When it comes to safeguarding your client’s investment in residential or commercial real estate, there’s a crucial aspect that often goes overlooked: title insurance.
Unlike traditional insurance policies that cover future incidents, title insurance provides coverage for claims or legal issues that might arise from past events affecting the title before your client’s purchase of the property.
Title insurance is also a powerful risk management tool that complements your legal service for your client.
Even though title insurance might be unfamiliar to some people, its coverage can play a crucial step in securing an investment in real estate, especially for lawyers navigating property transactions.
What is title insurance?
Title insurance is a form of insurance that shields property owners from various unforeseen risks associated with property ownership. These risks have the potential to threaten your client’s right to use and occupy their land, making title insurance an essential safeguard in the realm of real estate. In contrast to many insurance policies, title insurance involves a one-time premium payment, eliminating the need for ongoing premiums.
With just a single policy, lawyers can help protect their clients from a wide range of property ownership risks, including:
- Planning or Zoning Issues: Addresses cases where the land is not zoned for disclosed use, discovered post-settlement.
- Errors on Property Searches and Enquiries: Provides coverage for losses resulting from errors in public record property searches conducted during a property purchase.
- Incorrect Boundaries: Protects against boundary issues that may arise and would have been identified if a survey had been undertaken at the time of the property purchase.
- Encroaching Structures: Offers protection when someone constructs a structure on the land without the owner’s knowledge or consent, or encroached onto the property before purchase and wasn’t identified during the purchase enquiries.
- Fraud Protection: Offers protection for loss incurred by the unauthorised sale of the property or fraudulent creation of a mortgage.
Learn more about title insurance.
Who is First Title?
For more than 25 years, First Title has been a trusted name in the realm of title insurance in Australia, offering all-encompassing solutions to property owners and mortgage lenders.
As part of the international services division of the First American Financial Corporation, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:FAF) with global operations reaching across more than 60 countries, First Title holds a reputable presence in the global real estate market. We are committed to setting the industry standard for excellence and customer satisfaction, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible protection and support throughout their real estate journey.
Find out how we’ve already helped property owners in Queensland.
What are our products?
First Title offers comprehensive solutions for both residential and commercial properties, ensuring that lawyers and their clients have the protection they need.
Residential property
For home owners and buyers, First Title offers title insurance designed to safeguard one of life’s most important investments – your client’s home. Our residential property solutions encompass a wide range of potential issues, including:
- Planning and zoning
- Errors on property searches and enquiries
- Incorrect boundaries
- Encroaching structures built on your land
- Unapproved building works
- Fraud
Commercial property
First Title’s Commercial Solutions title insurance products are designed to address the unique challenges associated with commercial real estate, covering essential aspects such as:
- Legal right of access
- Competing interest claims
- Encroaching structures built on your land
- Errors in tax, charges and levy searches
- Fraud
A First Title policy can help absorb risks that lenders, purchasers and lawyers are often not able to mitigate against via their due diligence checks. Our Commercial Solutions policy protects against loss from more than 20 potential risks.
We can also customise a policy using our in-house Australian and Global underwriters to find adequate solutions to cover both known and unknown risks.
Meet the team
Feel free to reach out to our team members to explore how First Title can assist you and your clients in securing their real estate investments.
Rebecca Soper 
National Sales Director – Consumer
Mobile: 0402 026 683 | Email: Rebecca.Soper@au.firstms.com
Bec leads the Consumer Sales Team and supports the growth and utilisation of title insurance for residential properties.
 Gary Lee 
Business Development Manager Â
Mobile: 0498 006 265 | Email: glee@firsttitle.com.auÂ
Gary specialises in enhancing existing relationships with Lawyers and Conveyancers while actively developing relationships with those who are not yet aware of First Title.
Billy Dent 
National Sales Director, Commercial Property
Mobile: 0404 316 684 | Email: BDent@firsttitle.com.au
Billy is leading the rollout of our Commercial Solutions title insurance product for First Title in Australia. This is a specifically designed commercial property insurance product for both buyers and lenders.
Get in touch today to see how First Title can help you support your clients with their residential and commercial property purchases
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