Image courtesy NSW Government
Feedback is being sought on a discussion paper outlining NSW’s plans for the transition from paper to digital survey plans.
The paper was released in August 2021 and follows a delivery plan launched in November 2020 by Victor Dominello, Minister for Customer Service and Minister for Digital, which sets out the key outcomes and actions necessary for the transition.
According to the Office of the Registrar General, “A move to intelligent digital survey plans will support a more efficient, accurate and accessible land title system. It will deliver benefits back to industry — and be tailored to recognise a monument-based cadastre. For example, it will allow for:
- simpler, user friendly visualisations of digital survey plans
- significant improvement in timeframes between final survey and plan registration—from months to weeks
- prepopulating documents and moving away from wet signatures
- eliminating, or very few errors
- parallel approvals
- closing the gap between subdivision works and construction of new homes commencing”.
On an information page on its website, the Office acknowledges that “this is a big change” and an “industry-wide transformation”.
“Along with eConveyancing, this is a critical part of making the NSW land title system fully digital,” it says.
According to the NSW Government, the move to digital survey plans “will ultimately result in financial benefits for industry and the community through lower holding costs for property development and allowing property purchasers to settle on, and move into, their new homes sooner. The reform will also ensure information on property boundaries is presented in a way that is more easily understood by the community.”
Registered surveyors are being encouraged to provide their feedback on the discussion paper, as are other stakeholders such as:
- plan contributors such as valuers who determine unit entitlements, or legal practitioners who prepare terms for Section 88B instruments, by-laws, management statements and other associated documents.
- plan reviewers such as land development professionals and consultants who may need to review or access information from draft plans.
- consenting or approving parties such as developers, certifying authorities, other government agencies and financial institutions who execute plan documents prior to lodgement.
- lodging parties who currently lodge paper plans over the counter with NSW Land Registry Services, such as law firms and lodgement agents.
Submissions close on 30 September 2021.
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