What is a title?

A title is a legal document confirming possession of land.

Water allocations are separate assets to land, with their own registrable title. Water allocation titles allow property owners to purchase allocations of water (usually rural).

All Qld titles are stored electronically on the Automated Titles System (ATS), which Titles Queensland maintains.

If you need any significant historical information since the title transferred to the ATS, you can complete a historical title search. To find out more about historical title searches, refer to our support page.

What information will I get from a Qld title search?

Information about the title is under the following headings:

• estate and land – land description, type of ownership and so on
• registered owner details and associated dealings
• easements, encumbrances and interests – all associated registered dealings
• administrative advices – type and associated dealings or nil
• unregistered dealings – type or nil.

View a sample title.

What information do I need to search for a title?

You have several options for a Qld title search, including by:

• street address
• title reference
• lot/plan details
• owner name
• previous title
• plan number.

Search by street address

Entering a street address on the input screen will display verified suggestions as you type. You can use this list to refine your input in real-time.

You can then either:

• select one of the verified suggestions to search for an exact address match
• disregard these suggestions and use a partial street address of your own formatting.

Selecting one of the verified suggestions will ensure your search uses the best possible data. If you enter an address, you’ll generally receive a larger number of possible matches, which may not be as accurate.

Some localities may be known by an alias address if they’re located near adjoining or neighbouring areas. For example, a property located on a street corner may have a primary address and multiple alias addresses. The search will check your details against all known primary and alias addresses and will return a list of titles matching any one of these addresses.

The system will only return a maximum number of 500 possible matches for the title browse list. If too many matches return:

• An error message will display indicating that the maximum number has been exceeded.
• You’ll need to refine your search criteria/be more specific with your details to receive less results.

The title browse list will display all titles that match your street address, along with the following:

• title reference, status and description
• primary address
• alias address(es)
• lot on plan
• owner name
• match percentage.

You may now retrieve the titles you need. A separate charge applies to each title you select, as indicated at the bottom of the search screen.

View a sample street address search browse result.

Formatting the street address

You may enter unit and floor details in full or abbreviated format, for example U or unit, and FL or floor.

You may also use ‘/’ to separate units and street numbers (for example, 1/10 Main Street). Avoid using commas to separate units and street numbers (for example, ‘U1, 10 Main Street’).

The following rules apply to street numbers:

• must start with a number
• can only have numbers, letters and hyphens
• can’t have spaces, commas, full stops or any other punctuation aside from hyphens
• can’t have a number after a letter. (For example, 1a is allowed but a1 is not).

The ‘Street address’ input field will always display verified suggestions as you type. This ensures the best possible data is available before you submit your search.

Search by title reference

A title reference is a unique 8-digit identifier for a title. Title references have only numbers – using letters will return an error.

The first number represents the registry region and is either 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. The next four numbers represent the volume, and the last three numbers represent the folio. Zeros are used to replace missing digits in the volume and folio numbers.

For example, reference 12345006 is 1/2345/006 or registry region 1/volume 2345/folio 6.

Some title details will display in the browse list.

Search by lot/plan

Simply select the plan type, plan and lot numbers and your reference. This search is free, but the title search will incur a fee.

Search by crown plan

Any plan without a prefix on the valid plan type list is likely to be a crown plan.

Crown plans may include lots with letters, in which case search by plan rather than by lot/plan.

Search by owner name

You can use wildcard ‘%’ when searching on a company name or surname.

Enter at least three characters before the wildcard. However, for given names, enter at least one character.

If you don’t use a wildcard, the search will look for exact matches in that field.

Wildcard examples

• Surname ‘Green’, no given name will find all persons with the surname ‘Green’ regardless of given name.
• Surname ‘Green’, given name ‘John’ will find only persons with the surname ‘Green’ and the single given name ‘John’. The search won’t find ‘John Robert Green’.
• Surname ‘Green’, given name ‘J%’ will find all persons with the surname ‘Green’ and a given name beginning with ‘J’. So, the search would find ‘John Robert Green’.
• Surname ‘Green%’, given name ‘J%’ will find all persons with a surname beginning with ‘Green’ and a given name beginning with ‘J’. So, the search would find ‘John Greene’.

Search by previous title

Searching on a fully cancelled title will produce a list of the new titles for that parcel of land. This search is free, but a charge applies for the title search.

Search by plan

Entering the plan type and plan number will return a list of all titles associated with that plan. This search is free, but a charge applies for the title search.

Search by crown plan

Any plan without a prefix included on the valid plan type list is likely to be a crown plan. You can use this search to access water allocation titles.

The correct format to enter is:

• plan type – CP
• plan number – all other details (non-standard prefix and number).

For example, enter Lot 2a/RL1234 as plan type ‘CP’, plan number ‘RL1234’.

What are ‘Other related searches’?

The result summary page will display a list of ‘Other related searches’ that are available. A separate charge applies to each item you select.

What is the difference between an automated and an imaged title?

An automated title is a record of current information, whereas an imaged title is a static record of historic information before 1994/1995.

To find out how to order an imaged document, refer to our support page.

What does the title status indicate?

How will I receive my search results?

Results are immediately available via the result screen. They’re also available in the Confirm inbox for up to 30 business days.

If required, you can choose to receive a result via email.

Our Customer Service Centre is here to help you between 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.