The NSW Registrar General has extended the temporary rules allowing the electronic signing of a number of land registry instruments. The Conveyancing Rules (COVID-19) Amendment (Version 2) – December 2021 was published on 21 December 2021 and extends provisions that were set to expire at the end of 2021.
This means that a strata manager can affix the seal of the owners corporation to a document electronically and sign the document electronically as a witness. In this case, we do not need the original documents to be posted to us to register your by-laws.
Further, regulation 71 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016 which is currently in effect until 31 May 2022 provides for an alternative to affixing the seal of an owners corporation. A strata manager can witness the affixing of the seal. Regulation 71 enables them to sign the dealing and to add their licence number.
If a strata manager uses regulation 71 to sign a document then the strata manager does not need to affix the physical seal to the document. They will only need to affix their electronic signature and note their licence number, their name and that they are the strata managing agent or an officer of the strata managing agent, date it and state ‘electronically signed’ next to their signature. In this case, we do not need the original documents to be posted to us.
If a strata manager physically signs the document or uses a physical seal then we will need the original signed documents to be posted to us.
Articles: Jasmin H.Singh & Allison Benson