All about Titles

Titles. The epicentre of our industry. You can’t buy, sell or let a property without one – everything revolves around them.

A title is the official record of your property ownership. It outlines the details of the owner/s, any mortgages or caveats (more on that in a later blog) against the property and any restrictions or notifications that apply to the property.

Understanding the title and all of these elements are an important part of your purchasing journey, so we thought we would give you a quick crash course on the different kinds of titles.

Green Title

This is the most common type of title in WA. A green title is generally issued for free-standing homes or properties with no common areas to be shared (unless there is something specific on the title).

Green titles can still have notifications, restrictions, easements or encumbrances like any other title. For example, there may be an easement along one of the property boundaries which restricts what can/ cannot be built on that area. We'll cover off more on these in a later blog so stay tuned!

Why green title we hear your ask? Previously the sketch on the Certificate of Title was green in colour.

Purple Title

This type of title came into vogue after the Second World War. After the War, the number and popularity of multi-storey residential homes increased.

Without an appropriate system to create individual titles for these properties, ownership was transferred to a company. The rules for this company allowed shareholders to reside in specific parts of the property, e.g. a particular unit or lot.

These types of titles are now less common, however a retirement village is a modern example.

Strata Title

Strata Titles were introduced via the Strata Titles Act, which recognised the need to title to parts of a building or complex – flowing on from its purple title friends.

When you purchase a strata title, you have sole ownership of a specified area. This is typically your residence itself, whether it be a unit or apartment, and sometimes a specified car bay and/ or storage area.

You will also have common ownership over some aspects of the property or building. For example, you might have a shared driveway and gardens or a common area with activity room and a pool. This is known as common property and is essentially a space that you share with other property owners.

There are a number of different responsibilities that come with ownership of a strata title. For example, a strata title will be subject to strata by-laws or rules of a strata company.

Some strata properties also pay levies to a strata company to manage the scheme. This covers costs for things like repairs and maintenance to common property, building insurance etc. A strata manager is also often appointed to manage the common areas on behalf of the owners.

Survey Strata

This type of title is similar to a green title in terms of rights and responsibilities of the owner.

Survey strata titles are commonly used where a larger green title property is surveyed into smaller lots. These lots are subdivided with clear boundaries and are still created under the Strata Titles Act.

In some instances, a survey strata may still have common property. For example, they may have a common driveway which has its own, separate lot number.

Strata Reform

A significant reform of the Strata Titles Act is currently with Parliament. This will see the introduction of Community Title Schemes, among other changes to the Strata Titles Act.

The reform is intended to benefit owners and residents in strata schemes, as well as drive economic growth by introducing new land developments options.

We'll bring you a blog all about the changes and when they're expected to come into effect in the not too distant future. If you want to read more about the reform in the meantime, check out the Landgate website for all of the details.

Source:

REIWA, updated 7 December 2015, 'What are the different title options in Western Australia?' 11 January 2019, https://reiwa.com.au/