23.1 Background

The decision to legally settle a case before it has been plans settled will normally be made as a result of a plans referral seeking clarification of references required.

The plans officer should refer the case through normal channels to the legal referral officer for their section. This will in many instances take the form of a verbal referral and the agreed decision should be noted in the notes and instructions on the title workdesk of the LRS.

If the points are of a more complex nature, generally more than confirming one or two references are required, then the issues should be fully written up before the referral is made. The full abstracting process should have been completed and a coloured print provided, giving as much information as possible. As this information is not definitive, the plans officer should be encouraged to express an opinion on the likely location and extent of subjects in individual deeds, if this will help the legal consideration.

23.2 Procedure

The legal officer then has to decide on one of the following courses of action:

• If the issues are of a straightforward nature, to provide an immediate written response and advise that the case should be sent through the normal channels for legal settle.

• If the issues are slightly more complex, to provide a written answer and ask for the case to be returned to himself or herself to complete the legal settle, so as to obviate the need to familiarise another officer with the title.

• If there are a lot of issues requiring an in-depth investigation of title, the case should be treated as ‘settle before map’. Legal examination and the settling of the case should be completed and the case returned to the plans officer with full instruction on mapping requirements. On completion of plans settling, the case should be returned to the legal officer to check title is accurately reflected and any references to the title plan in the title sheet text are correct.

In all instances, any separate papers relating to mapping issues should be archived.
The settle before map option is not intended to be used to resolve boundary issues; these should be dealt with as referrals, unless the legal officer considers there are particular merits in considering the whole case.