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The privatisation of services provided by the Lands Titles Office appears set to boost the SA Government's budget bottom line by estimates of up to $400 million.
But a wide range of industry organisations are warning it will lead to the exploitation of valuable private information.
Expressions of interest for a 40-year lease to run the titling and valuation services closed in January, with the process of selecting a successful bidder expected to be finalised by the end of the year.
The Public Service Association, the Law Society, the Institute of Surveyors, the Institute of Conveyancers and the Real Estate Institute have all been arguing against the privatisation, describing the Lands Titles Office as one of the most efficient government agencies.
But the State Government is pushing ahead with the plan, which was flagged just under 12 months ago in last year's state budget, and is expected to confirm the privatisation in today's budget.
Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has defended the move as the simple outsourcing of the "processor" of the titles that would allow the successful bidder to commercialise private data held by the office.
But chief executive of the state's Real Estate Institute, Greg Troughton, said allowing a private company access to millions of pieces of private land title data was akin to "the fox being put in charge of the henhouse".
"I wonder how many South Australians would be up in arms if they knew that their driver's licence details were about to be given to a private sector company for them to commercialise the data and make as much money out of it as possible," he said.
"I think they'd be gravely concerned and I think that's what's going to be happening."
Title could be put 'at risk', PSA says
Public Service Association general secretary Nev Kitchin described the move as a "broken promise" by a Government that had previously stated it was opposed to privatisation.
He believes the move threatens the integrity of the state's famous Torrens Title system.
"We have real concerns when it's privatised that that business and the information contained in the computer systems and the network may be compromised into the future," he said.
"Ultimately [that] could render what is known as the 'indefeasibility of title' at risk ... that is the ownership of title to property whether you're buying or selling."
In a statement to the ABC, Mr Koutsantonis emphasised that "the State Government will provide a number of guarantees to protect the public interest and the integrity of the land titles system".
The Law Society's representative Phil Page said participants in stakeholder meetings held by the Government to discuss the privatisation had not been allowed to see the detail of those guarantees because they were "commercial in confidence".
The commercial value of land titles data is difficult to estimate.
But Mr Troughton believes the $2.6 billion paid by the Hastings Funds Management and First State Super consortium for the 35-year lease of the NSW land titles service shows it has a very high value.
He said there could be any number of ways the South Australian data could be exploited for marketing purposes over the next 40 years.
For private companies using very smart algorithms "there are opportunities in the data that you or I couldn't dream of right now but will no doubt cause us grief over the coming years", he said.
Extra costs could become mandatory, conveyancers say
In response to concerns about exploitation, Mr Koutsantonis stated there would be "strong data security and service delivery requirements imposed on the new provider through contractual clauses, including penalties, step in rights and ultimately the termination of the contract".
Australian Institute of Conveyancers SA branch president Tim O'Halloran called on the State Government to provide more detail to industry bodies and the public about those protections that remain "commercial in confidence".
"We fail to see what the benefit is to the Government apart from a short-term cash injection," he said.
Mr O'Halloran was also worried additional costs, including title insurance, would become mandatory when the titles service is run by a private company.
No deadline has yet been set for the announcement of a successful bidder.
Industry estimates have placed the value of the lease between $300 million and $400 million.
The ABC understands the Hastings Funds Management and First State Super consortium that won the NSW lease is one of the interested parties.
Topics: housing, government-and-politics, privatisation-and-deregulation, housing-industry, sa, adelaide-5000