What are ACT land searches?

You can complete ACT land searches through our document ordering system including:

• certificate of title
• historical (commonly referred to as title history/historical title)
• crown lease
• check
• instrument (imaged document)
• plans (including sub lease, deposited and unit)
• current and historical owner name
• address.

Submit your order online, and we’ll process it. Our Customer Service Centre will email your result within one business day.

Will charges apply if no results return?

Yes, ‘no result’ is considered a result and is therefore chargeable. We don’t refund manual document ordering searches, as we fulfill these searches.

What search criteria should I use?

Depending on the information you require, you can search by:

• property description
• owner name (for current and historical owner name searches)
• address (for an address search).

Search by property description

You can retrieve the following search results through a search by property description:

• certificate of title
• historical (commonly referred to as title history/historical title)
• crown lease
• check search
• instrument search (imaged document)
• plans (including sub lease, deposited and unit).

The criteria you provide must be specific enough to identify a single property. You can search by either:

• division, section and block (unit number is optional)
• volume and folio.

What are division, section and block numbers?

The ACT divides into geographic areas known as districts. Districts are further divided by deposited plans into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. A unit number indicates the further subdivision of a block.

These identifiers together provide a unique reference for a parcel of land.

The legal name for a parcel under the Districts Act 2002 (ACT) is block/section/division/district, but the order of reference in common use is district/division/section/block/unit.

Although units of land are commonly referred to as ‘parcels’ for leasing purposes, they’re more correctly known as blocks. The district is usually only referred to when the parcel is rural and has no section number.

The parcel contains the first four letters of the division (suburb) name as well as section, block and unit numbers.

What are the volume and folio numbers?

Volume and folio numbers are allocated to crown leases when they’re registered. They provide a unique reference for a title.

What information will I get from a current owner name search?

A current owner name search provides a listing of property owned by the individual/company that you enter as search criteria. The result will contain:

• owner name
• parcel details (division, section, and block)
• title reference
• title status (current or cancelled).

The result may also list properties owned by individuals/companies with similar names to those you enter.

For further details on individual properties listed, you’ll need to do a property search on each.

View a sample current owner name search result.

What information will I get from an historical owner name search?

A historical owner name search provides a listing of past property owned by the individual/company you’ve entered. The result will contain:

• owner name
• parcel details (division, section, and block)
• title reference
• title status (current or cancelled).

The result may also list properties owned by individuals/companies with similar names to those you enter.

What information will I get from an address search?

An address search will provide the following details:

• parcel details (division, section, and block)
• title reference
• title status (current or cancelled).

View a sample address search result.

What information will I get from a certificate of title?

A title search produces a certified and time-stamped record from the registry showing the following information, where available, for the subject property:

• registered proprietors and tenancy
• land – parcel details, area, commencement (registration) date, grant date, and term of grant
• restrictions
• reference to other titles (original, previous and related)
• registered encumbrances and interests (document number, description, and registration date)
• unregistered dealings (document number and description ).

View a sample title search result.

What information will I get from a historical search?

The historical search produces a certified and time-stamped record from the registry showing a list of all registered dealings that have been lodged over a certificate of title, since it was automated.

View a sample historical search result.

What information will I get from a crown lease search?

A crown lease is the written document that sets out the rights and obligations of lessees and states the purpose for which the land can be used. A crown lease search will return an imaged copy of the original lease, including any documents attached to that original such as plans.

Crown leases are being cancelled and replaced by computer certificates of title that will update electronically. Cancelled leases have a stamp on each page.

View a sample crown lease search result.

What information will I get from an instrument search?

An instrument search returns an imaged copy of the instrument (registered dealing).

View a sample instrument.

What information will I get from a check search?

A check search identifies any activity on a title over the last three months. This can include the lodgement of unregistered dealings.

View a sample check search result.

What is a sublease plan?

A sublease is a lease by the registered proprietor of a crown lease to another party. A sublease plan (SL) defines the area of land within the crown lease covered by the sublease.

The sublease plan isn’t required where the whole of land or the whole of a building on the land is being leased.

Sublease plans must be registered. To identify the area of the land to be sublet within the lease document is insufficient.

Sublease plans are frequently used to subdivide buildings into lettable areas. Large multi-tenanted commercial buildings such as shopping centres may also have a sublease master plan (SMP) that provides an overview of the whole development.

Sublease plans are prefixed by the letters ‘SL’.

View a sample sublease plan result.

What is a deposited plan?

A deposited plan (DP) defines the measurements and boundaries of land areas.

No limit applies to the number of parcels (blocks) available on a single deposited plan. They’re prefixed by the letters ‘DP’.

View a sample deposited plan.

What is a unit plan?

Unit plans subdivide land in a crown lease into two or more units (where a unit is a part of a parcel identified in a plan). The unit plan removes previous crown leases/certificates of title over the land and replaces them with separate crown leases or certificates of title for each unit within the plan and for the common property (in the name of the Owners Corporation).

When ordering a unit plan, you must include either the specific plan number or supply the unit number in the division/block/section/unit fields.

Unit plans may contain either Class A or Class B units, but not both.

• Class A Unit – bounded by reference to floors, walls and ceilings (for example, strata). These are generally ‘high rise’ apartments.
• Class B Unit – unlimited in vertical dimension with boundaries defined at ground level. These are generally ‘town house’ style units.

View a sample unit plan.

How will the results return?

Your results will be sent via email.

If you don’t receive an email within 24 hours of your order, contact our Customer Service Centre at confirm@citec.com.au or on 1800 773 773 and quote your Confirm reference. This is on your order confirmation.

How can I update my delivery details?

From the delivery profile screen that displays when you start a search, you can:

• update your profile
• temporarily override your profile details.

For more information on profiles, refer to our support page.

Our Customer Service Centre is here to help you between 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.

Phone	1800 773 773
Email	confirm@citec.com.au