For more particulars on evidence required to be lodged with a dealing or in response to a requisition, see the particular dealing requirements Land Dealing dealing requirements pages or Water Dealing dealing requirements pages.
Certified copies
A certified copy of a paper document (excluding statutory declarations and affidavits) must include a statement to the effect that the certifier has sighted the original document and the present copy is a true copy of the original. The statement must:
- be signed by a prescribed functionary (Justice of the Peace or legal practitioner),or
- bear a stamp identifying the organisation responsible for issuing the document and be signed by an authorised employee/officer of the organisation.
The statement must include the name and capacity of the certifier.
Where a document exists only in electronic form, a certified copy will be accepted if it has been certified in the following situations:
- where the certifier has observed the paper copy being printed directly from an official website that is under the control of the document's issuing authority, or
- where the certifier has observed the paper copy being printed directly from a computer that is under the control of the document's issuing authority, or
- where the issuing authority has endorsed a printout of the original document with its official stamp in ink
Where a person is unable to obtain a certified copy of an electronic document, a statutory declaration from the applicant to the dealing (or other person with the requisite knowledge) verifying that an annexed printed copy of the electronic document is a true copy of the original will be acceptable.
Disposal of evidence
The following applies to Torrens Title land and Water Access Licences.
The following guidelines are used by NSW LRS as regards disposal of evidence lodged to support registration of a dealing:
- a caveator's consent is filmed with the dealing consented to
- evidence accompanying a change of name of a company, incorporated association etc is filmed with the dealing
- evidence may be filmed with the dealing, depending on its importance
- for other evidence discretion is used as regards the return, retention or other disposal of evidence lodged.
It may be indicated on the document that evidence is to be returned. Original Old System documents lodged with dealings will be destroyed after microfilming. A certified copy may be lodged where the lodging party wishes to retain the original.
The dealing is marginally noted as to the action taken.
Faxed evidence
The following applies to Torrens Title land and Water Access Licences.
Faxed evidence is acceptable providing there is no doubt as to its authenticity. The faxed copy must carry some sort of identification, e.ga letterhead.
Office copy of an Order of Court
The following applies to Torrens Title land and Water Access Licences.
An office copy of an Order of Court is issued by the administrative office of the Court; the Order itself is made by the Court. The office copy must:
- have the seal of the Supreme Court affixed and be signed by the Sheriff
- have the seal of the District Court affixed and be signed by the Registrar or
- have the Registrar's Stamp of the Local Court affixed and be signed by the Local Court Registrar or have the facsimile signature of the Registrar affixed.
Registered documents
The following applies to Torrens Title land and Water Access Licences.
Documents held in NSW LRS, e.g. Real Property Act dealings, Water Access Licence dealings, plans and deeds, may be referred to as evidence in support of a dealing. The lodgment number must be quoted.
Statutory declaration
See statutory declaration page.
Written Evidence
The following applies to Torrens Title land and Water Access Licences.
Evidence in written form, e.g. a letter of authority or direction, must contain a reference sufficient to link it to a particular case. The content of the document must be clear and unambiguous; qualifications are unacceptable. The document must be signed by the writer.
For a caveator's consent to a Real Property Act dealing.
Staff processing information
Evidence numbers
Note The following applies to Real Property Act dealings and Water Access Licence dealings.
Where documents used for evidence of identity, other than a statutory declaration, (e.g. driver's licence, passport, Local Council rates notice etc) are furnished with a dealing, a separate evidence label containing the barcoded evidence number is affixed to the top right-hand corner of a copy of each document. The label must not be marked in any way. The separate barcode label is to enable NSW LRS only to access the microfilmed document.
The evidence label contains the prefix 'EV' before the number.
Marginally note the dealing with the evidence number and the type of document, e.g. 'EV1234 driver's licence'.
Marginally note the copy of the evidence document with the dealing number and the dealing type, e.g. 'AA5432 PV'.
Forward the evidence document for microfilming in the same manner as the dealing.
Note The page numbering of the dealing may require adjustment where evidence documents have been extracted.