Forged but indefeasible mortgages: remedial options
RIS ID
30421
Abstract
Someone forges the mortgagor's signature on a mortgage over Torrens title land and the instrument is registered. If the mortgagee did not partidpate in the fraud and had no knowledge of it, the mortgagee acquires an indefeasible interest in the land by way of a charge. A series of cases in New South Wales has clarified the position as to whether that charge is effective to secure the amount advanced by the mortgagee to the person posing as the mortgagor. 1f the registered mortgage itself expressly states that the mortgagee has lent the mortgagor a particular amount (a mortgage in the "traditional form"), then the mortgagee's charge effectively secures that specified principal amount, together with appropriate interest and costs, against the mortgagor's land.
Publication Details
S. Grattan, 'Forged but Indefeasible Mortgages: Remedial Options' in L. Bennett Moses, B. Edgeworth & C. Sherry(ed), Property and Security: Selected Essays (2010) 171-198.