Understanding Title Deeds

Why you need an Historical Title Search

Obtaining copies of historical title deeds for your property can help to answer the following questions.

• Who received the original grant of land for the property I now own?
• Who were the past owners of the land?
• When was my house or building constructed?

If you have ever asked these questions and haven’t already obtained copies of the Historical Title Deeds, now is a good time to do so. While an historical title deed won’t tell you when your house was constructed it can provide clues.

Undertaking an Historical Title Search is an important step in uncovering the history of your historical home or building in Ipswich. It is only one step in your search but sometimes it is a vital step.

An historical Title search provides information about past owners and changes to the land descriptions after the sale of Crown Land (land being sold by the Government).

What information will I find on Historical Titles?

• Location: Parish and County name, land district, portion number and area.
• Sale details: owner’s name and tenure e.g. CP (Conditional Purchase), date and place of sale, original grantee name and sometimes the date.
• Survey information: Surveyor’s name, date of survey, survey marks, date of letter sending survey to Head Office.
• Environmental information: natural landmarks, waterways & rivers, topography, soils, vegetation.

Terminology

A selection of terms from the Queensland Government Glossary of home ownership and Land Services SA.

Allotment
The smaller parcels of land resulting from a large area of land being subdivided into smaller pieces.

Discharge of Mortgage
A document signed by the lender and given to the borrower when a mortgage loan has been repaid in full.

Freehold
A dwelling and the land it stands on that is owned by the owner until they choose to sell it.

Transfer
A dealing lodged in the LTO that contains authorisation for the transfer of an interest in a property. Some of these dealings are associated with survey plans.

Transmission
The passing of title to land (or an interest therein such as a mortgage or lease) in any manner other than by transfer. For example, on the death of a sole registered proprietor, his or her estate or interest in the land is transmitted to his or her executor or administrator.

Rights and Interests Reserved to the Crown by Deed? What?
You may have noticed that on all title searches in Queensland under Easements, Encumbrances and Interests the following is noted – ‘Rights and interests reserved to the Crown by Deed of Grant No …’ – what does this mean?

This notation is on every title search in Queensland and means that the Crown reserves the right to resources that may lie within the property boundary (e.g. oil, gas, and minerals). The Deed of Grant is a throwback to historic plans. Essentially you can ignore this notation unless you are buying a property for mining related purposes, in which case you will want to see a separate mining permit in place. https://www.maplawyers.com.au/rights-and-interests-reserved-to-the-crown-by-deed-what/

You have a copy of your Title Deeds but how do you proceed with your research?

• Use your Title Deeds to create a timeline of owners and events for your property. This can be as simple as creating a word document and recording chronologically the sequence of events.
• Research the history of the people who owned your property through the digitised newspapers on Trove (National Library of Australia website).
• Follow the guidelines set out in Every House has a History: a guide to unravelling the unique history of your house