Land Services SA has been appointed to deliver transaction processing services on behalf of government with respect to land services.

On 10 August 2017, the Treasurer announced the appointment of Land Services SA as the exclusive provider for South Australia’s transactional land services.

Land Services SA will:

  • Deliver certain transaction processing and customer services, including the processing of Lands Titles documents, e.g. for property transfers and mortgages.
  • Deliver certain property valuation services; and
  • Commercialise Land Services’ data, subject to rights for government use, existing contractual arrangements and future sub-licences, and to innovate new products and services, subject to Government approval.

The government will:

  • Continue to be responsible for legal, policy and regulatory functions;
  • Monitor the performance of Land Services SA against agreed contractual service standards; and
  • Maintain the statutory Valuation Roll for all properties in South Australia.

The Registrar-General and the Valuer-General will continue in their roles as statutory officers.
Further details are provided in the Treasurer’s media release [PDF 200 KB].

Key protections

Users and owners of land services will notice little difference.

The government recognises the significance of land services’ functions and services to the community and has ensured announced key protections applying to the transaction are either enshrined in South Australian legislation or binding contracts with Land Services SA.

The protections include:

No change to the Government’s existing legal protections or the Torrens title system

  • All current legal protections and integrity of the Torrens title system will be maintained;
  • The Government’s guarantee of indefeasibility of title will continue, backed by the Assurance Fund;

No change to the quality of service delivery for users of land services

  • The Service Provider will be subject to strict service levels to ensure the quality of service is maintained or improved;
  • Conveyancing professionals and other stakeholders will continue to access services in the same way they do today and can expect to benefit from future innovations as the land registry market evolves;

No change to the setting of regulated fees and charges

  • Users of land services will continue to pay the same regulated fees and charges as today (other than the standard yearly increases at the Treasury Indexation Rate);
  • The Government will retain full control over the setting of future regulated fees and charges;

No change to the current level of data access, data security and privacy protection

  • The Government will retain ownership over Land Services’ information, including the Lands Titles Register Book and the State Valuation Roll, and any existing intellectual property; and
  • The Service Provider will be subject to privacy laws as well as stringent contractual data integrity and security obligations.
    Further information is available in the Commercialisation of land services functions list of Questions and Answers [PDF 175 KB].

Public Engagement

The government has regularly engaged with the peak industry bodies whose members are the primary users of land services and also the employees of the affected State agencies, the Lands Titles Office and the State Valuation Office.

This consultation ensured stakeholder concerns were considered and addressed throughout the process to select the service provider.

Additional information is available regarding the government’s treatment of stakeholder concerns [PDF 135 KB], including its approach to satisfying announced key protections and attaching a summary of the contracts.