Mid-last year, our ex-premier Mike Baird, along with now Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced plans for the possible privatisation of the LPI. This has large implications for not only Government, to all potential home buyers, current home buyers and renters.
What is the LPI?
Chances are if you have bought a property before, you would have dealt with the Land Property and Information Office. The LPI is what maintains the registry that defines ownership and boundaries of all private and public properties. When you purchase a new property, the LPI is the place where you search for all changes of ownership, mortgages, restrictions, leases and any other information pertaining to the property you are looking at. This means that the LPI holds extremely valuable information for the vast amounts of homeowners and those with interests in property.
What implications will this have?
The impact on individuals seeking to purchase, rent or sell property may be subject to profitable alternatives to the current system. If this happens, then whomever the government decides to sell the LPI to, may implement their own profit-driven titling system as a replacement for the current system.
Another issue of contention is that of privacy. As the LPI holds all property titles in NSW, privatisation would give unprecedented access to these titles, giving rise to the risk of possible exploitation. The current government run system is one of the most efficient in the world, is corruption-free and turns over $50 million in profit a year. The Audit trail associated with this system is a key tool used by public services, such as infrastructure, emergency or disaster responses. Should the private sectors either compromise on this documentation or wrongly use this information, there could be rippling effects across the entire property market with significant consequences for potential and current home buyers.
If you are looking to buy or sell your property or would simply like more information, contact us on 02 8917 8700 or fill out the enquiry box and we will get back to you ASAP.