ARTICLES
Don't worry if your Lawyer asks for Photo IDThere have been substantial changes to Land Titles. 100 years ago the title document to a property was a work of art. The details of the property, the owners’ name and mortgages and the like were all beautifully handwritten on waxed parchment. Over the years the quality of the titles has been reduced from the heavy bonded paper down to every day A4 sheets. Now, titles as we know them have been eliminated altogether, and a title now only exists in cyberspace on the Land Information New Zealand electronic register. The days of having your own title have gone. The best you can have is a photocopy of what is electronically registered. There are however some advantages. The costs for registration of Land Title documents have been reduced (although as it is a Government cost you would wonder how long that will last!) but more importantly, the registration into the name of the purchaser can be done virtually the instant the monies are paid over. A real concern for many lawyers was that abolishing the paper title system would open the door to fraudulent transactions. To overcome this the Government has imposed certain rules to which lawyers must adhere. For example, only lawyers can undertake e-Dealing, lawyers must be licensed to e-deal, and the licensing will be audited from time to time. What it does mean however is that before a lawyer can do an electronic title deal there must be an authority in place from the client known as an Authority & Instruction (A & I Form), and that form must have photo ID. This is still required in the cases where the lawyer has known the client for many years. The e-Dealing system is a radical change in the way Land Title documents are registered and transactions are settled. We are in the fortunate position in that we have Haylee Putaranui as a member of our staff. Haylee was the senior solicitor with LINZ in Hamilton which has meant that we have been e-Dealing for some time, although by 1st of July 2008 it will be compulsory for all legal firms to undertake all transactions by this electronic method.
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