(1)  The Recorder may require a person who has custody, possession, or control of any instrument relating to land which is the subject of a dealing lodged with the Recorder under this or any other Act, or relating to the title to land, to produce that instrument, and the Recorder may retain an instrument, whether produced pursuant to this subsection or otherwise, until it is no longer required for action in connection with a dealing lodged with the Recorder or in connection with the bringing of land under this Act; and if that person refuses or neglects to produce that instrument the person is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 5 penalty units.

(2)  The Recorder may conduct an inquiry concerning any land, title to land, or instrument affecting or relating to land which is the subject of a dealing or application lodged with the Recorder under this or any other Act; and, if an instrument which the Recorder has required under subsection (1) is withheld, or if a person summoned to attend an inquiry under this subsection fails to attend or refuses or neglects to give an explanation or information which the person is required to give at the inquiry, the Recorder is not bound to proceed with the application or register the dealing under this or any other Act.

(3)  The Recorder may record a caveat on behalf of a person under disability (within the meaning of the Limitation Act 1974 ), or on behalf of the Crown, to prohibit the transfer or dealing with land belonging or supposed to belong to such a person or the Crown, and also to prohibit the dealing with land where it appears to the Recorder that an error has been made by misdescription of that land, or otherwise on a folio of the Register or any certificate of title or other instrument, or for the prevention of fraud or improper dealing, and sections 135 and 137 apply where the Recorder records a caveat pursuant to this subsection.

(4)  The Recorder may, on such evidence as appears to the Recorder to be sufficient, record in the Register any change in the name of a registered proprietor or a notification of the full and correct name of a registered proprietor if the Recorder is satisfied that that name differs from the name of that proprietor as set forth in the Register.

(5)  Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Recorder may at the Recorder’s discretion dispense with the production to the Recorder of any instrument or document, or the duplicate of any instrument or document, or the supply of any information, or any advertisement or notice.

(6)  Section 8 and Part 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1995 apply to an inquiry or hearing that the Recorder is by this or any other Act authorized or required to make or hold as if –

(a) the Recorder were a Commission established under section 4 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1995 ; and

(b) the matter the subject of the inquiry or hearing were the matter into which that Commission had been directed to inquire under that Act.

(7)  If the Recorder is satisfied that the inquiry or hearing was occasioned by frivolous or vexatious conduct by a party to the inquiry or hearing, the Recorder may order that party to pay the reasonable costs of the inquiry or hearing.

(8)  An order made under subsection (7) may be enforced as if it were a judgment made by a competent court of summary jurisdiction.