Property Law News March 2008
What are Caveats?
The law governing caveats is contained in section 74F of the Real Property Act 1900. Caveats are generally also referred to as ‘caveats against dealings.’
The Real Property Act enables a person claiming legal or equitable estate or interest in Torrens Land Title to register a caveat preventing registration of any dealing or interest in the land by another party. To do this, however, a caveator must have a proprietary, rather than a contractual or personal, right to the land.
Essentially, a caveat functions as a ‘statutory injunction’, and allows the caveator to receive notice of a competing interest in land. This can act to prevent the registration of an interest in land that may defeat the caveator’s interest. While caveats do not act to create or uphold a caveator’s interest in the land, they do preserve the existing relationship between competing interests in the land until this ‘priority dispute’ can be decided judicially and a remedy sought in the Supreme Court.
There have been a wealth of recent cases dealing with all aspects of caveats, from dealing with technical deficiencies in caveats, to the possibility of making the lodging of caveats a necessity by purchasers of property once they exchange on a Contract of Sale, to protect the purchaser’s interests pending settlement of the purchase.
Contact us to assist and advise you in respect of lodging caveats to protect your interests or to remove a caveat.