How to order a title search from Landgate

Anyone. Landgate says you don't need to own a property to order a copy of its certificate of title. The WA title search is called a Record of Certificate of Title.

Landgate holds the one true copy of each certificate of title in digital form, so it can't give you an 'original'; what you order is a copy of that record. Searching by an owner's name is a separate product: it is free, but online it needs a MyLandgate billing account, and in person it needs 100 points of ID.

• A debit or credit card and an email address.
• The street address, the volume and folio, or the lot on plan number.
• Nothing else for a title: you can proceed as an unregistered guest. A free Landgate login gives access to more documents and services.

1. 1Go to Landgate's Land Enquiry Services.
2. 2Proceed as an unregistered guest, or sign in with a free Landgate login.
3. 3Search by street address, volume and folio, or lot on plan, and select the title.
4. 4Pay A$33.90 by debit or credit card.
5. 5Check your email. Landgate sends a receipt and the title as a PDF within 30 minutes.

Two exceptions are worth knowing. Land with multiple titles isn't available online; Landgate asks you to call +61 8 9273 7373. And a sketch from an older paper title can be ordered online only with a MyLandgate billing account; otherwise you send Landgate a request form, or buy the survey plan separately.

The Record of Certificate of Title shows the volume and folio, the lot and plan, the registered proprietors with their address for service of notices, how they hold the land, the document numbers of mortgages, caveats and other interests, and a sketch reference where available. Our guide on how to read a WA title explains each part.

Landgate is cheaper, has guest checkout and emails within 30 minutes, so if you know the property and are happy reading the title yourself, order it there.

Title Registry suits you if you want the address matched and the exact lot, plan and title shown before you pay, need titles in more than one state from one place, or want help by email at any hour. For WA we send Landgate's official PDF only, without a summary, because Landgate's terms don't allow derived products. Our price is A$89, and if we can't deliver, the hold on your card is released.