Part 13APriority notices

Part 13A—Priority notices 154A—Person who intends to lodge instrument may lodge priority notice (1) A person who intends to lodge an instrument may, on payment of the prescribed fee, lodge in the Lands Titles Registration Office a notice (a priority notice) for the purpose of giving priority to 1 or more instruments relevant to the same conveyancing transaction. (2) A priority notice must— (a) be in the appropriate form; and (b) identify the instruments to which priority is to be given; and (c) specify the order in which priority is to be given to the instruments identified in the notice; and (d) identify the land to which the notice relates; and (e) include any other information, or be accompanied by any other document, required by the Registrar‑General. (3) A priority notice may give priority to an instrument to be lodged by the person who lodged the notice or by another person. (4) If a priority notice identifies more than 1 instrument, priority under this Part will only be given to an instrument identified in the notice if all of the identified instruments are lodged in the Lands Titles Registration Office at the same time. (5) Subject to subsection (13), a priority notice comes into force when it is lodged and remains in force until it ceases to have effect in accordance with this Part. (6) If a priority notice is lodged in the Lands Titles Registration Office in relation to land, nothing prevents the lodgement of a further priority notice in relation to the same land by the person who lodged the earlier notice or by a different person. (7) A second or subsequent priority notice lodged in relation to land— (a) may identify 1 or more of the same instruments as identified in an earlier notice (even if the earlier notice is in force); and (b) may identify instruments that have not been identified in an earlier notice. (8) If 2 or more priority notices are in force in relation to particular land, the notices are entitled to priority according to the order in which they were lodged in the Lands Titles Registration Office. (9) A person lodging a priority notice is not required to provide evidence in support of the content of the notice or his or her eligibility to lodge the notice (but the Registrar‑General may require verification of the person's identity in accordance with the verification of identity requirements). (10) The Registrar‑General is not required to inquire into the content of a priority notice in order to determine whether that content is correct. (11) If a priority notice is lodged, the Registrar‑General— (a) must— (i) record on the notice the time of receipt of the notice; and (ii) make a record of lodgement of the notice in the Register Book or, if appropriate, the Register of Crown Leases; but (b) is not required to advise the registered proprietor of the land to which the priority notice relates, or any other person, that the notice has been lodged. (12) The Registrar‑General may determine that a person is a vexatious lodger of priority notices. (13) A priority notice lodged by a person in relation to whom a determination has been made by the Registrar‑General under subsection (12) may be rejected by the Registrar‑General and, in that case, the notice is of no effect. (14) A priority notice may be lodged in relation to— (a) land wholly comprised in a single certificate of title; or (b) land comprised in more than 1 certificate of title; or (c) a portion of the land comprised in a certificate of title. 154B—Effect of priority notices (1) If an instrument affecting land is lodged in the Lands Titles Registration Office or served on the Registrar‑General while a priority notice is in force in relation to the land, the instrument may not be registered or recorded in the Register Book or the Register of Crown Leases until the priority notice ceases to have effect. (2) However, a priority notice in force in relation to land does not prevent the Registrar‑General from registering, recording or giving effect to the following in relation to the land: (a) an instrument identified in the priority notice as an instrument to which priority is to be given (provided the instruments identified in the notice are lodged in accordance with section 154A(4)); (b) any other instrument with the written consent of the person who lodged the priority notice; (c) the receipt, removal, extension or withdrawal of a caveat; (d) a statutory order or the cancellation of a statutory order; (e) a statutory authorisation or the cancellation of a statutory authorisation; (f) an order of a court; (g) a warrant of sale; (h) a transfer consequential on a statutory charge, order or authorisation, a warrant of sale or the exercise of a statutory power of sale by a statutory body or officer; (i) an instrument lodged by the Crown; (j) an instrument relating to an interest in land that, in the opinion of the Registrar‑General, would not affect the interest to which the priority notice relates; (k) a statutory charge or the discharge, removal or cancellation of a statutory charge; (l) a heritage agreement, or the variation or termination of a heritage agreement, under the Heritage Places Act 1993 or the Native Vegetation Act 1991; (m) an agreement, or the recision or amendment of an agreement, under Part 14 of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 (including an agreement under Part 5 of the Development Act 1993 that is taken to be an agreement under that Part of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016); (n) an alteration to the South Australian Heritage Register under the Heritage Places Act 1993; (o) a worker's lien, or the cessation or withdrawal of a worker's lien, under the Worker's Liens Act 1893; (p) a notice or acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act 1969; (q) an environment performance agreement, or the termination of an environment performance agreement, under the Environment Protection Act 1993; (r) an Aboriginal heritage agreement, or an agreement varying or terminating an Aboriginal heritage agreement, entered into under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988; (s) an access agreement, or the variation of an access agreement, entered into under the Recreational Greenways Act 2000; (t) a management agreement, or the rescission or amendment of a management agreement, entered into under the River Murray Act 2003; (u) the amendment or rescission of, or any other dealing with, a statutory encumbrance (within the meaning of Part 19AB) not otherwise mentioned in this subsection; (v) an application under this Act by a person to whom land has been transmitted for registration as proprietor of the land; (va) an application under this Act by a surviving joint proprietor to have the death of a joint proprietor recorded in the Register Book; (w) any other prescribed instrument, order, agreement or matter or instrument, order, agreement or matter of a prescribed class. (3) If, in the opinion of the Registrar‑General, it is apparent from the information included in a priority notice that the notice is intended to give priority to a particular instrument, but the instrument is not accurately identified in the notice, the Registrar‑General may nevertheless give priority to the instrument as if it had been so identified. (4) Lodgement of a priority notice in relation to a portion of the land comprised in a certificate of title where the land is the subject of a plan of division or a plan of community division that has not been deposited by the Registrar‑General does not prevent the Registrar‑General from dealing with the application for the division of the land to which the plan relates. 154C—Registration of instruments identified in priority notice Instruments identified in a priority notice are to be registered in the order in which they are given priority in the notice unless the Registrar‑General considers there is good reason for registering the instruments in a different order. 154D—Lodging party need not be informed that instrument cannot be registered or recorded The Registrar‑General is not required to inform a person who lodges an instrument affecting land in relation to which a priority notice is in force that the instrument cannot be registered or recorded in the Register Book or the Register of Crown Leases. 154E—Withdrawal of priority notice The person who lodged a priority notice may withdraw the notice by lodging in the Lands Titles Registration Office a notice of withdrawal in the appropriate form. 154F—Cancellation of priority notice by Registrar-General (1) Subject to subsection (2), if the Registrar‑General is satisfied, on application by a person with an interest in land in relation to which a priority notice is in force, that the priority notice purports to protect the priority of an instrument that is unlikely to be registered or recorded within 90 days of the day on which the notice was lodged, the Registrar‑General may cancel the notice. (2) The Registrar‑General must, before cancelling a priority notice under subsection (1)— (a) give the person who lodged the priority notice written notice of the application and invite the person to provide written submissions in response to the application within a specified period (being a period of not less than 10 days from the day on which notice is given to the person); and (b) have regard to any submissions provided in response to the application within the specified period. 154G—Cessation of priority notice (1) A priority notice ceases to have effect if it is withdrawn under section 154E or cancelled under section 154F. (2) If the instruments identified in a priority notice that has not been withdrawn or cancelled are lodged in accordance with section 154A(4) before the end of the applicable period following the day on which the notice was lodged, the notice ceases to have effect when each of those instruments has been registered, recorded, withdrawn from registration or rejected by the Registrar‑General. (3) If the instruments identified in a priority notice that has not been withdrawn or cancelled are not lodged in accordance with section 154A(4) before the end of the applicable period following the day on which the notice was lodged, the notice ceases to have effect at the end of that period. (4) Subsections (1) to (3) operate subject to any order of the Tribunal under section 221. (5) For the purposes of this section, the applicable period is— (a) 60 days; or (b) if the Registrar-General has extended the duration of the priority notice under subsection (6)—90 days. (6) The Registrar‑General may, on application made by the person who lodged a priority notice, extend the duration of the notice for 30 days. (7) However, the duration of a priority notice may not be extended— (a) on an application made after the notice ceases to have effect; or (b) more than once. 154H—Registration of instruments after priority notice is no longer in force (1) If an instrument lodged in the Lands Titles Registration Office cannot be registered or recorded because it affects land in relation to which a priority notice is in force, the instrument is to be dealt with when the priority notice ceases to have effect. (2) If there are 2 or more such instruments, section 56 applies (despite section 56(1b)) for the purpose of determining the priority of the instruments as between themselves. 154I—Civil liability (1) If— (a) a person (the defendant) lodges a priority notice in the Lands Titles Registration Office; and (b) another person (the plaintiff) suffers loss or damage as a consequence of the notice having been lodged; and (c) the defendant— (i) was not entitled to lodge the notice; or (ii) unreasonably refused or failed to withdraw the notice, the defendant is liable to compensate the plaintiff for the loss or damage. (2) The Court may, in proceedings under this section, require the defendant to pay an amount, determined by the Court, in the nature of exemplary damages. (3) The defendant in proceedings under this section bears the onus of proving that he or she was entitled to lodge the priority notice or that he or she did not unreasonably refuse or fail to withdraw the notice.