Part A Total 14 Marks

Graham and Theresa Smith are siblings. Over the years they have undertaken various business
ventures together. They mostly get along quite well, even though Theresa can at times be a bit bossy,
being the older sister and usually believing she knows best in various situations. Over several years
they have together acquired a portfolio of investment properties. They use the equity from existing
properties in their portfolio to look to make further purchases or undertake other business
opportunities. One of the properties in their portfolio is a large house in Townsville which they now
own outright. Theresa has recently become interested in indigenous art and wants to invest in a
technology start up that is researching ways to provide enhanced protection against fraud in
Indigenous art transactions internationally. She wants to borrow against their Townsville property,
and which is currently valued at $900,000 to fund this new and exciting business venture. Theresa
discusses the proposal with Graham on Facebook Messenger and says she wants to borrow $800,000
against the Townsville property. Graham is unsure about whether it is a good investment, stating, ‘the
venture sounds to me to be a bit risky’. Theresa says ‘You’re always so cautious. It’s a great opportunity
to get into innovative technology and also is a great cause. Anyway, I’m usually right, so leave all the
negotiations to me.’ However, unbeknown to Graham, Theresa has stored his electronic signature on
her mobile.
The following week Theresa goes to their bank, Whitsunday Island Bank, seeking a loan to fund the
business venture using their Townsville property as security. Theresa meets with a junior loans officer,
Tim and explains that she and Graham own the Townsville property together and that they want to
borrow $800,000 and use the Townsville property as security. Tim explains that there are some recent
procedures he needs to follow in order to meet current requirements for approving the Bank’s loan
and establishing the mortgage against the Townsville property. Tim explains that the process is
currently done electronically on a standard form and that the Bank will need to do a standard check
of identity for both Theresa and Graham as they will both be on the loan and the mortgage documents.
Theresa says that Graham is very busy and can't really come into the Bank and says they've done a lot
of business with the Whitsunday Island Bank and Graham allows her to finalise any legal requirements.
However, she is happy to try and get Graham on the phone even via facetime. Theresa also explains
that she has Graham’s electronic signature stored on her mobile if that helps and emails Tim a
screenshot of this. Tim says that he really also needs to meet with Graham. Theresa says they are
both existing customers of the Bank and well known to the bank manager but if there is going to be a
problem, they can easily find another bank to handle all their ongoing business banking. Tim says ‘No
no it’s all fine. I just need to check a few things and get the relevant approvals in relation to the loan.
Once this this is done, I will send the legal documents to our solicitor for checking and for forwarding
to your solicitor for completion’.
About a week later, Philippe, Theresa and Graham’s solicitor, who works from home based in Noosa,
receives an email from Whitehaven Conveyancing Solicitors in Brisbane stating that they are acting
for the Whitsunday Island Bank in the mortgage with Theresa and Graham.

Philippe opens the zip file attached to the email which includes:
1. The loan agreement between Whitsunday Island Bank as ‘Lender’ and Theresa and Graham as
‘Borrowers’; and
2. The mortgage on the National Mortgage Form as a pdf.

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As Philippe reads through the documents, he notices that one of the clauses in the Loan Agreement
states that a reference in the loan offer means ‘you, and if there are more than one, all are required
to sign, except if one is duly authorised to sign on behalf of the other(s).’ Under a definitions clause,
‘You’ is defined in the loan agreement to mean ‘the person(s) present at the meeting with the lender’s
representative and to whom the loan has been funded’.
On reading the mortgage on the NMF, Philippe discovered that the standard NMF had been amended
to include the following additional term
‘This mortgage secures repayment of the secured monies, which include without limitation a loan in
the amount of $800,000.’
Philippe then saves the NMF as a pdf and the Loan Agreement and emails these to Theresa for signing
by Theresa and Graham. When Theresa receives the email, she immediately saves the NMF mortgage
and the Loan Agreement and attaches electronic signatures for both herself and Graham to both
documents. She then emails this back to Philippe. Philippe sees that all is in order and emails the NMF
mortgage and Loan Agreement back to Whitehaven Conveyancing Solicitors. Sam from Whitehaven
Conveyancing Solicitors lodges the NMF electronically with the Queensland Land Titles Registry and
the mortgage is duly registered.
A month later Graham receives an email from Philippe containing a memorandum of fees for the
professional services performed by Philippe in relation to the mortgage of the Townsville property.
Graham becomes extremely upset that the property has been mortgaged as he never agreed to that.
He immediately contacts Philippe to discuss the matter who confirms Theresa’s instructions to
proceed and that the documents were all correctly completed and signed.

(a) 8 Marks
Advise Graham whether there is any basis from the law that you have studied in LAWS12066 Land
Law upon which he could challenge the mortgage with Whitsunday Island Bank.

(b) 6 Marks
Advise Whitsunday Island Bank whether there would be any legal issues based on the law that you
have studied in LAWS12066 Land Law in enforcing its mortgage with Graham and Theresa.

Note. In answering Part A

You ARE required to refer to and apply current relevant legislation and caselaw and provisions of
the Queensland Land Title Practice Manual as appropriate that you have studied.
You are NOT required to consider the law of mortgages.
You are NOT required to discuss issues in relation to conveyancing practice and procedures in
Queensland.

Part B Total: 6 Marks

(a) 3 marks

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 Complete the mortgage between Theresa and Graham and Whitsunday Island Bank on the
electronic National Mortgage Form (NMF) inside the PEXA training environment.

Student instructions:
Note: Weblinks and training information from the PEXA website will be uploaded to Moodle to assist
you in completing this part of the 20% online assessment.
Use the following further information and instructions in undertaking (a)

PEXA Instructions

Go to the PEXA training environment: https://training.pexalabs.com.au

Log in as: user.sam@pexa.com.au (Whitehaven Conveyancing)

Password:

· July – ‘Success19!’ (if you complete this part of the assessment up until Wednesday 31 July)

· August – ‘Mortgage19!’ (if you complete this part of the assessment between 1-16 August)

Note:

Access to the training environment by students enrolled in LAWS12066 Land Law T219 has been
negotiated with PEXA as follows:

The training environment will be accessible on weekends over the assessment period.

The training environment refreshes overnight. If you start completing Part B (a) in the evening you
will need to complete the NMF inside PEXA and save it before logging off otherwise it will not be
saved overnight, and you will have to start the process again when you next log in.

You are able to make multiple attempts at completing the NMF inside the PEXA training
environment prior to downloading a pdf copy of your finalised NMF mortgage.

Relevant Details for completing the NMF between Whitsunday Island Bank and Theresa and
Graham

Land title: 50832703

Bank: Whitsunday Island Bank

Mortgagors: Theresa and Graham Smith

If you believe you need to add any special conditions to the NMF based on the information provided
in Part A enter appropriate details by selecting from options available in the NMF.

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On completion of the NMF for the mortgage between Whitsunday Island Bank and Theresa
and Graham

Take a screenshot of the your competed NMF for this mortgage and upload into your assessment
document for uploading into the Moodle 20% online assessment submission portal.
Your completed NMF should look like this:

Note: In answering Part B (a) you are NOT required to proceed to lodgement of the NMF through
the PEXA website.

Note:
While mortgages completed in Queensland are now required to be undertaken on the standard NMF,
Queensland has not as yet mandated electronic conveyancing. Therefore, lodgement of an NMF
through the PEXA electronic workspace is not mandatory in Queensland at this time. However, in Part
B (a) you are being asked to compete the NMF through the PEXA training environment to develop
practically useful and relevant skills in land transactions in the electronic environment.
This opportunity is the result of a collaborative partnership between PEXA and CQU and currently CQU
is the only Queensland-based university that offers this opportunity to its law students. This University-
Industry based partnership and the efforts of PEXA in facilitating this is duly acknowledged.

(b) 3 Marks
(b) In light of your experience in completing (a) above, critically evaluate whether Queensland
should require the electronic lodgement of all NMFs through PEXA as part of implementing a
mandated e-conveyancing environment to align with the current practice in NSW, Victoria, WA
and partly implemented in SA.
End of Assessment