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REAL PROPERTY (COMPENSATION) AMENDMENT
BILL 1992
NEW SOUTH WALES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This Explanatory Note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament)
Under Part 14 of the Real Property Act 1900, a person sustaining loss in a way that
relates to the operation of the Act has a right to recover compensation for that loss in an
action against the Registrar-General.
In some cases the person may have a right to recover compensation from other
sources in respect of the same event-for example, the Solicitor's Fidelity Fund, if the
loss was occasioned by the default of a solicitor. The object of this Bill is to make it
clear that in such cases the administrators of the relevant fidelity fund or other insurance
fund, and not the Registrar-General, will be liable to pay the compensation.
Clause 1 specifies the short title of the proposed Act.
Clause 2 provides that the proposed Act is taken to have commenced on 19 March
1992, the day on which the Minister for Conservation and Land Management made a
public announcement of his intention to introduce legislation of this kind.
Clause 3 inserts proposed section 128, the effect of which is to bar the recovery of
compensation from the Registrar-General by a professional indemnity fund or other
insurer in respect of a loss on which a claim has been made. Furthermore, the
Registrar-General, having paid a claim, is subrogated to the rights of the plaintiff against
any person responsible for any part of the loss which gave rise to the action and against
any insurer. (This means that any rights of the plaintiff to sue any third party in respect
of the relevant loss become rights exercisable to the same extent by the
Registrar-General.) The proposed section contains a saving of the rights of any person
who began an action under Part 14 before the commencement of the proposed Act.