Singapore legislation
Section 20
Section 20
Prior encumbrances to be notified
(1)
The Registrar shall endorse on the folio of the land-register constituted by a qualified certificate of title a notification of any caveat or other subsisting encumbrance —
which is apparent to him (whether by search in the caveat index or otherwise) at the time of issuing that certificate of title; or
which is subsequently brought to his attention as in this section provided.
(2)
Any person claiming an interest in land which was subsisting at the date of issue of a qualified certificate of title for that land may, so long as a caution remains on the folio of the land-register, protect that interest by a caveat pursuant to section 104, and the Registrar shall enter a notification of such a caveat in the land-register.
(3)
The proprietor in whose name a qualified certificate of title is issued may lodge with the Registrar a statement setting out particulars of any subsisting interest affecting the land therein comprised which is known to him and which is not already notified as aforesaid, and the Registrar shall enter a notification of that interest on the relevant folio of the land-register.
(4)
The proprietor named in a qualified certificate of title who has knowledge of an encumbrance or interest affecting the land therein comprised which is not notified on the relevant folio of the land-register, and who disposes of or otherwise deals with or creates any interest in that land without having lodged a statement as in subsection (3) provided, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
(5)
An interest notified on the folio of the land-register pursuant to this section is an interest within the meaning of section 38, but its notification does not give the interest to which it relates any greater operation or effect than it has under the instrument creating it.
(6)
Where the mortgagee under a mortgage notified pursuant to this section has sold the land or part thereof in exercise of his power of sale, the Registrar may on the application of the purchaser or his successors in title register the applicant as the proprietor of the land.
(7)
Any interest notified on the folio of the land-register pursuant to this section does not, by reason of any provision of this Act, lose any priority which that interest would otherwise have had.[17