Singapore legislation
Section 13
Section 13
Primary applications
(1)
Any person claiming to be the owner of land not under the provisions of this Act may lodge with the Registrar a primary application in the prescribed form.
(2)
The Registrar may refer any primary application to an Examiner of Titles for investigation of and report upon the applicant’s title, or he may act upon the report of such other legally qualified person as he thinks fit and, having regard to —
the report of the Examiner of Titles or other person; and
the evidence of identity and location of the land,the Registrar shall bring the land under the provisions of this Act by issuing a certificate of title as hereinafter directed, or he shall reject the application.
(3)
When a certificate of title has been issued pursuant to subsection (2), the Registrar shall notify thereon, in such a manner as to preserve their priority, particulars of all unsatisfied mortgages or other encumbrances to which the land is subject at the time of issuing the certificate of title.
(4)
Where, in an application under this section, the evidence of title does not justify the issue of an unqualified certificate of title, the Registrar may nevertheless with the consent of the applicant issue a qualified certificate of title, to which section 19 applies.
(5)
A certificate of title, qualified or unqualified, issued pursuant to this section on, before or after 15th September 1973 may, if the circumstances so require, be qualified as to boundaries and dimensions, and section 148(3) and (4) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply thereto.
(6)
For the purposes of this section, “owner of land” shall be taken to mean the person entitled whether at law or in equity —
to an estate in fee simple;
to a leasehold or other estate in perpetuity; or
to a lease for a term of years having not less than 21 years unexpired at the date of lodgment of the application:Provided that the Registrar shall not receive an application made by —
a mortgagor, unless the mortgagee has consented thereto;
a mortgagee, unless he has exercised a power of sale and nominates the purchaser as the person in whose name the certificate of title shall issue;
a co-owner, unless all other co-owners join in the application; or
a trustee, unless he has power to sell the land, or unless the application is consented to by a majority in number of such of the beneficiaries as are sui juris at the date of the application.
(7)
Unless expressly prohibited by the terms of its memorandum of association, charter or other constitution, any corporation, whether sole or aggregate, shall be deemed to have power to bring land under the provisions of this Act, and the application may be made on behalf of the corporation by its managing director, manager, secretary or by an attorney appointed in that behalf by the corporation under its common seal.
(8)
An application by a mortgagor may be accompanied by an instrument of mortgage in the prescribed form expressed to be in substitution for the existing mortgage, and when the land is brought under the provisions of this Act the Registrar shall enter on the folio of the land-register a memorial of registration of the instrument of mortgage.
(9)
A substituted mortgage lodged pursuant to subsection (8) shall not be liable to stamp duty or registration fee.
(10)
This section applies only to such districts or areas as the Minister may from time to time proclaim by notice in the Gazette.[10