Singapore legislation
Section 16
Section 16
Special provisions for bringing unregistered land under the provisions of this Act
(1)
Where permission has been granted under the Planning Act [Cap. 232], or any Ordinance repealed by that Act, or under any written law, on, before or after 1st December 1970, to develop or subdivide unregistered land, the proprietor thereof, for the purpose of dealing with the unregistered land, or any part thereof, shall be required to produce to the Registrar all the title deeds necessary for deducing a good title to the land.
(2)
The Registrar on receipt of the title deeds may —
direct, in writing, the proprietor to surrender the title to that land to the President free from encumbrances, and where the land has been surrendered the President, if satisfied with the title of the proprietor and on payment by the proprietor of all costs and expenses of, or consequent on, the surrender, shall issue a new title in lieu thereof;
bring the land under the provisions of this Act by issuing a qualified certificate of title and upon such issue the Registrar shall cancel any conveyance pursuant to which he issues a qualified certificate of title and shall deliver the duplicate certificate of title and the title deeds to the proprietor or the person entitled to the custody thereof as the case may be; or
issue to the proprietor a certificate to the effect that this section does not apply to the title held by the proprietor, and, on production of such a certificate to the Registrar of Deeds, the proprietor may present for registration an assurance of the whole or any part of his unregistered land to be dealt with subject to the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Act [Cap. 269].
(3)
Subject to subsection (1) where the unregistered land comprises any subdivided building or where the proprietor has notified the Registrar in writing that any building to be erected on the unregistered land is intended to be dealt with in parts after subdivision approval thereof has been granted under the Planning Act [Cap. 232], the Registrar shall —
proceed under subsection (2)(a);
proceed under subsection (2)(b); or
direct the proprietor to lodge a primary application pursuant to section 13,except that in any case where the Registrar is unable to proceed under any of the provisions of paragraph (a), (b) or (c) he may, in his discretion, proceed under subsection (2)(c).
(4)
Where the unregistered land has been surrendered pursuant to subsection (2)(a), a certificate issued by the Collector of Land Revenue or a grant or lease issued by the President, as the case may be, shall be forwarded by the Commissioner of Lands to the Registrar who shall thereupon bring the land comprised therein under the provisions of this Act and deliver the relevant duplicate certificate of title to the person entitled thereto.
(5)
Section 8, other than subsection (1) thereof, applies to a certificate of title issued pursuant to a Collector’s certificate under this section.
(6)
A qualified certificate of title issued pursuant to subsection (2)(b) 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.
(7)
This section does not apply to —
a leasehold title having less than an unexpired term of 30 years as at the date of the production of the title deeds to the Registrar required under subsection (1); or
unregistered land where permission for the subdivision of any building erected thereon was granted by the authority for the time being charged with the duty of controlling or supervising the subdivision of land and an assurance of part of that subdivided building was registered or provisionally registered under the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Act [Cap. 269] before 15th May 1968, the date on which the Land Titles (Strata) Act [Cap. 158] came into operation:Provided that where the whole of the estate in the unregistered land, comprising the subdivided building, has subsequently become vested in the same proprietor on or after that date this section applies to that unregistered land.
(8)
Subject to subsections (2)(c) and (7) —
no assurance of any unregistered land, or part thereof, to which subsection (1) applies, is capable of being registered under the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Act; and
upon receipt from the competent authority under the Planning Act [Cap. 232] of a notice in writing or of an approved plan relating to the granting of permission to develop or subdivide any unregistered land or building, the whole or part of which is dealt with under any assurance, the Registrar of Deeds has the power to refuse to register that assurance when presented for registration.
(9)
In this section —
Definition
“assurance” has the same meaning as in the Registration of Deeds Act [Cap. 269];
Definition
“proprietor” means the proprietor of unregistered land approved for development or subdivision under any written law;
Definition
“Registrar of Deeds” means the Registrar appointed under the Registration of Deeds Act;
Definition
“subdivided building” has the same meaning as in the Land Titles (Strata) Act [Cap. 158];
Definition
“unregistered land” means land, or any subdivided building thereon, which has not been brought under the provisions of this Act.[13