e. a transfer of the land, mortgage, etc. Upon issue of the eCT from Land Victoria control of the title is held by the CT Controller, i.e. if your bank has taken a mortgage over the property then the bank would be the CT Controller or if your conveyancer has completed a conveyance of the land for you and no bank was involved then your conveyancer would be noted as the CT Controller.
An eCT can easily be identified. When conducting a title search of the property eCT is notated at the bottom of the search in the Administrative Notices section. This section also identifies who holds CT Control of the title.
In April, 2020 Land Victoria ceased issuing paper titles upon registration of all dealings and accordingly only eCT’s are now issued.
This has the advantage of titles no longer being misplaced, lost or destroyed and they can easily traced back to the CT Controller.
A Section 32 is or Vendor Statement is document containing information about a property that the seller (vendor) is legally required to provide to a buyer (purchaser) prior to the signing of a Contract of Sale.
It must disclose all information that affects the property that would not be obvious during an inspection, including information that may affect the decision of a potential buyer.
Information that should be included:
- Title search
- planning information and reports
- sewer plan
- building permits, including owner building works, if applicable
- council and water rate notices
- owners corporation certificates, if applicable
The vendor is obliged to pay the rates on the property up until the date of settlement. To adjust rates as to the date of settlement, any amount outstanding for rates is deducted from money paid to the vendor. The purchaser then makes an allowance to the vendor for their share of the rates from the settlement date to the end of the rating period with payment made to the rating authority for any amount outstanding during settlement.
