Verification of Authority

The Registrar-General’s Verification of Authority Guidelines help legal practitioners, conveyancers or mortgagees to take reasonable steps to verify the authority of a party to a conveyancing transaction.

Current Version

Prior Version

Why Verification of Authority is Required

Verifying the authority of an individual to enter into a conveyancing transaction is part of the due diligence required of conveyancing professionals.

Verifying parties' authority mitigates the risk of fraud and gives other parties to the transaction confidence that they are dealing with a person who has the authority to enter into the transaction.

What documents can be used to verify a person's authority

The type of documents used to verify a person’s authority will differ depending on the conveyancing transaction.

These documents include:

• a current local council or water rates notice for the land
• current utility bills for the land
• a current land tax assessment notice for the property
• loan documentation connecting the party to the land
• the mortgage granted by the mortgagor
• the contract for the sale of land