Section 36

The Registrar may issue a substituted certificate of title to replace any duplicate certificate of title which has been lost or destroyed or which is being improperly or wrongfully withheld.

Any substituted certificate of title shall be an exact copy of the relevant folio of the land-register, and shall be as valid as the certificate which is lost, destroyed or withheld, and shall be usable for any purpose for which that certificate might have been used.

Application for a substituted certificate of title may be made by the proprietor of the land therein comprised, or by any person claiming through him, and shall be supported by evidence of the loss or destruction and, in the case of loss, by such evidence of search for the instrument as the Registrar may require.

The Registrar, before issuing a substituted certificate of title, may give 14 days’ notice of his intention to do so in one or more daily newspapers.

The Registrar shall enter in the relevant folio of the land-register a notification of the issuing of any substituted certificate of title, and that notification shall operate to cancel the lost or withheld certificate for all purposes, notwithstanding the fact that the certificate might subsequently be recovered.[32