Each instrument in a dealing must be certified and signed by an appropriate conveyancing professional before being released.
What conveyancing professionals need
Before certifying and signing an instrument the conveyancing professional must:
- hold evidence in support of the matters stated in the certificate
- connect their Digital Certificate to New Landonline.
Connect your Digital Certificate to New Landonline
Tax information
Tax information from the Land Transfer Tax Statement must be entered in Landonline before roles in a land transfer can be signed.
The circumstances under which a party can sign for their client vary, depending on the scenario.
Tax information scenarios
| Scenario | Tax information criteria |
|---|---|
One firm transfer, 1 certifying practitioner. Firm A acts for transferor and transferee. | All tax information must be completed before the transfer can be signed. |
Two firm transfer, 2 certifying practitioners. Firm A acts for the transferor. Firm B acts for the transferee. | Transferor and transferee roles can be signed independently of each other if tax information is complete for each role. |
Three firm transfer, 3 certifying practitioners. Firms A and B act for 2 transferors. Firm C acts for the transferee. | Tax information must be completed for both firms A and B before any transferor roles can be signed. Firm C can sign once they've provided their own tax information. |
Two firm transfer, 2 certifying practitioners. Firm A acts for the transferor and 1 of 2 transferees. Firm B acts for the other transferee. | Tax information for all 3 roles must be completed before firm A can sign the transferor or transferee. Tax information for the transferee must be completed for firms A and B before B can sign for the transferee. |
Three firm transfers, 2 certifying practitioners. Firm A acts for the transferor. A Primary Contact from Firm X acts for the transferee as does a certifying practitioner from Firm Y. | Each certifying practitioner can sign independently of each other. Two firms are acting in the transferee role. Each firm is able to access the tax information for the transferee. |
Multi-party instruments
Compliance reviews by the Registrar-General of Land have found cases where practitioners have mistakenly certified on behalf of multiple parties to instruments when they are not authorised by all parties.
When this happens the Registrar-General of Land will issue qualified compliance certificates.
To avoid this make sure:
- the instrument is set up correctly
- any certification made on behalf of a party is supported by a proper A & I form.
Sometimes multiple parties to an instrument may each choose to be represented by their own separate practitioner or conveyancing professional. For example, where there are:
- two or more transferors
- two or more mortgagees
- grantees of an easement appurtenant to 2 or more properties.
In Landonline each individual party in a multi-party instrument can be represented by their own CP and each CP can certify for the party they represent.
When you edit a signed instrument
Once an instrument has been signed it becomes read-only.
If changes to the instrument are needed after it's been signed, you'll need to revert it back to draft. You can do this in the Prepare screen for the instrument.
You'll need to certify and sign the instrument again.
When certifying and signing mortgages
New Landonline will automatically create separate mortgagor and mortgagee roles (multi-party) for a new mortgage instrument.
When a mortgage is created in New Landonline, conveyancing professionals will need to certify and sign separately for the mortgagor or mortgagee roles.
Validation before you can certify and sign
Each time you navigate to the Certify & Sign page the certify and sign business rules will run a set of validations.
A red circle (failed) icon will display if an instrument has failed the business rules. This shows the instrument is not yet ready to be certified and signed.
Run pre-validation to see what warnings or errors are present. Then make changes to your dealing to comply with the business rules.
Monitoring certifications for breaches
We monitor the use of Landonline applications through our assurance activities.
The Registrar-General of Land may revoke a practitioner's authority to give certifications if they:
- give a fraudulent certificate
- give a certificate that is materially incorrect
- fail to comply with s30 of the Land Transfer Act 2017.
A breach of this nature would contravene the lawyer's Conduct and Client Care Rules and may result in disciplinary action through the Lawyers Complaints Service.
Don't update your saved password to your Password Manager
Do not save your password to your browser or Password Manager when certifying and signing. This may override your saved password with your passphrase.
The next time you try to log into Landonline your Password Manager will pick up your passphrase, not your password.
You'll then need to reset your password.
Reset your Landonline password
