Title deeds: what replaced them, and how to get a copy of your title

When people say title deeds they usually mean the paper certificate of title the registry once gave owners, often kept by the bank while a mortgage was owing. Under the Torrens system that paper was only a copy: the register itself has always been the proof of ownership.

Strictly, deeds are older still. Before Torrens title, land passed by a chain of deeds, and a small amount of this old system or general law land remains in some states. If your land is one of those rare cases, a conveyancer or solicitor is the right person to help.

In most states, nothing. The register records your ownership, and losing an old piece of paper doesn't put your home at risk. In NSW, Queensland and WA the paper has no legal effect at all.

If you're in Victoria or the Northern Territory and plan to sell or refinance, tell your conveyancer the paper title is missing. They'll deal with the registry's process. If a bank or solicitor held your deeds as security for a loan, ask them what they hold now. In Queensland, for example, a paper title held as security stopped counting for anything from 1 October 2019 unless a mortgage is registered.

Order a title search. It's the registry's official copy of your title as it stands on the day you order it: the owners' names, the lot and plan, and any mortgages, caveats, easements and covenants.

You can buy it from the registry in every state except NSW, where NSW Land Registry Services sells only through authorised information brokers or at its counter. Registry fees for 2026-27 run from A$8.30 at LANDATA (when you know the volume and folio) to A$39.20 at theLIST in Tasmania.

Or order through Title Registry, an independent service that orders the registry's own document through an authorised information broker. We confirm the exact property (lot, plan and title reference) before you pay and email the official PDF, usually within minutes, with a one-page plain-English summary where the state allows it. That's every state except Queensland, where the summary is coming, and WA, where the registry's terms don't allow it.

A title search shows today's owners and interests. It doesn't list past owners: that's a historical title search. It also refers to plans and registered documents without including them. Title Registry doesn't sell plans, registered documents or historical searches yet. Order them from the registry or an information broker for now.