News

Implementation of the NMF in New South Wales for paper mortgages is scheduled on 27 May 2017 and for electronic mortgages to coincide with the PEXA Release 6.1 scheduled for 22 July 2017.

Representatives

Australian legal practitioners, law practices, and licensed conveyancers, who act for mortgagees, will not be able to sign the paper NMF on behalf of mortgagees until the Conveyancing Rules are amended to allow for this. The Office of the Registrar General anticipates that these rules will be amended by August 2017 following industry consultation.

Australian legal practitioners, law practices, and licensed conveyancers can continue to sign paper mortgages in a form approved by the Registrar General until the end of the transition period.

Transition period in NSW

Following the introduction of NMF, there will be a transition period from 27 May 2017 to 31 December 2017, where paper mortgages can be lodged in the either the new NMF or an existing approved form.

Commencement in NSW

From 1 January 2018:

• paper mortgages signed on or after 1 January 2018 must be lodged using the NMF; and
• paper mortgages signed before 1 January 2018 may be lodged either using the NMF or a form approved by the Registrar General.

Specification

The Australian Registrars National Electronic Conveyancing Council (ARNECC) has published an updated version of the NMF Design Specification dated 2 December 2016.

The specification sets out the NMF’s acceptance and lodgment scenarios in each jurisdiction, and the execution details for mortgagors and mortgagees for each jurisdiction. It is available for use by financial institutions and other organisations in readying their systems and procedures for implementation of new national arrangements for preparing and lodging real property mortgages.