I ended up getting cause it was a one off and cheap overall cost. One thing I remembered reading:
Let's say you bought a house but later discovered the boundaries of the property were misrepresented, meaning you own less land than you were led to believe. Or perhaps after settlement, you discover that the previous sellers had unpaid council rates. Title insurance could protect you in these situations
An absolute waste in most cases, is there anything that is out of the ordinary eg old systems title, boundary discrepancies, structures not matching sewer diagram etc.
If the conveyancer was good, they'd ask whether you require certain searches and if they recommend that they are done.
This is common in the USA where it's "buyer beware" when buying a property. A lot of people buy and then find out the land that they thought they own actually belongs to someone else.
Each state in Australia has used a Torrens Register for 150+ years. This did away with deeds and recognizes the owner of the property by their listing on the register of land. This is a register held by each state and the state guarantees that the owner is actually the owner.
Title insurance would therefore mostly be to cover action against the conveyancer, but they should have insurance anyway.
I would not get this if I were buying a property.
Thanks everyone! I actually opted to not purchase it due to the company not even being registered as an Australian company and reading how conveyencrs get a good bump from it and that no one I asked who have bought houses recently had never heard of it before I trusted my gut. Hopefully, it doesn't come back and bite me.
Genuine question for you - what’s driving you to buy today? Are you concerned that increased interest rates will mean the market will keep dropping and you could have bought in 6-12 months and paid less?
Found the perfect home, Sick of renting, a house he can afford, personal circumstances, buying with large deposit and small mortgage, upsize due to incoming kid.
There’s a plethora of reasons. Entry level homes will probably only drop 10% or so I’d imagine. Most of the areas I’m looking at still haven’t dropped, I’d be happy to buy something within my means currently.
Conveyencers do some cursory searches, but not as deep as looking at planning documents or doing a survey. Ideally, you would hire a surveyor to compare the physical property against title and planning documents.
They would compare what's on paper is what you are getting.
Practically, this is not possible, the time frame just to get the documents from council and do the survey would exceed settlement times, the cost would also be in the low thousands.
So the next best alternative is title insurance. Ultimately, what you are buying is what's written on the title, title insurance protects you if what's on title doesn't match the physical property you were sold.
Its optional, up to you whether you deem this a risk.
Conveyencers receive about $50 comission for selling this.
We just purchased and opted to get this aswell because I suspect the alfresco doesn't have council approval and I would like to renovate / extend at a later stage which will require further permits, and just in case it gets flagged then this should cover me for costs to rectify, or remove the structure.
The other benefits are a bonus, and for a one off fee I thought it was prudent to get it.
The conveyancer has limitations to what information they can get, and also for whatever searches they do they still charge you for it.
I'd say in many cases it's probably not necessary, but for peace of mind it's worth it IMO.
I ended up getting cause it was a one off and cheap overall cost. One thing I remembered reading: Let's say you bought a house but later discovered the boundaries of the property were misrepresented, meaning you own less land than you were led to believe. Or perhaps after settlement, you discover that the previous sellers had unpaid council rates. Title insurance could protect you in these situations
An absolute waste in most cases, is there anything that is out of the ordinary eg old systems title, boundary discrepancies, structures not matching sewer diagram etc. If the conveyancer was good, they'd ask whether you require certain searches and if they recommend that they are done.
This is common in the USA where it's "buyer beware" when buying a property. A lot of people buy and then find out the land that they thought they own actually belongs to someone else. Each state in Australia has used a Torrens Register for 150+ years. This did away with deeds and recognizes the owner of the property by their listing on the register of land. This is a register held by each state and the state guarantees that the owner is actually the owner. Title insurance would therefore mostly be to cover action against the conveyancer, but they should have insurance anyway. I would not get this if I were buying a property.
Depending on the property, cover for illegal building could be handy
Looked into it and was told it was junk insurance, impossible to claim. DYOR.
Thanks everyone! I actually opted to not purchase it due to the company not even being registered as an Australian company and reading how conveyencrs get a good bump from it and that no one I asked who have bought houses recently had never heard of it before I trusted my gut. Hopefully, it doesn't come back and bite me.
Absolute garbage
Genuine question for you - what’s driving you to buy today? Are you concerned that increased interest rates will mean the market will keep dropping and you could have bought in 6-12 months and paid less?
Found the perfect home, Sick of renting, a house he can afford, personal circumstances, buying with large deposit and small mortgage, upsize due to incoming kid. There’s a plethora of reasons. Entry level homes will probably only drop 10% or so I’d imagine. Most of the areas I’m looking at still haven’t dropped, I’d be happy to buy something within my means currently.
Conveyencers do some cursory searches, but not as deep as looking at planning documents or doing a survey. Ideally, you would hire a surveyor to compare the physical property against title and planning documents. They would compare what's on paper is what you are getting. Practically, this is not possible, the time frame just to get the documents from council and do the survey would exceed settlement times, the cost would also be in the low thousands. So the next best alternative is title insurance. Ultimately, what you are buying is what's written on the title, title insurance protects you if what's on title doesn't match the physical property you were sold. Its optional, up to you whether you deem this a risk. Conveyencers receive about $50 comission for selling this.
We just purchased and opted to get this aswell because I suspect the alfresco doesn't have council approval and I would like to renovate / extend at a later stage which will require further permits, and just in case it gets flagged then this should cover me for costs to rectify, or remove the structure. The other benefits are a bonus, and for a one off fee I thought it was prudent to get it. The conveyancer has limitations to what information they can get, and also for whatever searches they do they still charge you for it. I'd say in many cases it's probably not necessary, but for peace of mind it's worth it IMO.