Division 1Division 1 General Register of Deeds
A reference in this Division to a registration copy of an instrument is a reference to a copy of the original instrument that is made or provided as prescribed by the regulations.
184B Application of Division to certain instruments
(1) Without affecting anything in the Real Property Act 1900, and subject to subsection (2), an instrument which is registered or required to be registered under the provisions of the Real Property Act 1900 may be registered under this Division, unless it is an instrument that is registrable under the Real Property Act 1900 and relates only to land under that Act.(2) Section 184G does not apply to an instrument registered, or required to be registered, under the Real Property Act 1900.
184C General Register of Deeds
(1) The Registrar-General shall cause a General Register of Deeds to be maintained for the purposes of this Division.(2) The General Register of Deeds shall be comprised of:(a) the General Register of Deeds kept pursuant to the Registration of Deeds Act 1897,(b) registration copies of instruments registered under this Division,(c) instruments of a prescribed class,(d) records required by the regulations to be kept as part of the General Register of Deeds,(e) a record of registrations made under Division 2 after the amendment of that Division by the Conveyancing (Amendment) Act 1992,(f) a record of registrations of resumptions and rescissions of resumptions made under section 196A after the amendment of that section by the Conveyancing (Amendment) Act 1992,(g) instruments that were registered under the Liens on Crops and Wool and Stock Mortgages Act 1898 after the commencement of the Liens on Crops and Wool and Stock Mortgages (Amendment) Act 1992,(h) instruments that were registered under the Bills of Sale Act 1898 after the commencement of the Bills of Sale (Amendment) Act 1992, and(h1) instruments that were registered under the Security Interests in Goods Act 2005 (including instruments granting agricultural goods mortgages),(i) memoranda of covenants registered under Division 5 of Part 6.(2A) The General Register of Deeds is also comprised of:(a) entries under Division 2 that constituted the register of causes, writs and orders affecting land immediately before the amendment of that Division by the Conveyancing (Amendment) Act 1992,(b) recordings of resumptions, and of rescissions of resumptions, that constituted the Register of Resumptions under section 196A immediately before the amendment of that section by the Conveyancing (Amendment) Act 1992,(c) each register kept for the purposes of a provision of the Liens on Crops and Wool and Stock Mortgages Act 1898 immediately before the amendment of the provision by the Liens on Crops and Wool and Stock Mortgages (Amendment) Act 1992, and(d) each filing, recording or registration that, immediately before the repeal or amendment of a provision of the Bills of Sale Act 1898 by the Bills of Sale (Amendment) Act 1992, was a filing, recording or registration for the purposes of the provision.(3) The General Register of Deeds may be maintained in or upon any medium or combination of mediums capable of having information recorded in or upon it or them.(4) The Registrar-General may, from time to time, vary the manner or form in which the whole or any part of the General Register of Deeds is maintained.
184D Registration of instruments
(1) The Registrar-General may receive and register any instrument whatever, whether affecting or relating to land or not, unless the instrument is registrable under the Real Property Act 1900 and relates only to land under that Act.(2) Except as provided by this Act or any other Act, registration of an instrument under this Division has effect for the purposes of record only.(3) The Registrar-General may:(a) refuse to accept an instrument for registration in the General Register of Deeds, or(b) refuse to register an instrument in the General Register of Deeds, or(c) reject an instrument lodged for registration in the General Register of Deeds,if the instrument is not accompanied by a certificate that is in an approved form setting out particulars of or relating to the instrument and that is signed as prescribed.(4) A person who signs such a certificate knowing that it is false or misleading in a material particular is guilty of an offence.Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units.
(5) Liability for, or recovery of, a penalty under this section does not preclude the recovery of damages in an action based on a false or misleading certificate signed for the purposes of this section.(6) The Registrar-General is not required to be satisfied as to the accuracy of a certificate provided under this section, except to the extent of ensuring that it appears on its face to comply with the requirements of this section.(7) Proceedings for an offence under this section are to be taken before the Local Court.(8) The Registrar-General may refuse to register in the General Register of Deeds an instrument that relates only to a change of name of any person, unless the applicant for registration satisfies the Registrar-General that good cause exists why the instrument should be so registered rather than dealt with under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995.
(1) Registration of an instrument in the General Register of Deeds after the commencement of the Conveyancing (Amendment) Act 1992 is effected by the Registrar-General allocating a distinctive reference to the instrument in accordance with the regulations in order to signify registration of the instrument. This subsection does not apply to a trader’s bill of sale.(1A)–(3) (Repealed)(4) The Registrar-General may refuse to register an instrument in the General Register of Deeds if:(a) the original instrument or registration copy does not comply with any relevant provision of this Division or with any relevant requirement prescribed by the regulations, or(b) any other relevant requirements prescribed by the regulations in relation to the registration of instruments under this Division are not complied with.(4A) If an instrument purports to vest an estate or interest in land, or to effect a change in the name of a person in whom an estate or interest in land is vested, the Registrar-General may:(a) refuse to accept the instrument for registration in the General Register of Deeds, or(b) refuse to register the instrument in the General Register of Deeds, or(c) reject the instrument if it is lodged for registration in the General Register of Deeds,if the instrument is not accompanied by a fully completed notice in the approved form.(5) Instruments (other than traders’ bills of sale) are registered under this Division in the order in which the distinctive references referred to in subsection (1) are allocated to the instruments.(6) Notwithstanding subsection (5), instruments registered under the Registration of Deeds Act 1897 shall be taken to have been registered in the order determined by reference to the time endorsed on the copy pursuant to that Act.(7) (Repealed)(8) Except in so far as the context or subject-matter otherwise indicates or requires, a reference (however expressed) in this or any other Act, in any instrument made under this or any other Act or in any other instrument of any kind, to registration in, or an instrument registered in, the General Register of Deeds shall be read and construed as, or as including, a reference to registration under, or an instrument registered under, this Division.
(1) The Registrar-General may destroy a document forming part of the General Register of Deeds unless this section prohibits its destruction.(2) The Registrar-General is not to destroy such a document if under a duty to deliver or issue it to any person.(3) Instead of destroying such a document, the Registrar-General may deliver it to a person who, in the opinion of the Registrar-General, intends to preserve it for historical reasons.(4) The Registrar-General is not to destroy or dispose of a document under this section unless a copy of the document is captured and retained by the Registrar-General in a manner that enables the document to be reproduced.(5) The Registrar-General is to retain each document that forms part of the General Register of Deeds and is not destroyed or disposed of under this section.(6) This section does not authorise a failure to comply with, or a contravention of, any Act or other law and does not prevent the destruction of a document under the authority of an Act other than this Act.(7) In this section, a reference to a document includes a reference to any certificate referred to in section 184D that is on, or accompanies, the document.
184G Instruments affecting land to take effect according to priority of registration
(1) All instruments (wills excepted) affecting, or intended to affect, any lands in New South Wales which are executed or made bona fide, and for valuable consideration, and are duly registered under the provisions of this Division, the Registration of Deeds Act 1897, or any Act repealed by the Registration of Deeds Act 1897, shall have and take priority not according to their respective dates but according to the priority of the registration thereof only.(2) No instrument registered under the provisions of this Division or the Registration of Deeds Act 1897 shall lose any priority to which it would be entitled by virtue of registration thereunder by reason only of bad faith in the conveying party, if the party beneficially taking under the instrument acted bona fide, and there was valuable consideration given therefor.(3) In the case of an instrument that affects, or intends to affect, both land and an access licence under the Water Management Act 2000:(a) this section has effect in relation to the instrument to the extent to which the instrument affects, or intends to affect, the land, and(b) section 83A of the Water Management Act 2000 has effect to the extent to which the instrument affects, or intends to affect, the access licence.
No registration of any instrument under this Division, or intended to be in pursuance of this Division, shall be defeated or made ineffectual by reason of any omission, misdescription or error in any case where the identity of the instrument in evidence with the one alleged to have been registered is established, and the substantial requirements of this Division and the regulations have been complied with.
(1) The Registrar-General may, subject to this section and upon such evidence as appears to the Registrar-General to be sufficient, correct errors and omissions in the General Register of Deeds.(2) This section does not authorise an alteration to be made to a registration copy of an original instrument except to bring the copy into conformity with the original instrument.(3) This section does not authorise an alteration to be made to an original instrument.(4) Where it appears to the Registrar-General that an alteration has been made to an original instrument after its registration under this Division, this section does not authorise an alteration to be made to the registration copy of the original instrument to bring the copy into conformity with the original instrument in that respect.
184J Provisions respecting certain Crown grants
Registration under this Division of a grant by the Crown of lands or other hereditaments in New South Wales alienated before 1 January 1863, which has not been already enrolled in the Supreme Court or recorded in the office of the Registrar-General shall have the same effect as if the grant had been recorded under section 6 (II) of the Registration of Deeds Act 1897, and that Act had not been repealed.