After registering a lease, one gets a freehold title that is referenced in the leasehold title. This cross-referencing helps to make it easy for the tenant to trace the owner if ever the need arises. Secondly, because the leasehold title is linked to the freehold, any person who wants to buy the property must acknowledge its existence. Titles are classified based on the quality of the unregistered title that was given during the first registration.
In Townsville, successful conveyancing must acknowledge all the legal documents attached to a property. Since the title will often be the only document detailing your ownership, it must have everything that impacts the property including mortgages and covenants. The following are the types of titles.
Torrens title
Whenever you purchase land, you will most likely encounter this title, also known as the freehold. It is given because you choose to buy both the property and the ground, or just the land. In most commercial and residential properties, this title is preferred. Generally speaking, the property will belong to the person with the title, the owner. If there is a mortgage on the property, the bank or the responsible lender keeps the certificate to the time when the lease is fully paid.
A Torrens title can be limited. There are properties whose boundaries are not clear. In such a case, one pays a fee to have a survey done to establish the property’s boundaries. That way, a limited Torrens given for these properties is converted to a regular one.
Strata and leasehold titles
A person who owns strata titles owns the inside of the property only. Most of the properties using this title are townhouses and apartments. They typically have common spaces that every building owner will share. For instance, swimming pools, entrance halls, lifts, gardens and stairwells may be shared. These properties tend to be cheap, but one will often have to pay yearly maintenance fees for the common spaces.
Leasehold properties are often found in government-owned rural areas. The government leases the land for a while. Whether it is a church, a goat farm or a wheat property, the owner only stays there for the period specified in the leasing agreement. After it expires, the government gets to decide what to do next.
Company and community titles
Company titles were popular in the late 1960s and formed the basis for strata titles. A company title indicates that you bought partial ownership of the business that owns the space. Therefore, you do not own the property. You ask for consent before you lease or sell. A community title, on the other hand, covers property owned by many people. It resembles strata except that it serves large estates. All owners must pay a certain fee to maintain common areas.
The kind of title you have can dictate many things including what types of loans you can take with the property as collateral. For example, a first-time homebuyer may be able to borrow up to 95% of their property value. You want a property that banks or lending institutions can accept so that you can develop yourself financially should you need to.
