Disclaimer stamp for mortgagor ID certificates

The JP Handbook gives guidance on how to witness land registry Form 2 — Mortgage. It goes on to state there is no statutory obligation for a JP to complete a certificate, statement or declaration for, provided by, a mortgagee in association with a land title document. With mortgages increasingly being conducted online the lending institutions ask clients to have ID Certificate documents witnessed by a JP, a task the institutions themselves should undertake.

So that the JP may be able to assist clients the JP Branch makes available a replacement Witness Certificate for Mortgagor in Qld form that contains a disclaimer. Lending institutions and their clients sometimes refuse to accept this form as a replacement. Each JP chooses individually whether in that circumstance they are willing to witness the ID form issued by the lending institution.

At a land titles workshop on the Gold Coast last October a JP who was a respected senior lawyer suggested JPs could use a stamp with an appropriate disclaimer to place on the lending institution’s own form. This fellow JP suggested a possible wording as shown in the image of the stamp above. As always I had the stamp made at my favourite American stamp company RubberStampChamp.com where it cost less than US$10.

In the intervening months I have used the stamp on a number of occasions with apparently satisfied clients.

Adapted from an original post of my JP Blog.