Sell property online · screen 3 of 5
Proving who you are: the identity check before a transfer
Before a property changes hands electronically, the seller’s identity and their right to deal with the property are checked, usually by the seller’s lawyer or conveyancer, and in Tasmania sometimes by their bank: NSW’s Registrar General, Land Use Victoria and Tasmania’s Land Titles Office all describe it that way. The check exists because people have posed as owners, and Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading says some properties have been sold without the true owners knowing.
General information, not legal advice. Check with Land Use Victoria, Tasmania’s Land Titles Office or, for a WA seller acting alone, Landgate; a seller’s lawyer or conveyancer runs the check itself.
Three checks, as the registrars describe them
NSW’s Registrar General lists the steps the lawyers, conveyancers and banks in an electronic transaction complete before each one. They come in three parts:
Identity. That the person is who they say they are. In Victoria every party to a conveyancing transaction has their identity verified.
Right to deal. That the person is entitled to be that party to the land transaction, which is how Landgate defines the term.
Authorisation. That the client has authorised the transaction. In Victoria a Client Authorisation lets the conveyancer or lawyer act as the client’s agent and sign electronic instruments for them.
Tasmania’s Land Titles Office describes the same parts arriving with its reforms: verification of identity and of the right to deal, specific authorisation from clients to their legal practitioners and licensed conveyancers, and a duty to keep the evidence. It says these checks add security and rigour to conveyancing, and Landgate says its own verification practice is designed to reduce the chance of title fraud through identity theft.
The national body behind the rules, ARNECC, publishes guidance notes for each of these: verifying identity, a party’s right to deal, client authorisation, and keeping the evidence afterwards.
Who does the checking, by state
| State | The state’s description of the check |
|---|---|
| VIC | The conveyancer or lawyer acting for the client takes reasonable steps to verify the client’s identity and holds a Client Authorisation. |
| NSW | The lawyers, conveyancers and financial institutions using electronic conveyancing complete the checks before each transaction. |
| TAS | The check is usually done with the person’s bank, legal practitioner or licensed conveyancer, who may ask for identity and property documents. |
| QLD | A property agent has to take reasonable steps to check that the seller is who they claim to be and has the authority to sell. |
| ACT | A person representing themselves cannot use the electronic platform, and lodges documents in person with the ACT Land Titles Office. |
| WA | A settlement agent is legally required to run its own identity checks on owners and people acting for them. For a seller acting alone, the check is done by Australia Post (below). |
For a seller who is overseas, ARNECC’s guidance covers using an Australian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate to verify identity, and Landgate says a verification done in another country must use one of them.
Selling without a lawyer in Western Australia
Landgate calls a person with no solicitor or licensed settlement agent acting for them a self-represented party. Its check runs in this order:
The person is identified by an Identifier the Registrar of Titles has authorised, and for self-represented parties Australia Post is the only one.
Australia Post charges a fee, which Landgate gives as $49 (as at October 2026), paid at the outlet on the day.
Since February 2025 the person receives a receipt with a unique TSP reference number, which is quoted in the verification statutory declaration lodged with the land documents.
The documents are lodged within 12 months of the check, or the check is done again. Within that time it can serve several transactions over the same property.
A lost receipt may be reprinted at the same outlet within 3 months of the check. A self-represented party can deal only with land in their own name, not land held in a trust or a company’s name.
Paper certificates of title are being phased out
- 3 August 2024 · Victoria
All new certificates of title became electronic. An existing paper certificate stays valid until it is next needed for a conveyancing transaction, and a lost one can cause significant difficulty and delay settlement.
- 31 August 2026 · Tasmania
The last day a certificate of title could be issued or printed.
- 1 September 2026 · Tasmania
Certificates of title, other than general law titles, were removed from the Land Titles Office’s processes. A certificate alone no longer conclusively establishes a person’s right to deal with the land.
Tasmania gives the reason plainly: a certificate carries a risk of fraud, because someone can produce one while claiming to be the person on the title. In Victoria, an online search of the Register shows the latest record for the land and who manages an electronic certificate.
Consumer Protection WA warns buyers, sellers and agents about criminals “masquerading as owners”, and says settlement agents are legally required to run their own identity checks and not just rely on a real estate agent’s referral. Queensland names the result when the checks fail: properties sold without the true owners’ knowledge.
The money side of the same fraud is in payment redirection scams and the official checks.