Victoria land titles set for privatisation

Victoria land titles set for privatisation
Staff reporterDecember 7, 2020

The Victorian state government is set to call for expressions of interest in its land titles and registry unit.

The sale process will offer a 40-year concession for a private operator to run the business. 

Australian and offshore infrastructure funds, superannuation and pension funds and registry companies are expected to line up in the land titles auction, the Australian Financial Review has advised.

It will be overseen by investment bank UBS and law firm Minter Ellison. 

It will offer the right to run the state's land titles unit for the next 40-years, to oversee all land registry functions and transactions excepting subdivisions, application and survey (which registers complex survey and plan based dealings and applications) and the official role of Registrar of Titles, which oversees the whole operation. 

The state is expected to retain control of pricing over statutory land registry services and monitor the pricing of other services provided under the contract. 

The other exclusions from the sale include the Valuer-General Victoria, Surveyor-General Victoria, Land Information and Spatial Services, Government Land Advice and Coordination and the Victorian Government Land Monitor.

Victoria Treasurer Tim Pallas will launch the tender this week. 

The transaction comes after New South Wales and South Australia privatised their land titles office.

It comes Western Australia also considers privatising its land titles unit, Landgate.

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