Registry Access Assessment

This is the work the practice was opened to do. A Registry Access Assessment is for a person, a firm, or a family who already has a letter, a search, or a draft application, and who needs a plain reading of what a named register will actually do with it.

Who it is for

Purchasers and vendors who have been told “the title is clean” and do not believe the sentence. Practitioners facing a board letter that mentions a sealed complaint file. Owners who want a heritage listing inspected before they instruct an architect. Relatives trying to obtain a certified extract where the registrar has already refused once. We also take files from solicitors who need a second pair of eyes on inspection rights before they write to the other side.

It is not a first-year conveyancing course, and it is not a substitute for counsel where a tribunal date is already printed.

The result you leave with

A briefing of eight to sixteen pages that names:

• the register, the folio or roll entry, and the instruments we actually opened
• who may inspect, copy, or obtain a certified extract, and on what proof of standing
• what remains sealed, exempt, or held off-site
• the lodging path for an application, including the forms, fees, and supporting declarations the registrar currently expects
• the risks that would justify waiting, recasting, or not lodging at all

The briefing is written to sit on a conveyancing file, a board correspondence folder, or a family bundle. It is not a marketing summary.

Scope

One named register, one client standing, and the papers you supply plus the public inspection we can lawfully obtain in Queensland or, by arrangement, in another Australian jurisdiction. Historical folios and archived volumes are included where the registrar will produce them within the timetable.

What is included

• A first paper review within three working days of a complete bundle
• One conference of up to ninety minutes, in the rooms or by telephone
• Written requests for inspection or certified extracts, prepared for you to sign
• The briefing itself, with copies of the extracts we relied on
• A short follow-up letter answering questions on the briefing, within ten days of delivery

What is excluded

• Lodging the application in your name unless we have agreed a separate Application File Review
• Appearance at a hearing or mediation
• Searches we cannot lawfully make (we will not impersonate a party or use another person’s standing)
• A running watch on a pending file (that is a different engagement)
• Counsel’s opinion on compensation, negligence, or native title extinguishment — we will say when that opinion is required

Who does the reading

Meredith Holt takes titles, historical folios, and civil extracts. Julian Pavey takes companies, occupational rolls, and heritage listings. A file that crosses both desks is still one assessment, with one briefing and one fee.

Process

1. You send the letter, search, or draft, and name the register.
2. We confirm we can take the file and send an estimate. Work does not start until the estimate is accepted and the first invoice is paid.
3. We inspect what may be inspected and list what cannot.
4. We meet you to test the facts we cannot see on the papers — family standing, a dealing that was never lodged, a complaint that was withdrawn.
5. We issue the briefing. You decide whether to lodge, recast, or stop.

Time

A standard file, one register, papers already in hand: ten to fifteen working days. Off-site historical volumes in Queensland often add a week. Interstate rolls depend on the other office’s inspection days.

Where the work happens

Conferences at Level 9, 56 Adelaide Street, Brisbane QLD 4000. Papers-only files are ordinary, not a lesser service. We do not attend a registrar’s public counter as a theatrical gesture; we attend when the volume is not produced any other way.

Preparation

Send copies, not originals, unless a certified extract is the only form the registrar will accept. Name every person whose standing might matter. If a solicitor already acts, say so — we will not write to a registrar behind another practitioner’s back.

Constraints

We cannot compel a sealed file to be opened. We cannot promise a lodging will be registered. Some rolls close inspection to the person named and their legal representative; if you are neither, we will say so before you pay for a reading that ends in a refusal stamp.

Fee

From $1,850 plus GST for one register and a standard bundle. Disbursements for extracts, courier, and off-site retrieval are billed at cost. A second register on the same facts is quoted separately; it is not half-price by default, because the inspection rules are different.

Next step

Write to the rooms with the register named in the first line and the papers attached. If a lodging date is already printed, say so. We reply within three working days with whether we can take the file and on what estimate.