'Unauthorised': Privatised NSW land titles registry hiked fees by 1900 per cent

Despite advance warnings that privatization would lead to the price gouging of the Australian public, the private operator of the New South Wales Land Title Registry “surreptitiously hiked some fees by 1900 per cent before it was caught and forced to amend them.” In the lead-up to the privatization, “surveyors and developers said they feared the cost of a property transaction would rise. In one recent example, homebuyers and sellers now have to go through a licensed broker to conduct a land titles search. They now have to pay, in some cases, triple the price for the same information.”