How to read a South Australian title search

CT 6123/456 means Certificate of Title Volume 6123 Folio 456, the reference you use to search SAILIS. The certification line confirms the search shows the records in the Register Book at the time of searching.

Parent Title(s) are the titles this one came from, and Creating Dealing(s) is the dealing (registered document) that created it. Title Issued is when the title began; the Edition number goes up each time a dealing is registered, and Edition Issued is the date of the current edition. Diagram Reference names the plan or diagram the land is shown on.

Estate Type FEE SIMPLE is ordinary freehold. The Registered Proprietor section names each owner, followed by OF and an address recorded with the registry. It may be an old or postal address, and no phone number or email is shown.

If there are two or more owners, check how they hold the land: as joint tenants (the survivor takes the whole) or as tenants in common, with each owner's share. The Register Search page doesn't print the transfer number beside the owners. The Register Search fee also covers a historical search, which lists past dealings with their dates.

The land is described as an allotment, section or unit on a plan, then the area name and the hundred, an old survey district still used in the register. SA plans include Deposited Plans (DP), Filed Plans (FP), Community Plans (CP) and Strata Plans (SP).

The plan isn't part of a standard Register Search. Land Services SA's Register Search Plus adds the plan image and all registered instruments.

Easements lists rights over the land, or rights the land has over other land, with the plan or dealing that created them. NIL means none are recorded on the title.

The Schedule of Dealings lists registered interests by dealing number and description:

• MORTGAGE TO [lender]: a loan secured on the property. It stays until a discharge of mortgage is registered.
• ENCUMBRANCE TO [company]: common in newer estates. It usually binds owners to the developer's rules on building, fencing or design approval. The rules are in the encumbrance document; see covenants.
• CAVEAT: someone claims an interest in the land. It can stop other dealings being registered. See caveats.
• LEASE: a registered lease, usually long-term or commercial.

• Dealings Affecting Title: documents lodged but not yet registered, such as a transfer or discharge. NIL means nothing is in progress.
• Priority Notices: a notice lodged to hold a place on the register for an upcoming dealing, such as a sale or new mortgage. One usually means a settlement is close.
• Notations on Plan, Registrar-General's Notes and Administrative Interests: other matters recorded against the land or its plan. Read any that aren't NIL.

• The plan drawing and the wording of encumbrances, easements or caveats. Land Services SA sells a plan image for A$14.60 and a dealing image for A$13.50 (2026-27).
• Phone numbers or email addresses for the owner.
• Council and government property information, such as zoning or levies. Conveyancers get that from council and state searches.

Get advice if you see a caveat, a dealing affecting the title you didn't expect, or an encumbrance whose rules might stop what you want to build. A conveyancer can order the documents behind each dealing number.

Title Registry orders the Register Search through an authorised information broker and emails it, usually within minutes, with a plain-English summary, for A$99. SAILIS charges A$36.75 for the same search.